Bedtime Yoga to Wind Down
Slow floor poses with long holds and a longer out-breath, to switch off at the end of the day. No standing and no effort: you finish lying down. Pick 5, 10 or 20 minutes.
9 poses · breathe 4 s in, 6 s out
Stop if something hurts, and check with a doctor before starting if you have a health condition, are pregnant or are recovering from an injury. Easier versions for knees and wrists are under each pose. SourcesTerms
The 10-minute sequence
| # | Pose | Hold |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Child’s Pose Knees complain? Put a pillow between your hips and heels, or one under your knees. | 6 breaths1:00 |
| 2 | Seated Forward Fold Sit on a folded blanket and bend your knees. | 5 breaths0:50 |
| 3 | Reclined Bound Angle A pillow under each knee, so nothing strains. | 6 breaths1:00 |
| 4 | Knees-to-Chest Pose Hold the backs of your thighs instead of your shins. | 4 breaths0:40 |
| 5 | Supine TwistLeft side | 4 breaths0:40 |
| 6 | Supine TwistRight side | 4 breaths0:40 |
| 7 | Happy Baby Hold the backs of your thighs instead of your feet. | 4 breaths0:40 |
| 8 | Legs Up the Wall No wall? Rest your calves on a chair, a sofa or the bed. | 10 breaths1:40 |
| 9 | Corpse Pose A pillow under your knees helps a sensitive lower back. | 10 breaths1:40 |
What the 10 minutes look like
You begin in child’s pose for six long breaths, then sit for a forward fold. Lie back with the soles of your feet together and your knees falling open, hug your knees in, let them fall to each side in a lying twist, and hold your feet in happy baby. Then rest your legs up a wall for ten breaths and finish in corpse pose for ten more. Every breath is 4 seconds in and 6 out, six a minute, and you get 6 seconds to move between poses, so nothing is rushed.
What the evidence says
Yoga does help sleep in trials. A review of 19 randomised trials in women with sleep problems found better sleep quality than with no active treatment (Wang et al., 2020), and NCCIH lists sleep among the areas where yoga has helped in several studies. The same review found no clear change in insomnia severity, so treat it as a wind-down, not a treatment for insomnia.
No study shows that one particular pose makes you sleepy. Legs up the wall and reclined bound angle are here because they are easy, supported positions you can hold for minutes without effort. The slow breath has a little more behind it: breathing at about six a minute with a longer out-breath raised measures of relaxation in small lab studies (Van Diest et al., 2014; Komori, 2018).
Make it part of winding down
The US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute suggests using the hour before bed for quiet time, without intense exercise or bright light. Turn your screen down, press Start and lay the phone beside you: the voice and the chime tell you when to move, so you don’t need to watch.
No wall nearby? Rest your calves on the bed or a chair, or stay in corpse pose instead. Trouble sleeping most nights for weeks is worth raising with a doctor.
Sources
- Wang et al., The effects of yoga on sleep quality and insomnia in women with sleep problems: a systematic review and meta-analysis (BMC Psychiatry), 2020
- Van Diest et al., Inhalation/exhalation ratio modulates the effect of slow breathing on heart rate variability and relaxation (Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback), 2014
- Komori, The relaxation effect of prolonged expiratory breathing (Mental Illness), 2018
- NHLBI (NIH): Healthy sleep habits, 2022
- NCCIH (NIH): Yoga: What You Need To Know, 2023
How this works: Method, 6 sources, Checked against 1 worked example,
How this works
Method
Each flow is a sequence of poses from the exercise library, held for a number of breaths or repeated in rounds, on both sides where a pose has sides. The timer paces every breath (2.5 seconds in and out by default; the time-of-day routines set their own, down to 4 in and 6 out at bedtime) and gives a few seconds to move into each pose, and the minutes shown are those seconds added up. The time-of-day routines are ordered so the effort builds and then settles: upright and on all fours first in the morning, standing to lying down in the evening, the floor only at bedtime.
Sources
- Wang et al., The effects of yoga on sleep quality and insomnia in women with sleep problems: a systematic review and meta-analysis (BMC Psychiatry) (2020)
- Van Diest et al., Inhalation/exhalation ratio modulates the effect of slow breathing on heart rate variability and relaxation (Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback) (2014)
- Komori, The relaxation effect of prolonged expiratory breathing (Mental Illness) (2018)
- NHLBI (NIH): Healthy sleep habits (2022)
- NCCIH (NIH): Yoga: What You Need To Know (2023)
- Cramer et al., Adverse events associated with yoga: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (American Journal of Epidemiology) (2015)
How it’s tested
One worked example for this page is checked by automated tests before every release: given the inputs, the tool must show the expected answer.
Limits
Stop if something hurts, and check with a doctor before starting if you have a health condition, are pregnant or are recovering from an injury.
Privacy
On your device. Nothing you enter or open leaves this browser. About privacy labels
Changes
- The guided player keeps time with the screen locked, picks up at the same pose after a reload, and Back shrinks it to a bar instead of closing it.
- Yoga by time of day: morning, afternoon desk, evening and bedtime routines in 2–3 lengths each, slower breath pacing in the evening, easier versions for knees and wrists, and 7 new poses.
- First version: guided follow-along flows with a 3D figure, a breath-paced timer, a chime and spoken pose names.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I do bedtime yoga in bed?
Most of it, on a firm mattress: child’s pose, the lying poses, the twist and corpse pose all work in bed, and you can rest your legs up the headboard or the wall beside it. The seated forward fold is easier on the floor.
Why is the out-breath longer than the in-breath?
Slow breathing with a long out-breath has relaxed people in lab studies more than the same pace with a long in-breath. Here each breath is 4 seconds in and 6 seconds out. If that feels like a strain, shorten it and breathe at your own pace.
What if I fall asleep during it?
That is fine. The session finishes on its own with a chime and a few quiet words, or in silence if you mute it first. The screen stays on while it runs, so lay the phone face down if the light bothers you.
Is bedtime yoga OK in pregnancy?
Ask your midwife or doctor first. NCCIH notes that pregnant women should avoid lying on their back for long, and most of this routine is on your back, so do the lying poses on your side instead.