Ayurveda says proper sleep hygiene is essential for good health. Per the ancient text, Skandhapurna, “Ardha-roga hari nidra,” meaning “healthy sleep has the power to prevent and heal half the diseases.” Here, I’m sharing my favorite recipes for sleep as handed down from my mother, grandmothers, and guru. Ayurvedic texts discussed “sleep hygiene” as ratricharaya (healthy nighttime routine) for thousands of years. Add these simple practices to your bedtime routine and discover the bountiful return for consistent practice. May these practices ground you, nourish you, and lead you gently and comfortably into deep rest.
Step 1: Rinse the Worries Away!
Time: End of Workday/4 Hours Before Bedtime
Tools Needed: Water, Towel
Inspiration: Recipe 6, Soma: 100 Heritage Recipes for Self-Care
Life moves at hyperspace speed. At the end of the day, our body may be off the clock, but our mind still races with unfinished tasks and unfulfilled expectations (even self-imposed). We hold tension of the day in body, breath, and mind. The Ayurvedic practice of Pancha Snana, “the five rinses,” may be just the thing to release that tension!
Immediately upon finishing your day, rinse the five main parts of the body — hands, feet, and face — with tap-cool water in summer (warm water in winter). Optionally, use your favorite soap/cleanser.Let the water wash away stressors of the day and enjoy this delightful ritual as an entrée into your family/rejuvenation time.
Step 2: Pause, Feel, Be.
Time: Dusk/Before Meals
Tools Needed: You and Your Breath
Inspiration: Recipe 7, Soma: 100 Heritage Recipes for Self-Care
Whether time drags or flies, it’s always in motion. Is there a practice to get “in the flow” with time?
Ancient texts describe sandhi as “that which joins/acts as a bridge.” Kala sandhi is the meeting of points of the day: dawn, mid-day, dusk, and midnight; and kriya sandhi is the meeting point between two activities (for example, sleeping to waking or talking to silence).
Practice observing sandhi. Build a habit of self-reflection allowing time to sit with yourself before jumping into the next task. The difference between reaction and response is pause.
Step 3: Digestion Is the Key!
Time: Right After Meals
Tools Needed: Fresh Ginger Pickle
Inspiration: Recipe 44, Soma: 100 Heritage Recipes for Self-Care
Per Ayurveda, mealtime is sacred, with eating often compared to feeding the consciousness within. When your eating becomes less than mindful, boost digestion with this three-ingredient, super-quick fix. Take 1-2 pieces after meals for nausea, indigestion, heaviness, irregular bowel movements, or suppressed sense of taste.
Ingredients:
Fresh Ginger
Fresh Lime
Salt (Himalayan Pink)
Method:
- Julienne the ginger; soak with lime juice.
- Salt to taste.
- Refrigerate and take as needed.
Step 4: Tend to Your Limbs.
Time: Right Before Bedtime
Tools Needed: Marma Stick, Sesame/Almond Oil or Favorite Lotion
Inspiration: Recipe 10, from Soma: 100 Heritage Recipes for Self-Care
Throughout the workday, our hands and feet constantly work, hold, and move, whether consciously or subconsciously. They hold not only stress but also suppressed emotions and unprocessed thoughts. Flip the pranic switches with this simple practice to bring cozy warmth to fingers and toes! Simply massage the hands and foot soles with a marma stick nightly for 3-5 minutes.
Method:
- Apply 2-3 drops of oil/lotion to hands and foot soles.
- Rub the marma stick on the foot sole/between palms like a rolling pin, up and down, heel to toe tips, for 2-3 minutes.
- Increase pressure and pace in dull, heavy, and achy areas .
- Ease off on pressure and pace in sensitive, painful, and intense areas.
- Continue until you feel comfortable warmth and enjoy the following happy sleep!
Step 5: Shavasana Your Way to Zzzz.
Time: When You Close the Eyes for Sleep
Tools Needed: Awareness of the Steps Below
Inspiration: Recipes 11, 31, Soma: 100 Heritage Recipes for Self-Care
How often do you slide into bed only to turn your brain to a new channel? Things to do, places to go, people to see. Perhaps you fall prey to the siren song of a screen, a new read, or an engaging phone call. Though you may be desperate to slip into sleep, it’s nowhere to be found.
Prepare for tender, deep, effortless sleep by adding awareness, conscious relaxation, and shavasana to the moment of sleep.
Five Steps to Shavasana and Stellar Sleep
- Position: Lie in the position that best supports sleep for you. Adjust until absolutely at peace. Make fists, thumb between the index and middle fingers, forming Surina mudra (this supports deep rest in mind and body).
- Duality: Scan the body — head to toe, back and forth — noticing areas holding tension or relaxation. Repeat twice more.
- Breath: Become aware of your breath — smooth the rough, lighten the heavy, silence the loud — simply through observing it.
- Massage: Let your smooth, gentle, quiet, even breaths massage areas of tension or uneasiness.
- Zzzzz: Slowly bring awareness into the quiet chambers of the heart. Let your heart usher you into the warm embrace of sleep.
Indu Arora considers herself a student for a lifetime. As a Yoga and Ayurveda teacher, she shared her experiences for the last two decades across more than 50 cities worldwide. Her unique gift is making Yoga and Ayurveda a practice, equally useful for a beginner or a sincere seeker who made Yoga a lifelong journey. She is the author of Mudra: The Sacred Secret (2015), Yoga: Ancient Heritage, Tomorrow’s Vision (2005, 2019), and SOMA: 100 Heritage Recipes for Self-Care (e-book, 2020, expanded hard copy, 2022). She lives in Minneapolis with her spouse.
