Restorative yoga for sleep (8 min)
Get a great night's rest by trying these yoga moves right before bed.
Transcript
DANA TAFT: Hi. I'm Dana Taft. Have you ever heard of restorative yoga? It's a wonderful practice of slowing down and holding
postures a bit longer. It's a great tool to add right before going to bed. I'm going to walk you through a few yoga moves
that you can incorporate into your nighttime routine to help you get a great night's rest.
To begin, let's come to a seated posture and extend your legs long. Here, you're going to find a nice, tall seated position
right above your sits bones. Inhale your arms up high. Exhale. Round your back, and reach towards your feet.
You may even be able to grab your feet, tuck your chin in and fold.
In this rounded back posture, take a few deep breaths. Inhale through your nose.
Exhale. Again, like that.
One more here. With the spine still rounded, press back to sit up tall.
Nice. Bring one foot in so that the sole of that foot is pressed inside your leg almost like a figure four.
Turn your heart over your thigh and reach once again towards your foot. Even if you don't grab it, just hold onto your leg and fold.
Try and see if you can imagine your nose going towards your knee here in Nose To Knee posture.
Take a few deep breaths here. As you feel release happen in your low back and at your hips.
You may even notice your arms getting closer to the ground and your heart melting over your thigh.
On your next inhale, press into the ground to lift your heart. Good. Now, hug that knee up.
Press the sole of your foot down. We're going for a twist over your thigh. Take your arm across your thigh and turn your thumb down.
This is going to become an anchor as your hand extends behind your back. Sit really tall and twist.
Look back. So many options with this arm. You can see if you can bend it and press it towards the Earth
as you give your spine a nice twist. Imagine the muscles wrapping around the bones.
Good. Inhale. Come back to center. Take that ankle. And this time, you're going to cross it over your thigh.
Flex your foot and bend the bottom leg so you're stacking your shins on top of one another.
You might find that there's lots of space here. And for support, you can add a prop, like a blanket or a pillow.
In this Fire Log position, lift your heart. Sit tall and hinge from your hips forward.
With a nice flat back, breathe into this posture.
One more here. Inhale to come back up.
Extend your legs long in front of you, once again. This time we're going to reach up high. And instead of rounding the back, lead with your heart
and reach towards your feet. Again, if you don't grab your feet, no problem. Just hold on to where you can.
Keep your back flat, making sure that your shoulders don't go round. So with that flat back, lean your heart forward and breathe.
Take one more breath. Activate those toes.
On your inhale, come up. Let's create those same shapes on the other side of your body. Bring that sole of your foot inside of the leg.
Turn your heart over your thigh. Reach and fold. You're imagining your nose going toward your knee,
for Nose To Knee pose. As you breathe, you may notice your heart melting
over your thigh. You might even notice your arms getting closer to the ground.
Take one more breath in this pose.
Press into the ground to inhale. Lift your heart up. Good. Place that foot down on the ground.
Sit nice and tall. Cross your arm over your leg, and turn your thumb down
to become an anchor. Reach back and twist. Sitting up really tall, look back.
Again, with this hand, you can do lots of things to help you find stability and to twist,
wring out the center of your body. One more breath here.
Good. Come back to center. Take your ankle over your thigh. Flex that top foot and draw in your bottom foot for Fire Log
pose. Stack your shins on top of one another, activating your toes.
Again, if you have that space here, add a prop. Flat back. Lean your heart forward.
Breathe here. Use your breath to soften your muscles.
One more here. Inhale. Come back up. Great job.
Plant both feet for Tabletop position. Press your hands down, fingers away from your heels.
Ground down through the four corners of your feet and your hands. Inhale. Lift your hips. Lift your heart and look back.
See how, with your breath, you can press into the ground and lift your hips even higher.
Your last bit of energy for the day. And exhale. Drop those hips.
And come to lie on your back. Bring your feet together and your knees
wide in this Butterfly position. Lie back as you settle down.
Let your hips release and your palms face up. And breathe in this posture.
Let gravity relax your body as you prepare for rest.
Squeeze your thighs together. Press down through your feet. Gently, start to lift yourself back up.
Great job. Try incorporating these restorative yoga postures in your nighttime routine for quality rest.
yoga
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