When Yoga Keeps You Awake With Liz Albanis | Ep 26

Host Liz Albanis explains one of the biggest and most important misconceptions about yoga. Yoga is supposed to help you sleep, so why do some nights end with you feeling calm after class but totally wired in bed? Many have heard the advice to “just go to yoga”. But this is not always the case. Especially when you’re living with insomnia, PTSD and high stress levels  or a nervous system that won’t switch off. The type of practice and the time of day matters more than most people realise.

Liz walks through what’s happening under the hood with trauma and sleep, including how hyper-vigilance and sympathetic nervous system dominance can keep the body on alert long after the danger has passed. We also get practical about breathwork. Fast pranayama and kriya techniques like Kapalabhati (Skull Shining Breath) and Bhastrika (Bellows Breath) can be powerful, mood shifting, and also overstimulating, with real contraindications and cautions for PTSD and other mental health conditions. If you’ve ever tried a “beginner” breathing video and felt spun out, you’re not imagining it.

Key Takeaways:

• Why insomnia and disturbed sleep are common with PTSD and nervous system dysregulation 
• Why yoga does not always switch on rest and digest 
• How hypervigilance and evening practice can keep the body “on” 
• Fast pranayama and kriya that can overstimulate including Kapalabhati and Bhastrika 
• Why YouTube breathwork is not always beginner friendly and the need for skilled guidance 
• Sleep-supportive breathing basics including nasal breathing and a longer exhale 
• How vinyasa flow and heated classes can raise heart rate and activation at night 
• Why active backbends can be energising and why forward bends can be calming 
• Yoga nidra benefits and why it can be too activating for some people 

The role of trial and error plus timing, stress, and hormones

If you want some help starting,  Liz invites the audience to look at:
https://www.lizalbaniswellness.com.au/freebies
For is a trauma informed meditation relaxation and PDF guide. Relax and Renew And Restore Interactive PDF that includes a wonderful pranayama  called Bee Breath Brahmari. 

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Transcript

A Quick Warning On Stimulation

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can keep you awake and many are contraindicated for PTSD as well and have other contraindications. Hi I'm Liz Albanis and welcome to season two of Yoga for Trauma The Inner Fire of Yoga where we explore how yoga can help release trauma, calm the mind, and reconnect you with your body. Go to a yoga class, you'll have a great sleep. I used to think the same thing too. And I know many people still think this. But I'm here to shed some light on this that it's not completely true. And insomnia is very common for people who've been diagnosed with PTSD or experienced a traumatic event recently. And many people in this modern fast-paced world we live in don't sleep well. And proper sleep is so important for our mental and physical health. So after my first yoga class I couldn't sleep. I felt amazing but I was wired energetic so if this has happened to you know that it's not just you there's nothing wrong with you it happens to many of us some of us are more sensitive towards these energetic sympathetic nervous system dominant practices and I'm one of those people some people this will not affect and they will be fine whatever they practice in the evening. But when someone has PTSD their nervous system is dysregulated. They're often sympathetic nervous system dominant or their nervous system just doesn't switch off when the proverbial tiger has stopped chasing them or it just switches on quickly when it's not needed to so if that's the case for you it's normal it's common and yoga can help. The DSM five diagnostic criteria for PTSD notes in part B the presence of one or more of the following intrusion symptoms associated with the traumatic event beginning after the traumatic event occurred is recurrent distressing dreams in which the content andor effect of the dream are related to the traumatic event. Note in children there may be frightening dreams without recognizable content. In part E, marked alterations in arousal and reactivity associated with the traumatic events or event beginning or worsening after the traumatic event or events occurred as evidenced by two or more of the following and number six is sleep disturbance i.e difficulty falling or staying asleep or restless sleep. And these disturbances are for more than one month. So it is a common symptom and I will add a link to that in the show notes. For me it particularly was because of the hypervigilance the excess energy or jussic energy in yoga that I felt in the evening especially straight after the fire because the fire happened at night. That's my way of comprehending the hypervigilance more so at nighttime we're all different this may not be the case for you but this is just my experience. Now getting back to yoga people think it always makes you sleep because they think it always switches on the parasympathetic nervous system. That's our rest and digest system. Ideally our yoga practice gets us into the state of yoga at the end that state of oneness that state of bliss some people call it these days that flow state something I've recently heard of in the last few months it doesn't always work that way especially if there's a lot of practices there that stimulate the sympathetic nervous system the get up and go and get away from that running tiger which we need by the way it's not the bad guy we do need it. Some things that come to mind when it comes to pranayama yogic breath work and kriya cleansing detoxification practices that includes some breath work. These can often be fast-paced breath that encourages hyperventilation and I'll give you some examples of these practices many of these are also contraindicated for people with PTSD or they're cautioned with many mental health with many health conditions. The first one is Kapalabati Skull shining breath and it's considered a kriya rather than pranayama as it's a detoxifying cleansing breath this is part of the bikram yoga sequence which I started with as my introduction to yoga. At the end they practice kapalabhati they do it differently in that it comes in and out through the mouth but it's still encouraging hyperventilation fast breaths quickly and there's nothing after the Kapalabhati to counter it like we counterpose it. That is one and I'm not mentioning all of them here. Another that comes to mind is Bastrika bellows breath it's used in life force yoga to lift the mood and it's also part of Sudashan Kriya sky meditation by the art of living copyrighted Kriya and it is a fast breath in and out through the nose with the arms coming overhead synchronizing your arm movements with your breath. So Bastrika is actually considered a Kriya so it's a powerful energetic breath and it's forceful it's rapid it's rhythmic with the arms going up and down and I've seen videos of Bastrika on YouTube for beginners. It is not a beginner practice it has so many contraindications even if you don't have PTSD I really encourage you to have a teacher help you with pranayama and Korea. One who knows what they're doing and knows about the potential repercussions of doing more damage than good. And I'm not saying this to scare people I'm just saying this to err on the side of caution it may look impressive on Instagram or YouTube doesn't mean it's going to be good for you. So they're just two fast-paced breaths that come to mind now if we're wanting to switch on the parasympathetic nervous system the rest and digest system which we want to get to sleep we want the opposite we don't want to be hyperventilating over breathing and bringing too much air in we want to be breathing slower not shallower using the secondary respiratory muscles we still want to be using the diaphragm our primary respiratory muscle but we don't want to be breathing quickly and encouraging more breath than we need. And ideally we want to be getting out more air than we're taking in by our exhale being longer in duration than our inhale and if a student was to hold the breath in and also add an antara kumbaka a breath hold after that inhale that counts towards the duration so in essence we want to be breathing out more than we're breathing in. We don't want it to be even we want the exhale to help switch on the vagus nerve that nerve that instructs our rest digest system to say hey time to kick in breathing in through the nose as noses are meant for breathing and mouths are meant for eating and shrinking. Ideally at night breath that encourages the breath to slow down to get the respiration rate down to six breaths a minute is great for people who find that available to them. If it's not for you now know that that is very common as well sometimes when we're in a fast-paced vinyasa class we start to breathe more quickly and sometimes not through the nose through the mouth and we start to overbreat vinyasa classes can be too stimulating for many of us at night they can be like going to an aerobics class not that yoga is an exercise class but when you're flowing in a vinyasa flow with your sun salutations you will get your heart rate up and get that sympathetic nervous system kicking in. So that can also be something that keeps people awake and especially if it's a heated vinyasa because the heart rate is going to go higher in the heat as well the other thing with postures that can keep people up are backbends. Because when you backbend spinal extension like in a cobra or an upward dog or a camel pose or a wheel pose it actually elevates your heart rate and it also opens up the front side of your body and for people with PTSD they've often been closed and blocked in the anterior part of their body through the diaphragm and the heart chakra and when they open it especially in a heart opening pose it can be quite energizing and opening that way as well as elevating that heart rate and the breath as well especially the back bends that are not restorative and a heart opening and that involve a lot of muscular engagement like camel pose and wheel pose. Wheel pose I discussed in episode four yoga alignment why some yoga poses feel impossible I discuss wheel a bit more whereas a sort of restorative uh backbend and a yin backbend that doesn't involve such muscular engagement isn't as deep might be okay. But it's a bit of a trial and error here we're all different and so those sort of poses can be quite energizing. Whereas forward bending poses are cooling and calming they close off that anterior part of the body the front body and they lower the heart rate so they can have the opposite effect. As for meditation some people find yoga nidra really beneficial at nighttime there are contraindications with yoga nidra and mental health conditions such as psychosis, mania and trauma but it can be a great meditation relaxation at night. Saying this, I have had clients who have found it too activating for their mind and say it has not helped their sleep so if that is the case for you just know that you are not the only one you're unique and you may be more sensitive or less sensitive than the person next to you and that's okay. Sometimes if people go to a restorative or yin class and they're really agitated before the class they might find that that class doesn't help them sleep because they didn't get rid of the energy they had in a smart way getting rid of the energy without exacerbating that energy. And I also discussed that last season and that was episode 13 Yoga for mental health meeting your mood and just a preamble here or a caveat on this is not clear cut. It's going to be different for each person. I'm not as sensitive as I was with bikram I got to the point where I could practice bikram yoga or something like that in an evening but some people never may be able to practice it in the evening. And then there's also hormones that come into play or periods where you're feeling a lot of stress your sleep may waver more. So to summarize that yoga is not going to always help people sleep it's great if our practice is catered towards a lifestyle and that includes the time of day because of our nervous system many fast-paced breath work pranayama kriya that encourage over breathing hyperventilation and quick breaths can keep you awake and many are contraindicated for PTSD as well and have other contraindications. Backward bends especially active heart opening back bends can also keep you up as well as vinyasa classes where you start to breathe quicker maybe breathe through your mouth your heart rate elevates ideally at night we want something more cooling and calming forward bends can be good grounding poses slow paced and also breath that encourages the breath to slow down and having the exhale being longer than the inhale and the breath hold if you hold your breath getting more air out than you're taking in is ideal. If you want a great practice to do at night I invite you to look at my freebie page there is a trauma informed meditation relaxation. And there is also a wonderful pranayama there called Bee Breath Brahmary I invite you to see if you can change your practice accordingly and if you have trouble, need help, I'd love to hear from you and I hope you enjoy a better night's sleep. Thanks again for tuning in. If you loved the show my guests and I would really appreciate a five star review on Apple Podcasts Spotify wherever you listen to podcasts. Until next time never forget the power of yoga