🌙 Introduction
Struggling to fall asleep, or waking up feeling unrested? You’re not alone. In today’s fast-paced world, quality sleep often feels just out of reach. But here’s the good news: a simple bedtime yoga ritual can calm your nervous system, slow down racing thoughts, and gently guide your body into a restful state.
In this post, I’ll walk you through 5 gentle yoga poses for better sleep—all beginner-friendly and perfect for winding down at the end of a long day. No need for fancy equipment or advanced flexibility—just a few minutes, your breath, and a quiet space.
Let’s begin this journey inward, and let the stillness do its work.
🧘♀️ Pose #1: Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining Bound Angle Pose) 
This relaxing pose is great for calming the body and slowing the mind. It gently opens the hips and chest, helping release tension before bedtime.
How to Do It:
- Lie down on your back.
- Bring the soles of your feet together and let your knees fall out to the sides.
- Place your arms by your sides with palms facing up.
- Close your eyes and take slow, deep breaths.
Stay here for 3 to 5 minutes. You can place a cushion under your knees if needed.
Why It Helps:
This pose tells your body it’s safe to relax. It helps reduce stress and gently prepares you for sleep.
🧘♂️ Pose #2: Viparita Karani (Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose)
This is one of the simplest and most powerful poses for calming the body. It helps with blood flow, relaxes tired legs, and gives the nervous system a deep sense of rest.
How to Do It:
- Sit sideways near a wall.
- Lie back and bring your legs up to rest against the wall.
- Adjust so your lower back and hips are comfortable.
- Rest your arms by your sides and close your eyes.
Stay for 5 to 10 minutes.
Why It Helps:
It slows your heart rate, eases mental stress, and helps your body unwind.
🧘 Pose #3: Balasana (Child’s Pose) 
This gentle resting pose is perfect for calming the mind, slowing your breath, and gently stretching your back and hips.
How to Do It:
- Kneel on the floor with your big toes touching and knees apart.
- Lower your chest down between your thighs.
- Extend your arms forward or beside your body.
- Rest your forehead on the mat or a cushion.
Stay 1 to 3 minutes, breathing slowly.
Why It Helps:
It soothes the nervous system and brings a sense of comfort and peace.
🐄🐈 Pose #4: Marjaryasana–Bitilasana (Cat-Cow Stretch)
This gentle movement between two poses helps release tension in your spine, neck, and shoulders. It also connects movement with breath, which relaxes your whole system.
How to Do It:
- Start on your hands and knees in tabletop position.
- Inhale: lift head and tailbone, let belly drop (Cow Pose).
- Exhale: round spine, tuck chin and pelvis (Cat Pose).
- Repeat 6–10 slow breaths.
Why It Helps:
This moving stretch brings breath and body into harmony—like a soft massage from within.
💤 Pose #5: Savasana (Corpse Pose)
This pose looks simple but is deeply powerful. It helps you fully let go and guide your mind toward rest.
How to Do It:
- Lie flat on your back with arms and legs slightly apart.
- Let feet fall open and palms face up.
- Close your eyes and breathe slowly.
- Let go of all effort.
Stay for 5 to 10 minutes, soaking in stillness.
Why It Helps:
Savasana helps quiet the mind, relax the body, and ease you into restful sleep.
🎧 Try This Guided Meditation (Audio)
Settle into stillness with a short self-guided meditation, recorded in my voice—designed to gently ease you into restful sleep.
🔗Listen now on YouTube → https://rb.gy/i16zpd Breathe, let go, and allow yourself to unwind completely.
🌟 Closing Thoughts
Even just a few of these gentle poses at night can help reset your mind and body, bringing stillness that lasts beyond the mat. Over time, you may notice not just better sleep—but a deeper connection to rest, rhythm, and the subtle intelligence of breath.
Let this practice be your nightly invitation to pause, soften, and return inward.
🧘♂️ Join the 21-Day Meditation Journey
If you’re ready to deepen this experience, I invite you to join my 21-day guided meditation program—rooted in timeless Indian wisdom and curated for modern minds.
Each day is designed to bring calm, clarity, and true inner rest through practices like Cyclic Meditation, Yoga Nidra, and Vedic breathwork.
✨ Start your journey today—because restful sleep begins with conscious stillness.
Join the 21-Day Meditation Program → https://posts.gle/7PZWcy
📚 Further Reading on Yoga & Sleep
- 💤 Yoga and Sleep – How Gentle Movement Promotes Restful Nights – Sleep Foundation
Scientific insights into how yoga supports restful sleep by easing stress and supporting nervous system balance. - 🕉️ Role of Yoga in Improving Sleep Quality – Journal of Ayurveda and Integrated Medical Sciences
A research-backed view of how yogic techniques enhance sleep architecture and reduce insomnia symptoms.