A few days ago we talked about how the practice of Yoga can help us reduce insomnia when it is caused by stress or anxiety of our day to day: postures that involve a forward bend or inverted asanas are the best options at the time to help us fall asleep.
Today we propose five different postures, with different degrees of difficulty, that you can include in your Yoga practice to sleep peacefully at night. Do we get down to work?
Balasana or child’s posture
One of the simplest and most comforting asanas you can practice. We just sit on our calves and flex the hip to support the torso on the floor. We can place the arms on the sides of the body or stretch them forward.
Find a comfortable position for you in this position : it is a relaxation posture that helps us to combat stress and fatigue. Stay in it for a few minutes and get up slowly to avoid dizziness.
Savasana or corpse posture
Although the name may be a little gloomy, it is one of the best asanas to fall asleep since all our muscles are immobile and completely relaxed. It is also a good posture to work the different phases of breathing until you get a full breath, something that will contribute to relax.
Its execution is very simple: we lie face up on the ground making sure that our neck and head are aligned with the back. We move the arms slightly away from the body and we spread our legs a little between each other.
Viparita Karani
The simple inverted posture or viparita karani is an asana that helps us improve blood circulation , since we raise the lower limbs above the head. We just lie on the ground lining up our back, neck and head and raise our legs to a ninety degree angle with the hip.
If we are beginners or if we can not stand long in this position, we can do it with the help of a wall, supporting the legs in it. It is important that we stick our butts to the wall to maintain the ninety degrees of inclination and that, if necessary, we place a cushion or a pillow under the back to be more comfortable.
Uttanasana or the standing caliper
Again another position of forward hip flexion that will help us sleep better. Eye because to perform it correctly we must have a good flexibility; otherwise, we can choose the half clamp, a little simpler.
We place ourselves standing (standing) with our feet together and we flex our hips forward down to the floor until our hands touch it. We place our hands on either side of the feet or behind the knees and let the head fall down relaxed. We can facilitate the movement with the breath, inspiring deeply before performing the flexion and releasing the air as we go down towards the ground.
Halasana or plow pose
A final position, a little more complicated, but that relaxes the back and shoulders, and improves blood flow. This is the plow pose: an investment asana in which the feet are above our head.
We lie on our backs with our arms on either side of our bodies. From there, we raise our legs to form a ninety-degree angle with our hips. We bring our legs back, behind our head, trying to reach as far as possible and, if we can, we support the feet on the ground (if not, we can rest the knees on the head). We have to make sure that the hip is right on our shoulders.
By practicing these postures we can improve the quality of our rest : one of the great benefits offered by Yoga.
