Teaching Yin Yoga for Sleep: TCM Wisdom for Restful Nights
Yin Yoga is a wonderful practice to prepare for sleep.
From a TCM perspective, sleep and wake time are a balance of the opposite but complementary energetic forces Yin and Yang. Sleep will occur once you are able to let go of your day and the Yin energy dominates, allowing the body and mind to rest and come to being. As you wake again and start the day, Yang energy kicks in, driving activity and wakefulness.
Sleep disturbances often reflect an imbalance in Yin and Yang: excess Yang could look like restlessness, difficulty falling asleep and/or deficient Yin could mean you are not able to stay asleep or waking up frequently.
Reflection prompt: Do I find a balance of Yin and Yang in my everyday life?
SLEEP AND EMOTIONS in TCM
There is a bidirectional relationship between sleep and emotional regulation/ mental wellbeing in Oriental and likewise in Western medicine. Adequate sleep is crucial for regeneration and our wellbeing, without enough sleep, our ability to regulate emotions can become compromised, leading to increased reactivity, irritability and difficulty in coping with stressors.
According to Oriental medicine, the Shen (=mind/spirit) resides in the Heart and plays a vital role in sleep. Disturbances such as stress, overwork and unresolved thoughts or emotions can lead to the fact that we go to bed too late, feel scattered or waking up during the night.
When the Shen (the mind matter) can’t settle in the heart at night, finding sound sleep becomes a challenge.
The Heart and Kidneys are two closely-related Zang organs, and inability to sleep can stem from too much hyperactivity in the Heart and too little Yin energy (= deficiency) in the Kidneys. The water element cannot cool/ contain the fire of the heart.
How can we invite more Yin into the body to cool or balance too much activity? We can work with grounding and nourishing Yin poses, acupressure or slow exhalations.
Another aspect is the spirit of the Liver = the Hun, which influences sleep and dreaming. If the Hun is well rooted in the Liver, sleep is sound and without too many dreams.
If the Hun wanders off at night, because it can’t find residence in the liver, it is causing restless sleep with many crazy dreams.
To improve sleep, we can harmonize the energy in the body, particularly of the Heart, Liver and Kidney system with gentle Yin Yoga, acupressure, breath awareness and visualization.
Find more about sleep behavior, the dynamics of Yin and Yang in your day in this short sleep guide: Sleep better with Yin & acupressure.
How Yin Yoga Prepares You for Sleep
Yin Yoga is a great practice to switch to night mode, to find your Yin-side and turn inwards. I recently taught a Workshop on sleep and how to use Yin Yoga, acupressure to prepare you for sound sleep.
Release of physical tension: switch to rest & digest mode
We use long-held, passive poses in Yin Yoga that target the deeper connective tissues and gently stimulate the energy channels (meridians). This slow pace soothes the nervous system, reduces stress hormones and encourages a sense of calm. This is our entry point.
Slowing down to notice what is on your mind
Throughout the practice of Yin Yoga I like to remind my students to go inward with interoceptive enquiry and then leave moments of stillness. This helps the practitioner to become aware of the subtle litte shifts and changes in the body, she is coming home to the ground of the body. In moments of stillness the student might become aware of mental chatter, and allow it to dissipate.
This mindful way of feeling inside the body and allowing space to open up over time gives your students the opportunity to let go of any unnecessary stress, agenda, thoughts and come to the here and now.
In this state, you have switched into Yin mode and finding sleep will become easier.
Enhancing Touch + Relaxation with Acupressure
Acupressure can deepen the relaxation Yin Yoga provides as you stimulate a specific point along a meridian pathway. This stimulation brings awareness and circulation to this area, allowing tension to dissipate and the energy to flow freely along the energy channel. Here are a two acupressure points I love to incorporate into my Yin practice:
Acupressure point Kidney 1 (Bubbling Spring)
Located on the sole of the foot, this point grounds and calms the body. Use your thumbs to apply gentle pressure or massage in a circular pattern. In the video, I use this in point in combination with a Yin Yoga pose to ground the energy down and away from the head.
FREE Workbook: Integrate Acupressure in your Yin Yoga class
Integrate wisdom of Oriental medicine and use acupressure massage with Yin Yoga for a harmonious flow of Qi.
A Simple Evening Yin Sequence
This gentle practice helps shift your nervous system into the parasympathetic state, the “Yin” side of being. This is setting the stage for deep, restorative rest.
The poses chosen will work predominantly on the energetic channels of the Heart, Liver and Kidney organ systems, nourishing these systems can positively influence our ability to fall asleep and stay asleep.
We try to encourage any scattered energy to settle back into the body & heart space and feed the grounding energy of the water element.
Be well,
Simone x