At the end of a long day, yoga stretches can help you relax and relieve built-up stress. Fitness Magazine reports that doing eight minutes of yoga in bed may allow insomniacs to fall asleep easier. Mild inversions and restorative poses can calm the nervous system and help you fall asleep and stay asleep through the night.
Inversions
You don't have to be able to stand on your head to reap the benefits of inverted asanas. Lying on your back with your buttocks against the wall and your legs extended for three to five minutes is just as good. You may find that your lower back needs extra support and wish to place a pillow under your hips. If this pose is too much of a stretch for your hamstrings, you can scoot slightly away from the wall. Shoulders should be relaxed away from the ears. Focusing on your breathing, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth can help calm the chatter of your mind. You may wish to repeat a mantra as you breathe. Contraindications for inversions are pregnancy, low blood pressure or glaucoma. Some yoga teachers also advise against inverted asanas during menstruation.
Child's Pose
Child's pose is easy to do in bed and helps relax the muscles of the back and neck. In this asana, you sit on your heels with your knees apart, then allow your upper body to relax over the knees and your forehead to touch the floor. Variations on child's pose include stretching the arms straight out in front of you or relaxing them along your sides with your palms facing up. According to yogi Subodh Gupta, this asana is so relaxing it may lead to sleep within minutes. Pregnant women, people with knee injuries or those suffering from diarrhea may wish to avoid this pose.
Seated Spinal Twist
The seated spinal twist helps release tension all the way up the back. This asana can be done sitting cross-legged or with one leg extended. If you choose the extended-leg version, the opposite knee is bent and the foot placed on the outside of the straight knee. On an inhale, the arm on the straight-leg side is raised and, on the exhale, placed on the outside of the bent knee. Deep inhalations and exhalations help twist the body further into the pose. If you have a headboard, you may choose the cross-legged version. You can hang onto the headboard with the opposite hand to ease your body into the twist.
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