Better Sleep Is Closer Than You Think:

And It Starts With Just 10 Minutes on Your Yoga Mat

Do you have trouble getting to sleep? Do you toss and turn? Wake up in the night, your mind racing, unable to get back to sleep?Get up tired and exhausted?

Now we have evidence to support what you may have already figured out for yourself: yoga works to help sleep.

A major study published in Sleep and Biological Rhythms looked at 30 trials from more than a dozen countries, involving over 2,500 people experiencing sleep disturbances (Zhu et al., 2024).

One of the clearest findings: yoga consistently supports better sleep.

But here’s what matters most for real-life practice: the benefit doesn’t come from working harder. It comes from letting the nervous system settle.

Why Yoga Helps You Sleep

Yoga improves sleep through a unique blend of slow movement, breath regulation, and mindful attention. Together, these shift the body away from the stress-driven “fight or flight” mode and into the calmer parasympathetic state associated with rest and recovery.
Legs Up the Wall (Viparita Karani)

Three key reasons yoga supports deeper, more continuous sleep:

• Breath regulation – slow exhalations activate the vagus nerve and soothe the nervous system.
• Gentle movement – reduces muscular tension and lowers evening stress hormones.
• Mental quietening – mindful awareness helps interrupt the day’s mental momentum.

Even simple, supported poses can change the tone of your night.

Downward Facing Hero (Adho Mukha Virasana)

Try This Tonight (The poses many of my students find very effective before bed):

• Downward Facing Hero (Adho Mukha Virasana with bolster)
• Reclining Bound Angle (Supta Baddha Konasana with bolster)
• Legs Up the Wall (Viparita Karani with hips on a bolster)
• Gentle spinal twists on a bolster (Bharadvajasana on a bolster)
• Slow exhale-focused breathing through pursed lips

Reclining Bound Angle (Supta Buddha Konasana)

Ten or fifteen quiet minutes can shift your entire night’s rest. Yoga works, not by forcing the body, but by teaching it how to soften and release.

Come to my classes and find out more!

Rob