Can’t Sleep? Try These 6 Restorative Poses Right in Bed

Unless you are secretly a superhero, your body requires sleep. But very often when bedtime comes at the end of a busy day, it’s hard to allow the body and mind to slow down. You check email, you scroll through social media, and you fall down the rabbit hole. Before you know it, it’s midnight, the blue light from your electronics has thrown off your circadian rhythm—the body’s biological clock that regulates the 24-hour cycle of each day—and you can no longer fall asleep properly. According to Ayurveda, the hours between 10 pm and 2 am are governed by the Pitta dosha, which allows you to digest all things from food to information and emotions. Pitta helps to restore and renew all major systems of our body. When you skip sleep during this precious 4-hour window, you miss a vital opportunity to heal. A good night's rest affects how you relate to the world, thus decreasing depression, anxiety, heart rate, and blood pressure to name just few benefits. Proper sleep increases stress resilience, optimism, memory, metabolism, and even our ability to problem solve.

1

Child’s Pose (Balasana), Supported

Sets:

Weight:

Reps:

Time:

Distance:

Intensity:

Rest your chest and belly on one or two stacked pillows with knees wide apart and big toes touching. Rest an ear on the pillow, eyes closed, and jaw and belly relaxed. Your arms can rest on the sides ...

2

Supported Half Frog Pose (Ardha Bhekasana)

Sets:

Weight:

Reps:

Time:

Distance:

Intensity:

Lie on your belly, with pillows under the belly optional. Extend one leg out to the side and bend it at a 90-degree angle with your knee level with your hip. Invite the opposite leg to straighten and ...

3

Reclining Bound Angle Pose (Supta Baddha Konasana)

Sets:

Weight:

Reps:

Time:

Distance:

Intensity:

Lie flat on your back. Bring the soles of your feet together with legs bent. Place a pillow under both thighs and an optional pillow behind the head, folding the pillows if needed for more support. Pl...

4

Wind-Relieving Pose (Pawanmuktasana)

Sets:

Weight:

Reps:

Time:

Distance:

Intensity:

Lying flat on your back with an optional pillow behind your head. Straighten and extend one leg long in front of you and bend the other leg, hugging it in toward your side body as if your knee could t...

5

Supported Reclining Twist

Sets:

Weight:

Reps:

Time:

Distance:

Intensity:

Lie flat on your back. Bend both legs at a 90-degree angle and let them fall to the right. With knees stacked and hips level, slide one or two pillows between your thighs. Extend your arms straight ou...

6

Corpse Pose (Savasana)

Sets:

Weight:

Reps:

Time:

Distance:

Intensity:

Allow your body to rest with hands by your sides or on stomach. You can place pillows under your upper thighs or behind knees for more support if desired. With eyes closed and jaw and torso relaxed, f...