Families everywhere can relate to how hard it can be for some children to settle off to sleep at night. Frustrated parents and tired children often ask if there is anything that Yoga can do to help children drift off to sleep easily. 

There are many individual reasons why some children have difficulty calming down to sleep at the end of the day. Trouble going to sleep can range from anxiety, stress or the result of an over-active mind for instance. Minimising and reducing stimulants such as bright room lights, flickering lights and loud noises from the television and computer, and creating a peaceful, quiet nighttime environment in the home can be a help to everyone. 

Contrary to most bedtime patterns, reading in bed as a practice keeps the mind active. Try to rearrange your day so that reading time is separate from bedtime, and that reading does not occur in the bed at all. For those children having difficulty going to sleep, it is a good practice to make sure they don’t use their beds as a play area or reading area at any time of the day, keeping bed as a place for sleeping only. This creates a mind association with sleep once in bed, and helps the mind to rest.  

Below are gentle and soothing Yoga preparations to help children aged 5 – 12 years old and their families wind down and settle off to sleep each night and wake refreshed and relaxed the next morning. All of these practices can be used with younger children by making them a little briefer in duration. Whatever the age give time for you and your children to establish this new routine and allow it to become a wonderful, bonding habit. 

The Relaxation Space 

Before bathtime, prepare the Relaxation Space in your child’s bedroom.  This is essentially a peaceful bedroom environment which includes soft lighting and a space on the floor next to the bed for a mini restorative Yoga session. You will need pillows and cushions at the ready, a chair to place their legs on for a relaxation, two blankets and an eyebag or cotton cloth to place over your child’s eyes. Ensure the Relaxation Space is free of toys, books and anything other than the props needed. It is ideal if music is not used in this space in order to allow the child’s attention to move inward. However, younger children and many others may need some gentle, ambient music playing quietly in the background such as a lyre or nature soundtracks to help them stay in the restorative poses. If using music, please do so after the Humming Bee Breath. 

The Humming Bee Breath 

This is a simple, yet powerful Yoga breathing technique called Bhramari Breath, or the Humming Bee Breath. Seated on the floor in a comfortable position in the Relaxation Space, ask your child to lightly block off their ears with their thumbs. If they have an ear infection, they can place their thumbs above their ears. Ask them to rest their fingers on top of their head and close their eyes. Taking a deep breath in, as they breath out, encourage them to hum like a bee until they need to take another inhalation and repeat. It is good to do this practice alongside your child. Keep breathing and humming in this way for a few minutes if you can. 

When your child is used to the exercise, you can experiment with it by asking any one of these questions: Where do you feel the vibration of the humming sound? What happens if you make the note higher or lower? Can you feel the vibration moving up and down your body? If you practice this breath together, you can share your experiences together. 

Bhramari Breathing is very soothing and relaxes and calms the brain almost immediately. It therefore makes an excellent yoga breath to do just before sleep. It is also very good to help soothe a child who is feeling stressed or over-tired at other times.