Supine Knees-to-Chest Hug (Apanasana)

Why it works

Hug both knees toward your chest and you flex the lumbar spine, opening up space between the vertebrae and giving the facet joints and paraspinal muscles a real decompression after a full day of standing and getting compressed. It lengthens the lumbar erector spinae, the glutes, and the deep hip rotators, easing the exact low-back and hip tightness that makes lying still feel uncomfortable and quietly disrupts falling asleep. The mild pressure of your thighs against your belly also stimulates the enteric and vagal pathways, and that closed, curled-up shape paired with slow breathing reliably shifts your body toward the parasympathetic state. Add a slow side-to-side rock and you give your low-back tissue a genuinely soothing self-massage against the floor, discharging the leftover muscular tension so your body can settle into sleep instead of just lying there.

How to do it

1. Lie on your back with a thin pillow under your head and draw both knees up toward your chest.
2. Wrap your arms around your shins or the backs of the thighs, whichever keeps the shoulders relaxed and away from the ears.
3. On each exhale, gently hug the knees a little closer until you feel a mild, comfortable stretch across the low back.
4. Let the shoulders and neck stay soft, and optionally rock slowly a few inches side to side to massage the low back against the floor.
5. Breathe slowly for the full hold, then release the feet to the floor to finish.

Dose: 1-2 holds of 5-10 slow breaths, nightly at the end of your wind-down. Let this be the last thing before lights out.

⚠ Hold behind the thighs rather than over the shinbones if you have knee pain, and keep the hug gentle with any acute disc flare-up. In pregnancy, take the knees wide around the belly rather than pressing them into the abdomen. Stop if you feel any pinching in the hips or low back.

Target areas