Blissful Bedtime Routine

Welcome to a blissful bedtime routine. I like to think about this practice like taking a soothing soak before bedtime. It's really meant to melt away stress and tension from the body and mind to prepare for a restful sleep. But you can also do this any time of the day when you're experiencing more anxiety or more stress. It really helps to calm the nervous system with forward bends and longer held poses and moving a little bit slower. So we're gonna start lying down on our backs and connect to the breath. Slowing down the breath to them diaphragmatic, yogic, belly breathing. So you can lower down, your knees can be a little bit bent so that the low back can release into the ground. You'll simply take your hands on top of your belly and take a few deep breaths there. So just beginning to slow down the breath and regulate it a little bit. By regulating our breath it's known to repattern our minds. Now it's connected and even scientifically our breathing patterns to affect our mental states. Take a few deep breaths and you can begin to count the breath. About a count of four slight pauses. Even hearing the sound of your breath becomes oceanic. That soothing sound to quiet the mind, worries and let it all melt away. So take one more breath like that. Feel your hands fill up taking the breath in and then as you exhale give a hug of your knees in towards your chest. You can rock a little bit from side to side on your spine. All the nerves connect from the brain into the spinal cord. Massaging it into the ground a little bit and then we'll take a simple twist from side to side. So you'll start by rocking a little bit onto your left hip. Stack the knees towards each other and peel the right arm open. Allowing the weight of the body to simply sink into the ground but keeping that breath smooth and slow and deep. Every exhale going into wash away. Any stress, any worries and then as you roll back onto your back you'll hug the right knee in towards your chest. Lengthen the left leg out long and then stretch the right leg to the sky. You can bend as you inhale and lengthen as you exhale a couple times. Twirl your ankle around breathing in and as you lengthen the right leg one more time you can begin to take a walk up your right leg and even lift the head up and then hug your knees back into your chest to twist over to the other side so you can scoot over into your right hip and twist over to the left. Breathing in and then breathing out. Hearing that soft whisper. Roll back onto your back. Hug the left knee in towards your chest. Lengthen the right leg onto the ground. Begin to play with stretching the leg and bending it as you inhale so every movement's coordinated with the breath. Last time you lengthen the leg up begin to take a walk up the leg and then lift yourself up. Hug your knees in towards your chest and then roll right over onto your right side for a moment. It's to come towards the top of your mat and send your hips towards your heels for child's pose. Your knees can be a little wider in this one and let your head rock from side to side, letting your hips to sink down and take a deep breath in and exhale release. About three more breaths.

One more. Inhaling and exhaling. Next inhale rise up onto your hands and knees. Begin to put a little movement onto the breath so you'll inhale to drop the belly. Lift your head, lift your tail, then exhale to round in towards yourself. Chin in towards your throat, belly lifts up and inhale drop the heart, lift the chest, lift your gaze, and then exhale round in towards yourself. Take a little more round like that, breathing in and then breathing out into the back body. For the next moment or two you can rock your hips from side to side. You can circle out through the hips a little bit, circle your head around any bit, breathing into any tight spots or tension inside of the body. And as you come through center you'll allow the chest to drop again, but this time bend your elbows so that your heart can kiss the space right between your thumbs, your tailbone high, and then you'll drop right onto your belly, point your toes, slide your forehead to the ground already, begin to lift the shoulders away from the ears, and peel the chest off the ground to a baby cobra. You can even stay here, breathe a little bit longer, you can move a little bit from side to side, mark your shoulders, slide onto your hands and your knees, tuck your toes under, begin to send your chest towards the tops of your thighs. You can keep it into a puppy dog or the knees nice and bent so the spine can stretch and then begin to slowly lengthen your legs, moving from one side over to the other side, allowing the head to drop in towards the heart and cleanse with a fresh supply there of blood. On your next breath in reach your right leg up to the sky, you can begin to put a little bend through the knee, and open up to the hip, circle around the ankle a little bit, allowing the hip to open, and then begin to come forward with your right knee towards the outside of your right elbow, and then step your foot wide out to the outer edge of your mat, and your left knee can come down so that you can drop into the right hip, lift the chest, and from there you can take your hands forward, if your forearms come to the ground you're welcome to go a little bit deeper, and then again sinking into the hip a little bit deeper. You can begin to tuck your back toes under and even lift your left knee, allowing the chest to expand even as you sink down, begin to walk your hands back and step into downward facing dog. Inhale your left leg high, put a bend through the knee, twist open through the pelvis, keeping your hands reaching down equally, and then slide the knee a little bit wider to the outer edge of the left knee before placing your foot down. Release the right knee, come onto your fingertips, lift the chest as you sink down, and then you can walk your hands forward with your forearms to the ground, and even tuck those back toes under as the hips continue to sink. You can rock a little forwards and backwards, breathing into any areas that need it, and then step back into downward dog, and take a slow walk forward step by step towards the top of your mat, and hang over your legs for a breath. You can swing a little bit from side to side, twist the right arm up, right hand down, the left arm up, and then slowly roll up vertebrae by vertebrae, letting the head be the last thing to come up. Circle your shoulders up and back, take a couple moments in mountain pose, nice and grounded, and in your breath, and then step to the center of your mat, and it might be nice to have a couple blocks near you, so maybe one towards the top of your mat, one towards the back of your mat, so that they're there for you to reach, and then you'll find Tadasana back to the center of your mat, and then step your feet out wide, your ankles can be right underneath your wrists into a wide stance, and then you're gonna lift your right foot up, swivel on the heel to spin the hip out, and then plant the right foot down, you can slide the left toes in a little bit for triangle pose, but the hip sinks forward a tiny bit, and then extend your right hand forward as you place your right hand to a block, so it's grounding, reaching into the earth, into this block, and then opening up, your chin can move in towards your throat, you sink down, there's that rotation of the chest, towards the sky, you can look down at the earth if your neck is uncomfortable at all, need a little bit more of this grounding energy, and then press into your feet to rise up, parallel the toes and breathe in, and then lift your left heel, and draw the right toes in a little bit, swivel from the right hip, place the foot down, move the right hip back, and then find your block, peel the right arm up, define those roots, great grounding energy, breathing into your legs, and find your breath, one more inhale before you press into your feet, rise up, and then parallel the toes, take the arms up to the sky, and this time you're going to begin to come forward, I like to pause halfway, you can take your hands to your knees, maybe even twist a little bit from side to side, and then begin to come forward, so your blocks are here, if you need to to lift the ground to meet you, you can place your hands onto the blocks, to lengthen the spine, and then exhale to fold forward, so your hands can, or your blocks can begin to move back, so that the elbows can move backwards, and then the crown of the head can begin to reach towards the ground, this is nice and calming, and soothing for the mind, you can bend from knee to knee, anything that feels good, and soothing for you right here, the backs of the legs, releasing tension, the spine, and then you can move your blocks out to the side, even towards the front of the mat, you're gonna take a little swivel, maybe place them over, so that they're near you, with your hands towards the inside of the left foot, again take a breath in to look up, and shift the weight into the hands, so that you can step the right foot to the outside of the right hand, sink down into melasana or garland pose, so as the pelvis sinks down, the chest can begin to open, and again this is a really powerful grounding, nourishing shape, chin in towards your chest, and a few deep breaths, welcome to twist here with the right hand down, the left arm up, and then taking it over to the other side, and then as your palms come down, plant them into the earth, as you step back into downward facing dog, and your next inhale begins to slide your right knee forward again towards the back of your right elbow, but then open up your shin a little bit, you can walk your left foot wide, we're going to begin to make our way into pigeon pose, so you can pause halfway, you can reach for your blanket, and place it underneath your hip, you can begin to walk your hands back, if you still have your blocks, we're going to take our pigeon into a bit of a back bend first, so by pressing down into the blocks or into the ground, you can begin to lift the chest, and then from there walk your way forward, and come on to your forearms, make a little pillow, and then again rock a little forward and backwards, releasing tension in the hips, and back into that soothing patterning of the breath, we get to change these patterns, and simply do the way we breathe and move, and then begin to walk your hands back, let's switch sides, so tuck your left toes under and step your right leg back, move your blanket a little bit further center, so as you begin to draw your left shin forward, open up through the hip, and place both hips on top of your blanket, reach for your blocks, so you can press down, lift the chest, take it into a big back bend as you like, and then walk yourself forward, swing, and rise back up, as you sink down through your hips, and this time swing the right leg out and in front of you, you can take your hands behind you to lift your hips up, the big exhale through the mouth, great side, and then as you release your hips back down, you can move your props out to the side, swing your legs out and in front of you, slide your left foot behind you, and then you'll simply open up the right knee for a sage twist, so you'll take your left hand to your right knee, and your right fingertips behind you, twist the chest all the way to the right, it's okay if this left hip lifts, it's really releasing into the right hip, but then you're gonna take your gaze past your left shoulder, and then lean backwards, so it's a bit of a twist, but also this back bend as you let your hips sink down, the chest open, and release the neck, so all of this tension around the neck, around the shoulders, can melt away in this beautiful seat, and then come through center, and shift the weight into your hands, draw the knees in, and then glide the right foot behind you, and open up the left foot, so twist the chest all the way to the left, and then you'll look past your right shoulder, sinking down, and then lifting the chest up at the same time, as you really release the left fingertips down, you'll find that great length release of the trapezius muscle, like a swan type neck, and then come back towards center, that leaning back into your hands for a breath, and then you're open up your legs like we were doing with the straddle forward bend, but this time we're gonna come forward seated, so a blanket is really nice to have, and so it can be a nice restorative release, you can take your hands towards your ankles, or you can reach your fingertips forward, and then slowly walk your way forward, it can be on your forearms, as you roll the inner thigh bones back a little bit, you can even fold the blanket so that your head can rest, you can play with the placement of your hands, they can come to your ankles to help roll the thigh bones out, from here begin to rise up, you begin to walk your hands all the way back, and take your blanket, place it against the wall, so that we can end in a nice restorative inversion, to release all the tension through the legs, so with your legs up, you can start first with the soles of your feet together, so your hands can gently press the tops of the thighs back, you can just allow the breath to drop into and replenish, whole creative center, fertility, we can get so depleted, and your legs can even widen, that same shape we've been exploring, just allowing gravity, and to open up the body and the breath, these powerful forces of nature, and you can take your legs together, reach them up the wall, and bring your awareness back to your breath, smooth and deep, you can begin to inch your way away from the wall, when you're ready, and come to rest in Shavasana, or you can take a few more breaths, or moments, here with your legs at the wall, giving your tired legs a rest, allow the blood to flow back to the heart, and whether at the ground or at the wall, give a hug into your knees, roll over onto your left hip for a breath, so that you can rise up, sit, and we'll end with a short meditation, so wonderful to end the day, with a few moments of meditation, it doesn't matter how long, it's the regularity that really really makes the difference, so this meditation that I'd like for us to end with is called the Buddha's Peaceful Abiding, just making an intention to yourself, a personal resolve, and to let whatever happen through your day, if at night for you, melt away, so you can come back to this natural peaceful state that's always within us, perhaps not around us, but through our practice, you can bring our energies back into a balanced state, you can let yourself even lean back into the wall if you need it for support, and simply place your mind onto your breath, noticing if the mind wanders, and simply draw back, and your eyes can be gently open, and so it's not an escape from our daily life, but within it, you can still find inner peace, if you have a little extra time, absolutely give it to yourself, and sit for a little while longer, or I'll see you next time, namaste.