Yoga Health Secrets

Yoga for insomnia and fatigue

The Bridge Posture

From the Shoulderstand, and keeping your knees straight, very slowly lower your legs until your feet are flat on the floor. Do not lower your body from the waist upwards and keep your hands supporting the back in the most comfortable position which is usually on either side of the spine. Performed correctly this exercise makes the body look like a graceful bridge. Hold it for as long as you comfortably can and then slowly, very slowly, lower your body and then your hands until you are lying flat. Remain relaxed for a few minutes and take a few, deep recovery breaths. The Shoulderstand should always be followed by the Bridge Posture.

Although the Shoulderstand is one of the easier Yoga asanas I am aware that many of my readers will be either too ill or too stiff, or maybe even too overweight to perform this posture at all. In that case you will obtain many, though not all, of the benefits of the Shoulderstand by lying down on the floor in your bedroom with your feet up on the bed. Practise the relaxation exercise, Savasana, described in Chapter 2, with your feet above your head. Hold your body still and relaxed and try to calm your mind and clear away your mental and physical tensions. In cases of fatigue and insomnia you will find this practice of enormous help.

And now here is a very easy little ROCKING exercise which will also help people suffering from insomnia. It can be performed as a preliminary exercise to the Shoulderstand, as I will explain presently, or else as an exercise just before you get into bed at night to help you sleep.

Rocking Exercises

1. Sit down on the floor, draw up your knees and place your fingers behind your knees as in figure 7. Keep your head up and your back straight.

2. Let your body roll backwards until the back of your head touches the floor and your legs swing over your face. Keep your knees straight.

3. Rock yourself forwards again until you are in the starting position again.

Try this simple exercise a few times until you are able to control your movements. Remember to swing yourself back slowly so that your feet do not touch the floor behind your head. Use your hands to maintain your balance when you are perched on your seat and as your head goes down and your legs swing over. When you have gained some measure of control do the ROCKING EXERCISE as a slow and continuous movement, to and fro about a dozen times. You will find it very bracing and fatigue will soon disappear. Like so many other Yoga asanas it has the dual effect of producing energy in the body and at the same time calming the nerves. It is, therefore, beneficial both in cases of sleeplessness and of daytime fatigue.

Perform this exercise a dozen times and as you swing your legs over for the last time remove your hands from behind your knees and, supporting your back with them, rise into a SHOULDERSTAND. This is an excellent way of gathering momentum if you find it difficult to get into the Shoulderstand from the ordinary lying position. When you can perform the Rocking Exercise slowly and with absolute control, try then to match your breathing so that it is in rhythm with the to and fro movements of the exercise. All Yoga exercises should be accompanied by either Yoga deep breathing or rhythmic breathing.

Controlled breathing and stretching at the same time is the easiest method of quickly restoring freshness and vitality to a tired body. In particular the BACKWARD BEND calls into play not only the muscles of the back, torso and arms, but it also tones and refreshes the nerves, and taxes the sense of balance, therefore requiring a certain amount of concentration and discipline. There are many Yoga exercises which combine deep breathing with stretching and I will mention the most useful ones throughout this book. Here I choose the BACKWARD BEND for its particularly beneficial effects in the case of neurasthenia or nervous exhaustion.