The Magic of a Bedtime Yoga Routine

Most of us have a fairly nonmagical bedtime routine. We wash up, brush and floss, maybe indulge in a little self-care – exfoliate on Sundays and self-tan on Thursdays, say. Here’s a little food for thought: adding a gentle nighttime yoga routine to your bedtime ritual might be the path to better, more restorative sleep. For many people, it works like a charm, with plenty of other benefits to boot!

A good evening yoga routine doesn’t have to be elaborate or take an hour. Choose five or six restorative poses and hold them for about three minutes each, then snuggle into bed and drift off to sleep.

Before you get your asana in gear (Asana is a Sanskrit word meaning posture or place. Asanas are the physical positions we assume during a yoga practice. Each pose has its own Sanskrit and English name), you’ll need to get comfortable with ujjayi or ocean breath. Breathing techniques are an important part of any yoga practice, and proper breath will help you relax into the poses, allowing you to hold them long enough for them to deepen. That’s where the magic happens.

Here's how to do ocean, ujjayi breathing:

Close your eyes. Sit up or stand nice and tall and relax your shoulders away from your ears. Notice your breath. Don’t adjust it yet, just become aware of it.

Notice your throat. When you exhale, slightly constrict the back of your throat. Imagine you are trying to fog up the lens of your glasses to clean them. Try it a few times, then add that constriction to your inhales too. Make sure you can hear your breath. It should sound kind of like Darth Vader and kind of like the ocean (hence the name). Practice for a little while, keeping your throat slightly tight.

Close your mouth now. Keep your throat firm. As you inhale and exhale through your nose, you will still hear that ocean/Darth Vader sound. If you don’t, try again with extra focus on your throat. When you can hear it, you’ve got it! You’ve mastered ujjayi breath (AKA ocean breath)! You’ll use this beathing technique throughout your practice, inhaling and exhaling intentionally during different parts of the poses.

There are many types of yoga and yoga classes. Some, like vinyasa, ashtanga or power yoga are high-intensity and energizing. Not what you want before bed. Go slowly and try these gentle poses:

Child’s pose (balasana). This is a great starting pose. Sit on your heels, either on a yoga mat or with a large pillow in front of you. Bring your big toes together, so they’re touching, and separate your knees as wide as your mat, or wider than your hips if you’re not using a mat. Fold your body forward, over your pillow if you’re using one, walking your hands out in front of you, palms on the floor. If it’s more comfortable, stack a couple of pillows up beneath you. Or, conversely, allow your chin, forehead and chest to rest on the floor if that feels better. Use your ujjayi breath to relax and soften all of your muscles. Hold this pose for three to five minutes, intentionally relaxing into it. 

Seated forward fold (paschimottasana). Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you, feet flexed and your back straight. Sit up tall, elongating your spine, and walk your sitting bones back an inch or two. Now, with a nice long back, reach your chest toward your toes. Rest your arms beside your legs, or take ahold of your heels if that’s available to you. When you’re folded as far as is comfortable, release your back and drape your torso over your legs, back rounded. Hold and breathe.

Seated side bend (parsva sukhasana). Sit cross-legged on the floor or on a pillow. Place your left hand, palm down, on the floor, about a foot from your left hip. Keep a bend in your left elbow. Sweep your right arm up and over your right ear as you bend at the wait toward the left. Turn your head to look up toward the ceiling if it’s comfortable. Lean (as much or as little as is comfortable) to the left, keeping both buttocks on the floor. Imagine you are sinking your left hip into the pillow or floor. Hold for 10 breaths. Use your ujjayi breath. Return to center, uncross and cross your legs so the opposite one is in front, and repeat on the right side.

Legs up the wall pose (viparita karani). This is a great pose. Resting your legs against a wall releases tension and fluid buildup in your legs and feet, gives you a gentle stretch and calms the nervous system. Sit parallel to a wall, with your hip and shoulder against the wall. Lie down on your back. Turn your body to be perpendicular to the wall, still lying on your back, as you place your legs up on the wall at a right angle to your hips. Sit as close to the wall as you can, ideally so it’s touching. Rest your arms on either side of your body, breathe and relax.

Another pro tip: diffuse a relaxing essential oil – like lavender – or dab a little on your pulse points to encourage relaxation.

Benefits of a bedtime yoga practice

A healthier heart. Johns Hopkins School of Medicine puts it like this,  "Beyond off-loading stress, practicing yoga may help lower blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood glucose levels, as well as heart rate, making it a useful lifestyle intervention. One study has shown that blood measurements and waist circumference—a marker for heart disease—improved in middle-aged adults with metabolic syndrome who practiced yoga for three months. Another study has shown that slow-paced yoga classes twice a week reduced the frequency of atrial fibrillation episodes in patients with that condition. In another report, patients with heart failure who went through an eight-week yoga program showed improvement in exercise capacity and quality of life. They also had lower blood levels of markers for inflammation, which contributes to heart disease."

Improved sleep hygiene. It’s a known fact that one key to consistently good sleep is developing – and sticking with – a bedtime routine. Adding yoga to yours is win-win. Learn more about the benefits of a calming bedtime routine here.

Less worry and anxiety. Yoga can be helpful in reducing anxiety or worry because it stimulates your nervous system. It also boosts mood by elevating levels of a brain chemical (gamma-aminobutyric acid or GABA), which is associated with decreased anxiety.

Better, deeper sleep. Stretching your muscles with a gentle yoga practice relaxes you and helps keep your body flexible. Moving and accomplishing day-to-day tasks, activities and chores is much more comfortable when a person is strong, toned and limber. That bedtime yoga routine? It’s a win for better nights and better days.  

Weight management boost. Exercise of any type will aid in weight maintenance or loss, but strength workouts like yoga build muscle, and the more muscle you have the more calories your body burns, even at rest. That’s because maintaining lean muscle mass (a combo of muscle and bone) takes more energy (calories) to maintain than fat. Put another way, let’s say two people weigh the same amount, but one has a lower ratio of lean muscle mass to fat mass. That person will burn fewer calories at rest than the other person.

Muscle and joint pain relief. Yoga poses help us keep the muscles surrounding our joints strong and flexible. Stronger muscles offer more support to our bones and joints, and more support means less pain. Yoga also focuses on proper skeletal alignment, and proper alignment also means less pain.