Ideally, we want the whole family to get the most restful sleep possible. One of the best ways to get ready for a good night’s sleep is to relax your body and mind. Practicing relaxing yoga at bedtime can help signal your body that it’s time to enter sleep mode. Stress is one of the biggest sleep stealers and yoga is renowned for lowering stress and calming the mind.
If you’ve ever wanted to catnap at the end of a yoga class, you’ll understand the benefits of yoga for your bedtime routine. Yoga helps stretch out your muscles which can make you feel calmer. Regular yoga practice will also make you more in tune with your body so you can identify areas of tension and work on them to get a more restful night. Keep reading to find out the top three poses for bedtime yoga. Bonus – you can do them in bed!
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Relaxing Yoga at Bedtime
Always check with your health care practitioner before beginning any yoga / exercise program.
Child’s Pose (Balasana)
Child’s Pose stretches your lower back, hips, and thighs while relaxing your shoulders and neck. This pose is very relaxing and can be done for varying lengths of time. You can find instructions for how to do the Child’s Pose here.
Legs-up-the-wall-pose (Viparita Karani)
This pose is a great way to relax before sleep. With the legs up against the wall, blood returns to the core, which can help you feel sleepy. You can do this pose with or without props, so choose whichever one is the most comfortable for you. Instructions can be found here.
Corpse Pose (Savasana)
This pose will be familiar to anyone who has participated in a yoga class. Many classes start and finish with corpse pose as a way to relax the mind and body. Corpse pose is a great finishing pose to drift off to sleep after. Instructions for the pose can be found here.
Amanda DeGrace, Founder of Little Lotus Yoga shares that during the corpse pose including an eye pillow or blanket over the body can sometimes assist in having the body relax a little more.
By doing relaxing yoga as part of your bedtime routine, you will help calm both your mind and body and ready them for sleep. You can even do yoga with your kids to help them get ready for bed.
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