Yoga is an effective, enjoyable way to address the root of your sleep issues and induce a pleasant snooze. In a national survey of 35,000 households, 55% of people who practiced yoga reported that it helped them sleep while 85% said that it helped them reduce stress.

Remember that approach is key, since how we do our yoga practice is just as, if not more important that what we do. We have to be conscious of our breathing and back off when a posture becomes too exciting or stressful.

Not all forms of yoga are relaxing either (no vigorous vinyasa or heated yoga classes before bed!), so a calming, more restorative approach is necessary to get the body ready for sleep.

The following sequence is an essential part of my nighttime routine. It melts away any muscle tension accumulated throughout the day and reduces stress. When done in a meditative way with mindful breathing, it also helps to tame obsessive thoughts, calm the mind, and prepare it for sleep.

Hold the following postures for 5-8 slow, deep breath, perhaps emphasizing the exhalation to help let go of tension. It’s best to do this immediately before retiring, so you can climb right into bed afterwards.

Yoga Sequence for Better Sleep

1. Standing forward bend (Uttanasana)

 

 

This posture is great for relieving tension in the back. Crossing the forearms makes the upper body heavier so there’s greater traction along the spine. Blood and energy is directed toward the head to calm the mind.

Bend the knees if tight hamstrings are pulling your low back, causing discomfort.

2. Headstand or rabbit (Sirsasana or Sasangasana )

 

 

If Headstand is already part of your practice, doing it at night can activate the endocrine glands and calm your nervous system. Contraindications to this pose include neck injuries, high blood pressure, heart conditions, and menstruation.

 

 

Like Headstand, Rabbit pose is therapeutic due to it’s direct effect on the brain. But this posture is more approachable since you can control the pressure placed on the head and ensure that the neck is not compressed.

3. Shoulderstand (Sarvangasana)

 

 

Shoulderstand is a counter pose to Headstand variations. It regulates any hormonal imbalances and soothes the nerves. This pose should be skipped though if you have a neck injury, high blood pressure, or are menstruating.

4. Bound angle w/ neck extension & open chest (Baddha konasana)

 

 

This posture (as well as #5-8 below) relieves tension accumulated in the hips, chest, and neck from long periods of work in front of a computer.

5. Seated twist (Ardha matseyandrasana)

 

 

6. Neck stretch, simple seated posture

 

 

7. Eagle (Garudasana) arms, simple seated posture

 

 

8. Reclined Figure-4 Stretch

 

 

9. Legs-up-the-wall-or-bed (Viparita karani)

 

 

This inversion is necessary to ease tired legs and reverse blood flow to the heart and brain, especially if you were not able to include headstand and shoulderstand in your routine. It reduces anxiety, calms the mind, and helps regulate blood pressure. It can even calm crazy 7-year-old boy energy!

Most of you will be yawning before you complete this series! If so, hop in bed and have a wonderful night’s rest!

Still needing extra help? You may also want to check out my Yoga Nidra meditation on my Meditation Page. Yoga Nidra (Yoga sleep) is a very effective meditation to induce a relaxed state of mind and is also effective with changing mindset and habitual patterns.

Well wishes to you all…

Read Part 3: Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture for sleep issues

A few yoga teacher colleagues encouraged me to check out Sarah Powers around the year 2003, feeling that I would resonate with her style & message. In this first workshop with her I was introduced to Yin Yoga. I loved her deep, philosophical approach.  Sarah was the teacher I had long been seeking, so I continued to study with her as often as possible. I also had the pleasure of studying with Paul Grilley in a week-long Yin Yoga teacher training they did together in Winter of 2005.

Sarah & Paul both talked about Taoist philosophy & Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Meridian Theory in our Yin sessions together. I was very intrigued by this brief education in TCM and felt inspired to look into it further. I credit this training for helping me take the plunge in obtaining my Masters Degree in TCM the following year.

Through Yin Yoga, I was able to achieve a depth in my practice I had never experienced before. It also had a profound affect on my teaching style. Once it became a part of my personal practice, teaching became almost effortless. A few regular students commented that my teaching “turned a corner” and my classes began to steadily build. Yin Yoga helped me find authenticity and confidence as a practitioner and a teacher.

Obviously, I think Yin Yoga is pretty awesome. And even though we may have different experiences with the practice, I think it can really help you too.

Here Are 10 Reasons Why You Should Try Yin Yoga!

1. It increases your flexibility and keeps you juicy

Most styles of Yoga are considered “Yang” because the focus is on movement, strength, engagement, and using a lot of muscle to produce heat. Yin Yoga is called such because it is the opposite. It is a slow practice (postures are held for 2-5 minutes each), it requires us to let go of muscular effort, we yield to gravity’s pull, become quiet & inquisitive, and it’s very cooling.

When we let go of the muscles in the stretch (which is safe to do if we approach it slowly, mindfully, and close to the ground) we’re able to access the deeper tissues. It’s the fascia, the tendons, and ligaments where tension likes to accumulate throughout the years.

Yin Yoga increases flexibility not only because deep-held tension is being released, but also because blood is able to circulate better in areas that were previously deprived.

2. It’s an effective way to relieve stress

Naturally, when we’re able to consciously let go of tension, the body relaxes it’s stressful approach to what’s happening around us. The parasympathetic nervous system, our “rest & digest” mode, is activated and we experience more ease in the body and mind.

3. It helps you let go of negative mind patterns

When you’re this still for this long, you’re going to hear the mind speak. And what you hear may not serve you well.

We start to notice how we talk down to ourselves, how harshly we judge our experience and other people, how we like to reduce the things we experience into ways that fit our current belief systems. We gravitate to those who accept our own ideas and beliefs and our perspectives on life become very small.

With a sustained Yin practice, we are able to shift our perspective and include more in our experience. Just like the layers of tension we’re peeling off gradually, these unhelpful patterns of the mind can release too and we can replace them with a more positive, inclusive outlook on life.

4. It’s a great introduction to meditation

After a few Yin sessions when you’ve adjusted to the approach and have witnessed the mind habits mentioned in #3, we can use this time to tame the mind.

In meditation we often use an anchor to help keep the mind present. It could be watching the breath, focusing on a certain place in the body, concentrating on sound, etc. With Yin Yoga, we also have the strong sensations from the stretch to focus on.

Many people who have a hard time sitting with their thoughts in simple meditation find Yin Yoga more approachable. They are more in touch with their bodies, less so with their minds. By first focusing on the sensations of the stretch and opening up & strengthening the mind gradually with Yin, it can be more interesting for them. As they value it more, they are able to sit longer with less sensation.

5. It help you process strong emotions

Yin Yoga gives you the time to vent strong emotions. Many times I’ve watched my worry & anger (my main go-to emotions when I’m out of balance) shift and have moved into a state of equanimity by the end of the practice. I’ve helped students deal with fear and grief as well. Contentment is possible, but only after we’ve accepted what is present in the heart.

6. It prepares the body for sleep

Stress, tension, and obsessive thinking are some of the biggest triggers for insomnia. Yoga is a great way to relieve stress and tension. But some form of meditation is necessary to help with an occupied mind. Yin Yoga addresses it all.

7. It helps you develop tolerance and grow

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” ~ Neale Donald Walsch

Holding the Yin shapes for 2-5 minutes is not easy. The sensations you’re feeling, especially in the hips, can be quite intense. It’s necessary to move through the discomfort to experience freedom and ease in the body once again.

Isn’t this true for anything in life? If you want to experience something different from what you’re used to, it can be a bit scary and uncomfortable. Let your Yin practice help you build your capacity for tolerance and push your limits of what’s comfortable. What you’re working on in the practice will permeate into your life to help you create new and exciting things.

8. It helps you appreciate simple moments

The biggest complaint I’ve heard about Yin Yoga is that it’s boring.

Have you seen what a bored child can do? When given the space to sit with themselves a bored child can tap into their imagination and do amazingly creative things. And they will play by themselves for hours once they really get going.

Why are we adults any different? Because of all that stuff mentioned in #3. Somehow, long ago, we decided that we didn’t like hanging out with ourselves and that there are more important things to do. That is very sad.

As we engage in Yin Yoga, we are able to watch our experience breath by breath. By shifting our perspective we can appreciate each new breath as another moment of our precious lives. Even the boring and dull moments have value.

9. It’s like an acupuncture session you can do by yourself

The TCM meridians that we stimulate with needles in acupuncture to direct the flow of vital energy (qi) and blood, run along the deeper connective tissues of the body that we’re focusing on with Yin Yoga.

Taoists and Yogis know that energy/qi flow where the mind goes. We place ourselves in shapes that help access these deeper tissues and direct the mind and breath into those areas, and can thereby dilate the meridians and mobilize the qi & blood. When the qi & blood are abundant and free, we experience health and well-being.

10. It helps you stay grounded amidst chaos

Yin Yoga is very grounding in nature. We are able to observe all that is happening within us and around us with a calm, clear mind.

We live in a culture that is fast-paced, values work over rest, values financial gain over personal growth, etc. Our yoga practice can be a way to bring balance to our lives and those people we share it with.

What does the world need more of? Peace, tolerance, acceptance? You can answer that question for yourself and perhaps cultivate that in your practice.

I can’t wait to hear about your experience with Yin Yoga! Are any of these 10 reasons to try it resonating with you? Please let me know in the comments!  If you enjoyed this post, please share with your friends!   Well wishes to all…

#yin #yoga #meditation #stress #relaxation #balance #insomnia #sleep #grounding

It’s important to get help!

“Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.”  – Thomas Dekker

Western biomedicine focuses on the physical cause of sleep disturbances and medical doctors prescribe pharmaceutical drugs for treatment. Though initially effective, these pills should not be used long-term since they can become addictive or have serious side effects.

The Root Cause of Sleep Disturbances and my Personal Struggle

Of course it’s wise to have a discussion with your health professional if you think your body has a serious dysfunction that may need the help of pharmaceuticals. But it will not hurt to try natural methods first since the reason most people have sleep issues is that they’re simply out of touch with their circadian cycle.

I’ve had trouble with sleep for decades. In my early 20’s I was putting myself through undergraduate school – going to classes in the mornings, working swing-shift full-time at my job, studying until late at night and then starting over early the next morning with massive amounts of coffee.

I never had problems going to sleep because I had such a huge deficit. I was falling asleep all the time in class and had a hard time waking up in the morning. It wasn’t until my 2nd minor car accident in stop-and-go traffic (the first was in the University parking garage, both were in the morning) that I realized I had a problem.

After weaning off caffeine and working on my sleep habits in my 30’s I started to experience the opposite problem: insomnia. I couldn’t have any caffeine at all or it would guarantee a night of staring at the ceiling. I was also kept awake with racing thoughts and muscle tension.

Today, I’m finally at a point where I sleep great 95% of the time. It took a lot of experimenting, but I have clarity on what harms and what helps my sleep.

Natural Remedies to Reset Your Sleep Rhythm

Below are my suggestions for getting back on track with your circadian rhythm. It comes down to your sleep/wake cycle, amount of sun exposure, and body temperature which all regulate melatonin production. And then you actually need to listen to your body when the melatonin surge tells you to go to bed at night! It may take some patience and experimentation, but it’s certainly worthwhile to try.

(1) Get to sleep before 10:00pm

I know, when the kids fall asleep at night it’s party time for some parents! Or maybe you like staying up late because you feel more productive at night. It may sound like a drag, but going to bed early is the first thing to try if you have sleep issues. Every single article or study I’ve read on sleep says so. I do best when I’m asleep by 10:00 pm too.

If you go to bed early but are unable to fall asleep, try the following over the next few days:

Watch what you eat and drink

• Adjust your caffeine intake It’s good to take an honest look at how dependent you are on caffeine and to see what happens when you reduce it.  Can you limit it to just morning time? Can you substitute with decaffeinated drinks? You may want to take a look at chocolate too, which can also be overstimulating.
• Adjust protein intake at night – More research needs to be done, but there are a few studies that show high protein intake can cause insomnia. Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese dietetics recommend a lower protein dinner at night too so the liver can rest and not disturb sleep.
• Adjust alcohol intake at night – Again, your liver should be resting at night and alcohol, like a heavy meat dinner, will make it work too hard. We’ll explore this more when we talk about Traditional Chinese Medicine as an effective method for improving sleep in a future blog post.
• Consider supplementing with magnesium – Magnesium (as well as calcium) deficiency is a problem for some people and can show up as insomnia. Magnesium has also been shown to decrease cortisol, a stress hormone that can keep you awake at night. You can talk to your health care professional about supplementing with pure magnesium, but it wouldn’t hurt to increase magnesium-rich foods in your diet and/or take Epsom salt baths too. Epsom salt is a great source of magnesium and your body absorbs as much as it needs. The bath will also help with muscular tension (see below).

Establish a Healthy Self-care Sleep Routine

• Ease muscular tension – Give yourself a soothing essential oil massage and enjoy a relaxing yoga routine. I’ll share my favorite winding-down yoga sequence in our next post.
• Decrease blue light exposure – It’s becoming well-known that blue light interferes with melatonin production and disrupts sleep. It’s best to avoid screens 2-3 hours before bed. Consider keeping the lights dim at night and try sleeping in a darker room. If a child needs a night light for comfort, make sure it’s a warm, red-hued light.
• Turn down the heat – Most people sleep better when their heads are kept cool. 65-68°F is apparently the ideal range.

(2) Wake with the sun

In addition to going to bed earlier, see if you can wake up naturally, weaning yourself off of using an alarm. I know this may sound scary if you have early morning meetings at work or have kids to get ready for school. But if you’re going to bed by 10 pm over a few weeks, then you’ll consistently start waking up ~5-7 am.  Hopefully that gives you enough time to get yourself and the kids ready in the morning.

If you’re having a hard time waking, try to:

• Get some morning sunshine as soon as you can.
• Eat a big protein-packed breakfast to fuel your body and get it moving.
• Try to exercise and do as much activity in the sunlight throughout the day.
• Resist the urge to caffeine-up or to take a nap – Both might interfere with the progress you’re making in balancing your inner clock as it adjusts with the sun.
• You’re on your way to better sleep habits!

What More You Can Do To Get Better Sleep

Finding and adjusting to your circadian rhythm will take some time and you may oscillate between insomnia & early morning grogginess for a bit until you find your groove.

If you’ve tried everything suggested and are still not able to sleep well, hope for a natural solution is not lost! We’ve only discussed the physical cause of sleep disturbances in this post.  In our next posts, we’ll look at how Yoga and Traditional Chinese Medicine can help on emotional and energetic levels too.

I wish you the best with your endeavors! If you have any suggestions to add that can help our readers, please comment below.  Well wishes for peaceful nights and glorious days…

Read Part 2: Yoga to Get You Yawning

Read Part 2: Improve Your Sleep With This Yoga Sequence