Phase 1 · Build the Ritual

Part of the 4 Week Evening Yoga Program for Better Sleep

10 Minute Yoga Sequence for Bedtime

For the night the long one is not going to happen. Ten minutes, all of it on the floor.

This exists so that the ritual never has to be skipped. On a late night, a night out, or a night when you simply cannot face twenty minutes, this keeps the slot. Everything in it is done lying down or sitting, and the whole thing can be finished on the bedroom floor with the lights already low.

10 min · Level 1

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When it helps

Any night the longer session will not happen, and any night you get into bed and cannot settle. Ten minutes, a blanket and a wall. This is for winding down and for how well you feel you sleep. It is not a treatment for a diagnosed sleep disorder, and it is not the answer to sleep apnoea, which is a mechanical problem and belongs with a doctor.

Wind down

A long exhale and two passive positions. Nothing that needs concentration.

Physical effect

Hips and the backs of the legs, gently, with everything supported.

Consistency

A short session you keep beats a good one you drop. That is the whole reason this one exists.

Ten minutes, low light

Sitting, then lying, then done. No transitions worth thinking about.

Sukhasana

2 min

Easy Pose

Sit up on a cushion. Breathe in for four and out for six, and let the out breath get slowly longer.

A long out breath is the shortest route to slowing down, and it works in a bed as well as on a mat.

Learn more about Sukhasana

Balasana

2 min

Child's Pose

Knees wide, forehead down on a cushion or your folded arms.

The head being lower than the heart with something soft under it does something a description never quite captures.

Learn more about Balasana

Supta Hasta Padangusthasana

1 min each side

Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose

On your back, strap or belt around one foot, knee bent as much as you like.

The one thing in this sequence that asks for anything, and it is not much.

Learn more about Supta Hasta Padangusthasana

Viparita Karani

3 min

Legs Up the Wall

Legs up the wall, or up the headboard, or on a chair seat. Any of those works.

Three minutes here is the most efficient part of the whole program.

Learn more about Viparita Karani

Apanasana

1 min

Knees to Chest Pose

Knees in, arms loose, no effort.

A small shape on the way to lying flat.

Learn more about Apanasana

Savasana

1 min

Corpse Pose

Flat, and then get straight into bed.

A minute, and then stop. The point of this one is to be over.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 1 · Weeks 1 to 2

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to Build the Ritual, the first phase of the 4 Week Evening Yoga Program for Better Sleep. The program says how often to practise it, what comes before and after, and when to move on.

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Integration

On any night that needs it, throughout the four weeks and afterwards. This is the version most people are still doing a year later.

The teacher behind this sequence

Gründer & Autor

Manish Rana

Gründer von Asanaverse.de. Manish schreibt über Yoga, Ayurveda und Meditation und verdankt seine tiefe Verbindung zum Yoga seinen indischen Wurzeln. Mit über 1000 Stunden Yoga Alliance Teacher Training gibt er sein Wissen an die Community weiter.

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Go deeper into the poses

Every asana in this practice has a page of its own. You will find alignment cues, what the shape actually works on, and the energetics behind it.

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Make it yours

Keep this practice in your library, print it for the mat, or build your own sequence from all 108 asanas.

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