Practicing with Insomnia

I'm having difficulty doing a consistent morning home practice due to insomnia, and I'm too tired to practice after work. Any suggestions?

By John Friend

—Paula, Danville, California

John Friend's reply:

Here are a few tricks to help you sleep better, so that you can wake up in the morning bright and refreshed, ready to do your yoga practice.

Do a regular yoga routine throughout the week. Alternate days of focus on backbends and forward bends. In general, backbends are stimulating, while forward bends are calming. If you overemphasize backbends or perform them with misalignment, then you are likely to overstimulate your adrenals and will be energized rather than relaxed when you try to go to sleep.

Meditate every day. Sit for 10 to 20 minutes at whatever time is convenient for you, but try to make a daily commitment. Focus on the gap—the still point—between your inhalation and exhalation, which can take you to a place of deep peace.

Go to bed before 10 p.m. Prana, or the vital force in the body, changes significantly approximately every 2 1/2 hours. Between the hours of 6 and 10 p.m., the energy of the body will be more earthy, heavy, slow, and quiet, so it is the easiest and best time to go to sleep. Between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., the subtle energy of the body becomes more fiery, and mental alertness increases. Around midnight, the internal fire of the body can arouse hunger. So, if you are awake at that time, you will most likely want to eat, and of course a full stomach can make sleeping deeply very difficult. Eat a light dinner early, and try to enjoy a relaxing evening.

Spend some quiet time before bed. Enjoy inspirational reading or soothing music before you go to sleep.

Before getting into bed, massage your feet for a few minutes with sesame oil, ghee, or olive oil. If you have a fiery constitution, you can use coconut oil, which is cooling. This is a very helpful way to quiet the mind. Also, wiping the oil off with a cool cloth is purported to induce a calming effect on the sleep centers of the brain.

If you are still having trouble falling asleep, or if you wake up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep readily, then try a few minutes of supported Shoulderstand (done with a chair) and/or supported Bridge Pose (with the torso and legs supported).

John Friend, is the founder of Anusara Yoga, which combines the celebration of the heart, the art of inner body awareness, and the science of universal principles of alignment. For more information, please visit www.Anusara.com.

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