After a tiring day, we often dream of only one thing: we would rather go to bed … But you should not take with you to your night rest the burden of daytime worries and muscle tension, which will not allow our sleep to become truly healing.
The practice of yoga helps to get rid of annoying thoughts, relieve nervous excitement, tension, stress. Designed by yoga teacher Virginie Cohen, this simple set can be performed while lying in bed, right in your pajamas, without special training or effort. To relax the body, calm breathing, and improve blood circulation, you can use three simple postures, practiced right before bed. However, you can choose from them and one or two that are most comfortable – the effect of these exercises will not keep you waiting.
Lying on your back, stretch out in bed; knees bent, feet shoulder-width apart. “Fold out” the lower back so that the kidney zone is as close as possible to the mattress. Slowly lift your lower abdomen up; then – the whole pelvis; then – gradually back, vertebra by vertebra, to the level of the shoulder blades, until the chest touches the chin. Remaining in this position, in a natural rhythm, take seven breaths in and out, then slowly, vertebra by vertebra, return your back to its original position. Lie still for a few moments, then repeat from the beginning three times.
This pose brings harmony back to the entire body. It helps to relax the legs and pelvis and stimulates the organs in the upper body. It can help relieve tension from the back and relieve pain in the spine.
Sit in a Turkish position with your back straight. Slowly turn the upper part of the body together with the head to the right, resting the fingers of your right hand on the mattress behind you, near the left buttock; Hold your right knee with your left palm. Breathe deeply through your nose, noting how your belly and bottom of your chest fill up on inhalation and fall off on exhalation. Inhale deeply, pulling your spine up, and as you exhale, twist. Try not to lift your shoulders. Take seven inhalations and exhalations and return to the starting position. Repeat the movement in the other direction.
This pose “opens” the chest and releases the solar plexus area, where tension often builds up towards the end of the day. Twisting relieves the spine of the stress that it experiences during the day.
The word mudra in Sanskrit means hand posture. Lying on the bed, place a small pillow under the back of your head; legs are separated to the width of the pelvis. Close your eyes and put your hands on the pubis – right on the left, the thumb of the right hand on the thumb of the left. Take a deep breath, hold the air in your lungs for three seconds, and exhale slowly. Repeat seven times. Then place your hand on your stomach just below the navel, changing hands (left to right, left thumb to right thumb), and again take seven breaths. Continue breathing in the same rhythm, placing your hands on the solar plexus area; then – to the chest at the level of the heart; then – on the throat, each time swapping the right and left. Stretch your arms along your body, close your eyes and imagine a blue sky. Light clouds float over it, a light breeze blows over you, you inhale pleasant smells … and slowly sink into sleep.
This pose rests the heart and calms the mind. The five lower chakras are once again filled with lightness and energy. It is better not to work with the upper chakras (forehead and crown) in the evening, so as not to stimulate brain activity before going to bed.
See also: interpretation of sleep.