Yoga for When the Clocks Go Back: 3 Practices for Darker Evenings

Why the clock change hits harder than one hour should

On the last Sunday of October, the UK clocks go back an hour, and by the following week it's dark before most of us have left work. On paper it's a single hour, but in the body, it can feel like jet lag.

Your internal clock, your circadian rhythm, sets itself mainly by light. When sunrise and sunset suddenly shift against your work and sleep schedule, that rhythm takes a week or two to catch up. In the meantime you might notice heavier mornings, a slump around 4pm when the light goes, and the urge to be in bed by nine.
Here are three things I lean on every year:

1. Get daylight within an hour of waking

Morning light is the strongest signal your body uses to set its clock. Even a grey London sky gives you far more light outdoors than a bright kitchen does indoors.

Step outside for ten minutes soon after you wake up. Drink your tea on the doorstep, walk the long way to the station, or open the window wide. If you want to move, one or two slow rounds of Surya Namaskar, the sun salutation, facing the window is a nice way to greet the morning.

2. Yin/Restorative yoga or Pranayama

When the light drops in late afternoon, energy and mood often drop with it. This could be the moment for a slower practice. 

A low impact flow helps to focus on grounding. Floor-based asanas like Child's Pose, Reclining Cobbler's Pose and gental spinal twist feel like heaven. 

If you're feeling up for it, incorporate slow, extended exhalations such as box breathing. Breathing out for longer than you breathe in tends to shift your nervous system towards its rest-and-digest mode, which takes the edge off that 4pm slump.

3. Legs up the wall before bed

Viparita Karani, or legs up the wall, is the simplest restorative shape I know, and the one I come back to most in winter (and to be honest, in all seasons!).

Sit side-on to a wall, then swing your legs up as you lie back, so your legs rest on the wall and your back is on the floor. Shuffle as close to the wall as feels comfortable; your legs don't need to be straight. If you have a cushion or bolster, slide it under your hips. Rest your arms by your sides or on your chest and belly, and stay for five to eight minutes (this also helps to stimualte your vagus nerve, helping you to shift state).

To come out, bend your knees, roll onto one side and pause there for a few breaths before sitting up.

Give yourself two weeks of doing less

For the fortnight after the clocks change, I lower the bar on purpose. Shorter practices, earlier nights, fewer plans on weekday evenings. Your energy comes back once your body has caught up with the light, and pushing through in the meantime mostly makes the adjustment feel longer.

If low mood, tiredness or loss of interest carries on well beyond those first couple of weeks, or keeps returning every autumn, it's worth talking to your GP. Seasonal changes in mood are common and there is proper support for them, so you don't have to just wait for spring.

Make it a ritual for the darker months

The clock change is a good moment to set up one small evening ritual you can keep through winter. Mine is a spritz of Calm spray when the light goes, slow breaths, and legs up the wall before bed with an eye pillow on.

If you'd like something to write in too, here are four journaling prompts for November, one for each week, to go alongside these practices:

Week 1: If I keep living how I'm living now, what will my life look like by next Autumn? Am I happy with that? If not, what is one thing I can do differently this season?

Week 2: How do I nurture and care for myself during the darker, colder months?

Week 3: What lesson did this year try to teach me, gently or otherwise?

Week 4: Looking ahead to the end of the year: what energy or intention do I want to carry into December?

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