Yoga Before Bed: General Tips

I get this question all the time…while I have several posts on Yoga Stretches Before Bed (see below), I thought I’d spend a little time explaining what type of poses you want to do at night vs. what type you might want to avoid.

First, the answer is YES.  Absolutely you can do yoga before bed…and if you have trouble getting your mind to wind down, you should do some gentle stretches and breathing exercises to aid sleep.

Breathing before Bed

What you should do:

• Slow, steady breaths – breathing in and out through your nose – 3 part breath helps us get out of our head, our to-do list and by focusing on our breathing pattern, it calms us.
• Longer exhale breathing – We call this a 2:1 breath, where your exhale is twice as long as your inhale.  Start by simply counting the length of your inhale and exhale in your mind and start to make your exhale longer.  You don’t want to overdo where you are gasping for breath – this should always feel comfortable.  Work up to the exhale being twice as long as the inhale…continue for 6-8 breaths.

What you should avoid:

• Breath retention – holding the breath creates stimulation (& stress) in the body…if you’ve learned breath retention techniques in a yoga class, save them for during the day.
• Mouth breathing – A wise teacher once told us “our mouth is for eating and talking and our nose is for smelling and breathing”… our nose is a natural filter for the air we breathe. Steady breaths in and out through the nose are more calming than breathing in and out through the mouth.

Stretches before Bed

What you should do:

• Slow, gentle movements – try to find movements where you’re slowly able to move with your breath.  The movements shouldn’t be complicated…we want the mind to be winding down for the night.  So, Cat & Cow stretch,  Modified Plank to Child’s Pose flow are good choices.
• Forward-folding stretches – when we fold forward, it calms our nervous system.  1 leg forward fold is a nice option…gently allowing your upper body to come towards  your leg without force or strain. Standing forward fold with knees bent, allowing gravity to help coax your upper body towards the floor.  And a favorite before bed: Child’s pose with your arms alongside you, resting.

What you should avoid:

• Quick, active movements – I will give one exception here.  If you are really wound up and anxious, doing some Full Flows (Sun Salutations) or Sunflowers to burn off excess energy may do you some good…but in general, we want to find calming movements.  You might try more active poses and movements earlier in the evening – maybe after work.
• Energizing poses – Whenever we lift the chest in poses like Camel, Chest Expansion, we’re increasing our energy… great poses to do in the morning or in lieu of that afternoon coffee break…but not at night.

Other posts on Yoga Before Bed:

Breathing Awareness Exercise

Yoga Stretches before Bed

Mild Inversions Can Aid Sleep, Reduce Stress

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