Yoga Head to Knee Pose for Insomnia

Video Transcript

"Our next pose in our sequence for overcoming insomnia is a seated head to knee pose. All you are going to do is from your easy pose, take one leg out to your side. If you are sitting on your block in easy pose, remain sitting on your block for this pose. This pose is a great opening stretch. It's also a bit of a twist. I'm going to show you my favorite variation of gereshusasana. In which, you bring the elbow of the extended leg to the inside of the knee on the extended leg. Rest your head on your hand. It might take awhile to find where you are most comfortable. I like to place my hand right on my temple; other people like to place their ear in the hand. Either way, make sure your neck and hand are extended and you are not all crunched up like this. That is what you want to avoid. You want to keep this hip down, you want to extend through the crown of the head and place that elbow (place that head in the hand). Then, you will take the top arm (this is what deepens the twist), and you are going to place the hand on top of your head. So, you've got your elbows in a straight line. Keep pulling this top elbow back. You don't want to be like this and you don't want to let the elbow fall forward. You want to keep lifting the crown of the head; reaching ahead to this foot and you want to keep those elbows in one nice straight line. Find your way here, take a few breaths, inhaling and exhaling through the nose as many as you are comfortable with (at least five) inhaling and exhaling. Keep the heart open, breathing all the way down to the bottom of the belly. When you are ready, you are going to inhale to come back to center and you are going to switch sides. Move the elbow and repeat."