Winding Down and Sleep

4 Week Evening Yoga Program for Better Sleep

You are tired. You have been tired since four in the afternoon. Then at eleven you get into bed and something switches on, and you lie there with a head that will not stop while the actual tiredness sits somewhere just out of reach.

Our yoga teachers built this four week program on the largest trial in this field, which ran for exactly four weeks and improved sleep quality enough to show up on a wrist monitor as well as in the questionnaires. Four weeks to have something to do at the end of the day that is not scrolling.

One short session every evening, one longer one at the weekend, four sequences, four weeks. Four weeks is not a marketing number here: it is the length of the trial this is built on.

Length

4 weeks

Practices

26 in total

Rhythm

Most evenings, plus a longer one once or twice a week

Made for

Adults who cannot switch off in the evening and sleep worse for it

What the research says

The largest trial in this field randomised 410 people with disturbed sleep to a four week yoga programme or to usual care. Sleep quality on the standard questionnaire improved significantly more in the yoga group than in the control group, by a margin large enough to matter clinically. Some of it was measured with a wrist monitor rather than only by self report: time awake after falling asleep and sleep efficiency both improved. Use of sleep medication fell 21 percent a week in the yoga group while it rose 5 percent a week in the control group.

A meta-analysis of 19 trials with 1,832 people puts a number on the general effect: sleep quality improved with a moderate effect size across 16 of those trials. It also draws the line this program respects. On the specific measure of insomnia severity, pooled across three trials, there was no significant effect. Sleep quality and insomnia are not the same target, and this program aims at the first.

A trial in people who take a long time to fall asleep is the reason this is a daily practice rather than a twice weekly one. Forty adults did a 45 minute evening practice every day for eight weeks. Time to fall asleep, total sleep time and sleep efficiency all improved more than in the group given sleep hygiene advice, 65 percent were in remission at the end, and at six months that had risen to over 80 percent.

See every study and guideline behind this program →

How the program works

Two phases, and you stay with the same practices for the whole of each one. That repetition is the plan rather than a shortage of ideas. A body changes when the same ask comes back often enough, and the trials this program follows repeated for weeks before they made anything harder.

Weeks 1 to 2MoveThe same twenty minutes at the same time, most evenings.Weeks 3 to 4BuildA tool you can use lying in the dark, not only on a mat.

One short session most evenings and a longer one once or twice a week. Open a session below to see every pose and its timing. Two things run through all four weeks: do it at roughly the same time every evening, and put anything with effort in it at the start rather than the end.

Who this is for

·You are tired during the day and awake at bedtime.
·Falling asleep takes longer than it should, or the sleep you get does not feel like enough.
·Nobody has diagnosed you with a sleep disorder, or you have one and want something alongside your treatment.
·Nobody has suggested you might have sleep apnoea.
·You can find twenty minutes in the evening, most evenings.

Before you start

This is for winding down and for how well you feel you sleep, not a treatment for a diagnosed sleep disorder. If you snore heavily, stop breathing in your sleep or are exhausted despite enough hours in bed, that points at sleep apnoea, which is a mechanical problem and belongs with a doctor. Nothing stimulating goes at the end of an evening session.

Read the full safety notes in the practice guide →

The practice

Two practices per phase. Open one to see every pose, its timing and the reason it sits where it does.

Move · Weeks 1 to 2

Build the Ritual

The same twenty minutes at the same time, most evenings.

Two weeks of repetition rather than variety. What makes an evening practice work is not what is in it but that it happens at the same point every night, so that after a fortnight the first pose is already a signal. Keep the slot even on the evenings you shorten it.

1.Cat Pose1 min
2.Cow Pose1 min
3.Bharadvaja's Twist1 min each side
4.Head-to-Knee Forward Bend1 min each side
5.Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose1 min each side
6.Legs Up the Wall5 min
7.Knees to Chest Pose2 min
8.Corpse Pose3 min

Open the full sequence →

Week by week

Week 1Pick the time and keep itAbout an hour before you want to be asleep. The specific time matters less than it being the same one.

Week 2Use the short version onceDeliberately, on a busy evening. Finding out that the ten minute one still counts is what stops the whole thing collapsing in week three.

← Back to the winding down and sleep practice guide

Build · Weeks 3 to 4

Take It Into Bed

A tool you can use lying in the dark, not only on a mat.

The second half adds the body scan, which is the part that works after the lights are off. Twelve minutes of moving your attention slowly through the body gives a busy mind something to do that is not the day it has just had, and unlike the poses, it travels with you into bed.

Week by week

Week 3Learn the body scanFeet upward, a few seconds on each part, no judgement about what you find. Your attention will wander. Bringing it back is the exercise, not a failure of it.

Week 4Do it in bedOn one night, skip the mat and do the body scan lying in bed with the lights off. That is the version you keep after this program ends.

← Back to the winding down and sleep practice guide

The 15 poses in this program

Every pose has its own page with alignment, common mistakes and the energetic effect. Look one up when a shape does not make sense in your body.

Cat Pose Cow Pose Bharadvaja's Twist Head-to-Knee Forward Bend Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose Legs Up the Wall Knees to Chest Pose Corpse Pose Easy Pose Child's Pose Reclining Hero Pose Seated Side Bend Wide-Angle Seated Forward Bend Bridge Pose Reclining Belly Twist

Go to the Asana Lab →

The guide behind this program

Why these poses and not others

The Winding Down and Sleep practice guide explains what each pose does and why it belongs to this goal. It also carries the safety notes and every study this program is built on. Read it if you want the reasoning rather than the plan.

Read the guide →

Frequently Asked Questions

Is four weeks really enough?

It is what the largest trial used. 410 people, four weeks, and sleep quality improved more than in the control group, with some of it confirmed by a wrist monitor rather than only by questionnaire. Four weeks is enough to see a difference and to build a habit. Whether you keep the habit is what decides the rest.

Will this cure my insomnia?

That is not what this is for, and the research is clear about the difference. Across 16 trials, sleep quality improved with a moderate effect. On the specific measure of insomnia severity, pooled across three trials, there was no significant effect. If you have a diagnosed insomnia disorder, this belongs alongside your treatment rather than in place of it.

Does it change my sleep physically or just how I feel about it?

Mostly the second, and that is worth saying plainly. Two studies used a sleep laboratory. One found more deep sleep and lower cortisol, the other found the sleep stages unchanged even though people felt considerably better and their wrist monitors showed fewer wakings. How rested you feel is the outcome this program is honestly about.

Why every evening rather than twice a week?

Because the practice that got the most durable results ran daily. Forty-five minutes every evening for eight weeks, with 65 percent in remission at the end and over 80 percent at six months. It is also simply how a ritual works: something that happens twice a week is an activity, not a cue.

What if I fall asleep during the practice?

Get into bed. That is not a failed session, it is the shortest possible route to the outcome. It happens most often in the long relaxation, which is exactly where it should.

I snore heavily and I am shattered despite eight hours. Will this help?

Probably not, and it is worth knowing why. That pattern points at sleep apnoea, which is a mechanical problem with the airway rather than a problem with winding down. None of the research behind this program included people with untreated apnoea, and one trial excluded them explicitly. That one belongs with a doctor.

Creator of this program

Manish Rana

Founder of Asanaverse.de. Manish writes about yoga, Ayurveda and meditation, and owes his deep connection to yoga to his Indian roots. With over 1,000 hours of Yoga Alliance Teacher Training, he shares his knowledge with the community.

More about Manish →

Where to next

All programs

See the other programs

Every program here was built around one complaint and around the trials that studied it. Back, neck, knees, hips, sleep and stress, each one running for as long as the research says it takes.

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