Phase 2 · Take It Into Bed

Part of the 4 Week Evening Yoga Program for Better Sleep

25 Minute Yoga Sequence for Deep Relaxation Before Sleep

Weeks three and four. Almost entirely lying down, and built around a guided body scan.

This is the session for a mind that will not stop rather than a body that will not settle. Three positions and then twelve minutes of lying still with your attention moving slowly through the body, part by part. That practice is the one place in this whole field where a study with a sleep laboratory found something measurable happening, and it is also the most reliably pleasant twelve minutes in the program.

25 min · Level 1

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When it helps

For weeks three and four, and any night where the thinking is the problem rather than the tiredness. Twenty-five minutes. A blanket, a bolster or cushions, and somewhere warm. 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

Twelve uninterrupted minutes of guided relaxation, which is the core of it. Everything before that is preparation.

Physical effect

Three supported positions to make lying still comfortable, and nothing else.

For a busy mind

Moving your attention slowly through the body gives the thinking something to do that is not the day you just had.

Settle in

Six minutes to get comfortable enough that lying still is easy.

Sukhasana

3 min

Easy Pose

Sitting up on a cushion. In for four, out for six, and let the out breath lengthen.

Three minutes of a longer out breath before you lie down, so the settling has already started.

Learn more about Sukhasana

Balasana

3 min

Child's Pose

Knees wide, forehead down on a cushion. Stay long enough to stop fidgeting.

Three minutes rather than one. It takes a while for this to stop being a stretch and start being a rest.

Learn more about Balasana

Supta Virasana

2 min

Reclining Hero Pose

Supported over a bolster, sitting on a block. Leave it out if the knees complain and go straight on.

The front of the body opening after a day of being folded forward. Genuinely optional.

Learn more about Supta Virasana

Supta Hasta Padangusthasana

1 min each side

Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose

Strap around one foot, knee bent.

The last thing you do before you stop doing anything.

Learn more about Supta Hasta Padangusthasana

The long part

Sixteen minutes without moving. The instructions from here are about attention rather than the body.

Viparita Karani

4 min

Legs Up the Wall

Legs up the wall. Start the body scan here: attention at the feet, then slowly upwards, a few seconds at each part, no judgement about what you find.

Starting the scan with the legs up means you are already comfortable when the mind starts wandering, which it will.

Learn more about Viparita Karani

Apanasana

2 min

Knees to Chest Pose

Knees in, arms loose. Keep the attention moving upward through the body.

A change of shape without a change of state.

Learn more about Apanasana

Savasana

10 min

Corpse Pose

Flat, warm, covered. Finish the scan through the chest, the arms, the neck and the face. Then let go of the instructions and simply lie there.

Ten minutes, which is longer than anything else in this program. If you fall asleep here, get into bed and do not treat it as a failed session.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 2 · Weeks 3 to 4

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to Take It Into Bed, the second 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

Three or four times a week in weeks three and four, and afterwards whenever the mind is the thing keeping you up. The body scan is also the part that works in bed, which is the real point of learning it.

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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