Words Used in This Book

Chair yoga: yoga in which every movement is done sitting on a sturdy chair, so that people who are stiff, tired or who prefer not to get down on the floor can practise safely and stay calm and close to bed.

Meditation: a practice of training attention, for example by resting it on the breath and gently bringing it back when it wanders. It is found in many traditions, religious and not, and in this book no belief is needed.

Body clock: the body's inner timing, which rises and settles over about a day and is set mainly by light and darkness. Daylight in the morning and dimmer light in the evening help it keep good time.

Sleep pressure: the sleepiness that builds up little by little during the hours we are awake and is released while we sleep.

Stages of sleep: the different kinds of sleep, from light sleep to deep sleep and dreaming sleep, that follow one another in a cycle that lasts roughly 90 minutes and repeats several times a night, though it varies.

Diaphragm: the dome-shaped muscle under the lungs. When we breathe in, it moves down and the belly and ribs widen; when we breathe out, it rises again.

A longer breath out: breathing out a little more slowly than breathing in, for example in for a count of four and out for a count of six, or shorter counts if those feel long. It is always comfortable and never forced.

Sitting bones: the two bony points at the base of the pelvis that you can feel on the chair seat. Resting the weight evenly on them helps the spine stay long without stiffness.

Seated cat and cow: a gentle movement of the spine in a chair, with the hands resting on the thighs or knees. As you breathe in, the chest lifts and moves gently forward while the head stays level; this is the cow. As you breathe out, the back rounds softly and the chin moves toward the chest; this is the cat.

Seated twist: a gentle turn of the upper body to one side and then the other. It starts from the spine while the arms only rest, and the arms never pull the body around.

Figure-four: a seated hip movement in which one ankle rests on the opposite thigh, just above the knee, so that the legs make the shape of the number four. It is done only if it is comfortable; otherwise the ankle simply rests in front of the other foot.

Anchor: the thing you rest your attention on during meditation, such as the breath, sounds or the feeling of the chair, and to which you return when the mind wanders.

Body scan: moving attention slowly through the body, part by part, from the feet to the head, noticing each part without trying to change it.

Kind wishes: a quiet practice of wishing yourself and others well in plain words, such as "May I rest well tonight."

Where to Learn More

Yoga and meditation classes for beginners, and chair yoga classes, led by a qualified teacher are a good next step. A teacher can watch how you move, suggest changes that suit your body and answer your questions in person. Many community centres, sports centres and yoga studios offer gentle classes for beginners, and some offer classes for people who prefer to practise in a chair. When you join a class, it is helpful to tell the teacher that you are a beginner and to mention anything about your body that they should know.

A doctor is the right person to see about sleep problems that last. A doctor can look at your sleep together with your health as a whole and can tell you which kinds of help suit you. The simple sleep notebook from Chapter 15 is useful to bring to the appointment, because it shows how your nights have been over several weeks.

Public health information about sleep, published by health authorities and health organisations, explains sleep, the body clock and healthy evening habits in plain words. It is a good place to read again about the topics of Chapter 2 and Chapter 12, and to find out about the habits that help sleep.

This book itself is also meant to be used again. You can return to any lesson on any evening, read its summary at a glance, or repeat a practice you liked. Practising with a partner or a family member, as Chapter 15 describes, can make the evening practice easier to keep.

About the Information in This Book

The movements in this book are gentle seated movements of the kind taught in beginners' yoga classes and chair yoga classes: slow movements of the neck, shoulders, arms, hands, spine, hips, legs and feet, always done only as far as is comfortable. The breathing is calm breathing through the nose with a slightly longer breath out, and the meditations are simple exercises of attention.

The information about sleep follows widely shared public health guidance, including the advice of many health organisations that adults sleep at least seven hours a night, the role of light and darkness for the body clock, and evening habits such as dim light, a cool, dark and quiet bedroom and a regular time to get up.

Every body is different, and a qualified teacher can help adjust the movements to yours. If you have a long-term health condition, are in pain, or are pregnant, please talk to a doctor before you begin this practice. If you are unsure whether a movement suits you, ask a doctor.

If sleep problems last for weeks and affect your days, please talk to a doctor. Asking for help is a caring step, and it can go together with your evening practice. If worry or low mood stays with you for a long time, please talk to a doctor or another qualified professional. If you ever have thoughts of harming yourself, contact the emergency number or a crisis line where you live straight away.