SETTLING CHILDREN OFF TO SLEEP WITH YOGA 

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. 

Legs Up A Chair

Ask your child to lie down on a blanket on the floor in their Relaxation Space and lift up and rest the calves of the legs on the seat of the chair. Some children might also like a very small blanket folded underneath their head as a small pillow. Place the eyebag or cotton cloth over their eyes. Ensure they are warm and covered with a blanket. Allow them to relax into the position.

The pose helps the mind to let go of racing thoughts, and the body to release tension before bed. Allow your child to stay in the position for a few minutes if possible. 

Supported Seated Wide Angled Pose over cushions 

Have your child seated on the floor with their legs in a wide angled position, kneecaps facing the ceiling, feet flexed towards them. Ask them to fold their body forward over a large pile of cushions, gently resting their torso, arms and head on the cushions. Allow your child to release into the cushions and relax. 

If you are not doing the pose with them you can assist by giving a gentle back rub avoiding the spine to help soothe them into a relaxation. This soothing pose quietens the organs of digestion and elimination, such as the stomach, intestines and liver and calms all the systems of the body. 

Lying Down Yoga Relaxation 

Practicing a lying down relaxation before bed is a wonderful preparation for sleep. In order to fall asleep, we need to be relaxed, and a Lying Down Yoga Relaxation does just this. It is important however, to do the relaxation out of bed in order to separate sleeping and relaxation. Your child can then slip into bed afterwards. 

Moving the cushions and chair away from the Relaxation Space, ask your child to lie down on a blanket for their Yoga Relaxation. You can place a pillow underneath their knees. Ensure they are warm and covered with a blanket. Place their eyebag or cotton cloth over their eyes. 

During the Lying Down Relaxation, older children may simply require an initial way in to a state of relaxation by hearing your voice speaking in slow, steady tones, asking them to relax the various parts of their body. Allow them to lie out in silence for 5 – 10 minutes before bed. 

For the more active mind and younger children, a creative visualisation is needed to help teach young minds and bodies to relax and enjoy lying still, setting them up for a peaceful night’s sleep. We call these Kids Yoga Relaxations. 

KIDS YOGA RELAXATIONS 

A Kids Yoga Relaxation is a creative visualisation that relaxes the body and mind before bedtime, but can also be used at any time of the day. While CD’s of relaxations are helpful, it is a wonderful gift if you can lead your child through a relaxation using your own voice, speaking slowly, and calmly, as it is nurturing and nourishing to their soul, and takes only a few minutes. 

Visualisations that help release tension from the body and let worries melt away are powerful and healing ways to prepare the body and mind for sleep. If you lead your own child through a relaxation, after a while you can start creating your own with special elements that are very personal to your child’s life experiences, such as their favourite places, favourite colours, animals or flowers for instance. Besides helping your child to relax for sleep, the experience is a wonderful bonding exercise as you both learn what relaxations the child resonates with the most. Pretty soon both of you will look forward to this special relaxation time together. 

Once your child is comfortable in their lying down relaxation position, allow them a few moments to really settle into the pose and relax their bodies. Then you can begin a creative visualisation such as one of the samples below… 

A project in my primary school Yoga classes some time ago was for the children to write their own relaxations for about 5 minutes each week before preparing for their relaxation time. This project came about because the children noticed that I would make up the relaxations based on their requests each week, and wanted to learn to do the same. The results were so lovely that I wanted to share them with you for your children and your family. 

Here are three examples from my 10-year-old students to get you and your child started on daily Kids Yoga Relaxations before bed. Each relaxation is written in their own words, word for word, and are entirely their own ideas, spoken from the heart. 

Appreciation Relaxation

“Lie down and relax. Take a deep breath and think about the things you have. Many things like friends, care, toys, people who love you and most importantly, peace, love and education. Sink into your inner-self and feel the happiness you have with those things. Thank them and appreciate yourself and others”. 

And another by the same 10-year-old student, 

Positive thoughts

“Lie down, close your eyes, relax. Remember the happy times with your friends and treasure those times like they were golden. Let go of all the bad and terrible times. Think sweet and happy thoughts, such as remembering your loved ones, thinking of your favourite things; flowers, drawings and people. Never give up and don’t break down, sooner than it seems your life will turn around.” 

Another student wrote, 

Beach Relaxation

“Lie down, close your eyes. Relax and listen to the words mentioning a big mountain beneath the rising sun right near the beach. You can hear all the birds, the water flowing and hitting the rocks, the trees swaying, the light air breezing through your body and your hair. You open your eyes and see turtles, fish, trees, plants, sand and the ocean. You go near the ocean water and put your hand in the wet sand, feeling all of the water on your hands. You then go and lie down under a treetop, quietly listening to all the noises you can hear and feel. You go and have a shower with warm water and go to bed. You feel relaxed and calm and you hear all the noises around you and think about what a lovely day you have had. When you are ready gently open your eyes and sit up.” 

After the Kids Yoga Relaxation your child is ready to move into bed. Once in bed, to transition to sleep, ask your child to focus on their breathing, on the inhalation and exhalation of every breath, noticing the warmth of the breath, the breath travelling down to the tummy or the length of each breath. 

The practice above are very powerful. It is my hope that your family use these Yoga sleep preparations to relieve anxiety, tension and calm busy minds, allowing for a restful, blissful night’s sleep for everyone. Sweet dreams. 

Kylie is offering Yummy Bubby readers a free first class of a Simply Kids Yoga course when you mention Yummy Bubby. For more information  visit: http://www.simplykidsyoga.com.au