10 Yoga Poses for Better Sleep

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Sleep deprivation can make you go crazy. If you’re spending too many hours tossing and turning, these 10 yoga poses could help you relax and de-stress to get a quality eight hours. Take a break from counting sheep and try a few of these poses every night in your comfortable Australian gym wear, and you might just find you sleep like a baby. Namaste!

  1. Child’s Pose

Child’s pose is known as a recovery pose for a reason: it helps stabilize your heart rate, stretch out your legs, back and arms all at once, and decompress your lower body. This pose can be great before bed to calm you down and get a full body stretch pre-snooze. Simply sit back on your heels and bend forward to rest your stomach and chest on your legs and knees with your hands straight in front of you.

  1. Legs Up the Wall

This pose is a great bedtime stretch, especially if one side of your bed borders a wall. Prop your legs up against the wall, letting the mattress support your back. You should feel a gentle stretch along your hamstrings and your heart rate will slow as the blood slowly trickles back down to your heart. This pose can be very soothing, and your lower back will thank you.

  1. Cobbler’s Pose

Recline onto your back and bend your legs so that the bottoms of your feet touch. Rest one hand on your heart and one hand on your stomach. Breathe deeply to feel your body relax into this intense hip-opening pose that will make you feel all kinds of limber after.

  1. Knees to Chest

If your lower back feels tense from sitting all day, try this easy pose to gently massage out the kinks. Lay on your back with your legs pulled up into your chest, wrap your arms around your legs and rock gently side to side and forwards and backwards.

  1. Supine Twist

This is a great pose that you can easily do in bed: lay flat on your back with your arms outstretched at your sides and bring your legs into a 90-degree position. Gently rotate your legs to the right so that they’re resting on the ground, and look over your left shoulder. Hold the pose on both sides for 60 seconds to feel a gentle wringing of your midsection.

  1. Cat and Cow

The cat and cow stretch is another great pose to help you relax. Start on all fours, inhale, and gently arch your back while looking upward. Exhale, and round your back while looking down. Repeat this cycle a few times and you should feel your back, shoulders, and neck loosen.

  1. Forward Fold

This pose is amazing for calming you down before bed. It’s also a great full-body stretch that will work out any kinks while lengthening the spine. Stand with your feet hip-width apart and fold forward over your legs. Bend your knees as much as you need to so that you can truly sink into the stretch. Grab hold of opposite elbows, and let yourself gently sway from side to side. Your hips, back and neck will thank you!

  1. Cross-legged Forward Fold

This hip-opening stretch will help you de-stress in time for bed, since the hips tend to store a lot of tension and anxiety. Sit up tall in a cross-legged position and fold forward from the hips, stretching your arms out as far in front of you as possible while keeping your shoulders lowered and back. Breathe deeply and hold the position; after 30 seconds, you can relax your entire upper body and let yourself slouch over your legs.

  1. Happy Baby

As adorable as this pose sounds, it can do wonders for stretching out your lower body by contracting your tense muscles. Lay flat on your back, and grab the soles of your feet. With your legs bent, rock from side to side—as if you were a happy baby rocking in your cradle. All you’re missing is a lullaby!

  1. Savasana

The absolute best yoga pose to help you fall asleep is “Savasana”, also known as corpse pose. If that doesn’t already tell you all you need to know, this pose has you lying flat on your back with your arms by your sides and your feet splayed apart. It’s a great position to practice deep breathing and meditation, which will put you to sleep in no time.

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