A 10-Minute Evening Yoga Routine for Better Rest

A 10-Minute Evening Yoga Routine for Better Rest

If you are rolling into bed with a racing mind and a tight body, you are forcing your system to transition from 100 to 0 miles per hour with no braking distance. The result? Tossing, turning, and shallow sleep.

This 10-minute restorative sequence acts as a natural brake pedal. It targets areas where we store daytime tension—the hips, lower back, and neck—while signaling to your nervous system that it is safe to downregulate and sleep.

The Nighttime Sequence

1.Child's Pose (Balasana):2 Minutes.

Knees wide, big toes touching. Sink your hips back toward your heels and drape your torso between your thighs. Rest your forehead on the mat or a pillow. Walk your fingertips forward to stretch the lattice of muscles across your back. Breathe deeply into your belly, letting your ribcage expand laterally.

2.Supported Supine Twist (Supta Matsyendrasana):3 Minutes.

Lie on your back and hug your knees into your chest. Drop both knees over to the left side, keeping your right shoulder anchored to the floor. If the knees don't easily touch the ground, place a pillow under or between them. Hold for 90 seconds, then slowly switch sides. Twists help release tension around the spine and stimulate the vagus nerve.

3.Legs-Up-The-Wall Pose (Viparita Karani):3 Minutes.

Scoot your hips as close to a wall as comfortable and swing your legs straight up the wall so your body forms an L-shape. Rest your arms out to the sides, palms up. Close your eyes. This gentle inversion uses gravity to drain pooled fluid from the lower legs, unloads pressure from the cardiovascular system, and instantly triggers the parasympathetic ("rest and digest") nervous system.

4.Reclined Bound Angle Pose (Supta Baddha Konasana):2 Minutes.

Directly from the wall or flat on your bed, bring the soles of your feet together and let your knees fall open wide like a book. Place pillows under your outer thighs for support so your hip flexors can fully relax without gripping. Rest one hand on your heart and one on your belly, focusing entirely on making your exhales longer than your inhales.

The Science of the Exhale: When you deliberately lengthen your exhalations so they last twice as long as your inhalations, you stimulate the vagus nerve. This triggers a release of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that tells your heart to slow down and your muscles to unwind.