The ring-bound book "Yoga in Bed" lies nicely flat, and provides a variety of simple poses you can do while settling down to sleep or when preparing to wake up. You don't have to find your mat or strap. All you need is you, your bed and perhaps a pillow.

BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

Oh and here i thought this was going to be something....titillating.....lol

I love the article anyways

I know - the title sounded like that game people play with fortune cookies...where everything is "in bed."

yeah something like karma sutra or Yoga for sex....

I thought maybe stick figures and a how to guide like for building shelves! put tab A into Slot C....lmao!

or a adult game of Twister......

yeah, stick figures! Or like those Ikea instructions!

Jeez Louise you guys

It is really a wonderful way to fit yoga into a very busy schedule And it really does help you go to sleep and wake up

we like to tease.

I did my "getting out of bed yoga" this morning from my Yoga for Your Life book. It was very nice. I do like it as a way to wake up.

My book doesn't really have a real "getting into bed" chapter. basically it's one move and then Caring Breath. Maybe that is all the author thought was needed.

How is the getting ready for bed stuff in your book?

mmm there is a lot of things I can do to help me sleep better and get exercise....

I have noticed that if i move or twist a certian way my ribs feel like they are rubbing together or braiding!!! so I cant do my yoga or belly dancing stuff....my sides are cramping up bad and I have no idea what i did!

The book is all about bed so half is getting up in the morning and the other half is getting to sleep at night. That is the main focus of the book. I think there are 2 pages on naps in the middle

Naps! Naps! yes! I love naps. Now you've just sold me on the book. :):)

Oh What about naps? I love naps!!!....they get me through the day !!

Well they say that a 30-60 minute nap is ideal because longer than that and you start to get into "normal sleep" and now you'll be groggy when you wake up rather than refreshed. So they say to set an alarm in case you start to sleep too long

true, my naps end up being the super long ones where i feel groggy after. Dan is a master of the quick nap. maybe i should use my timer, or a dawn light.

Anyway, back to Yoga in Bed, i have heard there is a couples yoga that is somewhat sexy called tantra. Anyone try that? is it a nice bonding type of yoga or really just ritualized sex?

They mentioned tantric yoga in several of the books I've been reading. Technically speaking, tantric is about a set of rituals, not about sex But in the sixties apparently it was the sex part that caught many peoples' attention.

Here's a page I found on it -

BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

Hmmmm, tantra sounds interesting but it doesn't seem like my direction at this time.

I actually looked in my library last Monday for yoga books. They had one for teens, one for children and one for adults with depression. And that is it. (I have never ever seen a library this small. The adult book area is the size of a car).

So i thought the one for adults with depression might be good, but it only had depression studies and yoga studies and not actual learning about yoga. So I didn't check that out. They did have a few old copies of the Yoga Journal that I sat down to read. No yoga videos.

I figure I have enough Yoga books for now and then when i want to look around for others, they will probably pop up. I have good book karma

I have been using my Yoga in Bed book here and there, and thought I might try it as a 'session' today.

The AM section took about 45 minutes to do, but I would imagine it would be shorter or longer to do the whole thing depending on how long you held each pose, how slowly/quickly you breathe and move through things, etc.

About half of the poses offered in the book used up the entire bed, so my poor dog had to keep moving around. I imagine sharing a bed with a sleeping human would entail only doing some of these poses.

The only props needed are bed pillows, which worked fine. I had to shove all the blankets off the bed to really be able to get good stretches in. Of course, I could have *made* the bed instead, but I felt lazy.

I thought the yoga poses themselves were super relaxing. Almost too relaxing. I was expecting a few of the energizing poses you can actually DO in bed, like the cobras and down dogs, but the poses offered were honestly just prep poses and stretching. I added a of my own few boats, bows and locusts just to keep things interesting. For the AM routine, this could have been a tad more stimulating.

I have not done the PM half of the book yet, and will report on that next.

The PM part of the book:

The PM poses were just what I was hoping for - relaxing, a way to ease out the kinks of the day and release the stress. I found doing the entire routine took about 25 minutes, but would imagine one can shorten this to 15 minutes or lengthen to 35 (depending on how many breaths you do while holding poses and how many repeats of the move you do, etc). I particularly like the massaging the Mind and Rub the Slate Clean techniques.

There is a Savasana at the end called the Chill Out Meditation. I like this one - this is rather how I end up doing the meditation part (to be loving and gentle with your puppy-like mind). And if this section results in sleep, that is just fine. This IS a sleepytime routine, after all.

The book finishes with some information on yogic sleeping (lucid dreaming, prophetic dreaming). This part is really just a blurb - there is nothing here to instruct the reader on these techniques. It's more of an "here are some things you might want to look into" bit.

The last few pages of the book describe how to create a sacred sleep space (how to set the mood, how to make good sleep a priority) to help ease you into restful slumber. A few resources for insomnia/sleep disorders are listed.

Okay, overall I like this book. I like the way the spiral binding fold out flat. I like the thick, smooth pages, the large, bright and happy pictures.

I also like the soothing text that describes the poses as "sweet" and "delicious," reminding me just how luxurious yoga is supposed to feel.

I think the AM part is a little underwhelming for experienced beginner yogis and above. I would have liked to see some harder bed poses here. However, absolute yoga novices will not be intimidated to begin yoga right here, with this pleasant little book.

The PM section is appropriate and lovely.

I did find that this book was a LIFESAVER for me when i was sick. I recently had a several week illness that really took me out. I was able to use and enjoy this book the entire time. There is nothing challenging here and all the poses really are designed to gently stretch and relax the body. I imagine this book would be really very helpful to people on bedrest or with some forms of disability.

Recommended on various levels with the understanding that these are all super easy poses.

That's awesome Jilly, it is great that the book was there to help you through that!!