Pillow yoga: 5 relaxing yoga poses you can do in bed to sleep better

Have you ever found yourself awake in the bed tossing and turning from side to side but with no sign of sleep? Well if the answer is yes, we get you. Lack of sleep may happen due to various reasons like poor lifestyle habits, disturbed circadian rhythm, stress, and much more. But, whatever the reason is, lack of sleep makes us wake up groggy, tired, and snappy. A little something like Shrek!  On our quest to find ways to sleep better, we found an interesting Instagram reel.

The reel was shared by a certified yoga instructor who goes by her Instagram handle, Yoga with Kamya. It is focused on an amalgamation of 5 easy yoga poses that are bound to make you feel relaxed and prepare you to sleep like a baby.

Here are 5 yoga poses that can help you to sleep better:

1. Pigeon stretch

• Place a pillow in front.
• Crossover your leg and sit on your left thigh, keep the left heel touching your right hip.
• Stretch the right leg behind.
• While exhaling, bend forward extending your hands in front
• Keep your chest resting on the pillow.
• Hold the position for 10 seconds and inhale and walk back with hands lifting your torso.
• Switch to the other leg and do the pigeon stretch pose.

2. Cat cow

• For cat cow pose, get on all fours, in a tabletop position on the bed.
• Align your wrists right under your shoulders and your knees below your hips.
• Keep your back and neck straight and look down, balancing your weight evenly between all four points.
• Inhale and look up, pushing your shoulders further away from your ears.
• Your belly drops down, but keep your abdominal muscles hugging your spine by drawing your navel in.
• Now exhale and drop your head down, pointing your chin towards your chest and your tailbone towards the yoga mat.
• Continue this fluid movement for at least one minute.

3. Forward fold

• For this position, spread your legs in front of you.
• Place a pillow on your lap vertically.
• Now inhale and bend over onto the pillow.
• Exhale as you lift up your torso.
• Repeat the process 5 times.

4. Happy baby

• To do this pose, lay down on the bed.
• Inhale and lift up your legs towards the ceiling.
• Raise your hands towards the ceiling and try to hold your toes.
• Curl your legs to reach your toes and relax your body.
• Sway your torso from side to side.

5. Reclining butterfly

• This asana is a reclining variation of ‘titli asana’ or ‘Baddha Konasana’. To do this posture, lay down on bed and tuck both the feet close to the pelvis area.
• Clap your hands together tightly.
• Flutter your legs from the pelvis mimicking the wings of a butterfly.

Check out this post for a video guide: