Evening Chill-Out

Welcome to an evening chill out practice. Nighttime rituals are so important for everyone to be able to transition from a busy day into a quiet evening or for sure moving into sleep. Insomnia can be such a big deal or just getting to sleep or how do we wind down? How do we wind down our nervous systems? How do we wind down our mind so that we can flow easily into bedtime and nobody knows that better than parents. If you have a child or you've ever babysat, the nighttime rituals can last four hours of reading stories and bathtimes and quiet times just to be able to get their systems to quiet down. In the same way we need the same thing. Evening classes at yoga centers are some of the busiest because I think people intrinsically know we need that transition time and yoga is so powerful and being able to have that moment of cleansing, of clearing, slowing everything down so we can transition into the quieter time of the day. So even if it's not at night, if it's in the middle of the day and you need to transition from being really busy into a quieter space, time, this practice will be perfect. So we're going to start in a meditation, the Yogi's meditation, which focuses on the sound of Aum. So that's coming back from our identity being so focused externally, probably in what we do, whether it's parents and working and school, to begin to take our focus back in to who we are and sit in who we are, not what we do, and have our identity shift and our focus shift from outwardly to inward. So this Gyanamudra is this bowing of the individual to the universal. So you take your index fingers down underneath the thumbs and simply place your hands to your knees and making this gesture that now it's time. All I have to do is to say a couple of words and my toddler knows, okay, it's time to begin to make that shift inward. As your chin moves in towards your throat, begin to bring your awareness to your breath, that Ujjayi breathing, that whisper in the back of the throat, your vast self, this oceanic self. Allow that to turn into the sound of Aum. So mantra repetition like music or lullaby, protects the mind, meaning of mantra. Begin to inhale and then internally exhale the sound of Aum, long o ending in, mmm, be this internal repetition. Take one more, but this time take your hands to your heart. Let's chant the sound of Aum externally together, just once. Breathe in together. Aum. See how that sound lingers in the mind and slide your padding out to the side and come forward onto your hands and knees and into child's pose. Allow your hips to move back towards your heels, your head to the ground, rock a little bit from side to side and then rise up onto your hands and knees for a few rounds of cat and cow. So these spinal flexes to begin to move with the current and the rhythm of your breath. Inhaling, dropping the belly to look up and exhale to move in. Breathing in to look up and then exhale to bow in. And if there's any other movements in there you'd like to take, like circling out through the head, sometimes turning the hands backwards if you've been at a computer all day, it can feel nice. Open up the wrists a little bit and then take your left hand center, breathe your right arm up to the sky and you're going to weave the right shoulder to the ground and allow your ear to rest towards the ground and using your left hand steer the left hip back so you can extend the left arm forward. Just a shoulder opening. Breathing into the outer edge of the right shoulder and drawing the left hip back. You come through center, plant the right hand center, reach your left arm up and then weave the left arm underneath so your ear comes to the ground, your shoulder comes to the ground and then reach your right arm forward. Spin open through the chest and take the right hip back and then come back onto all fours, this time bending through the elbows and letting your heart release down towards the ground. Hide the elbows in, point your toes, press down through all 10 toes as you lift your chest into a baby cobra hugging the elbows back and then press up onto your hands and knees. Tuck your toes under for downward facing dog. The first one, the knees can be soft so you can press through the hands and roll the shoulders away from the ears. And then slowly begin to lengthen one leg, switch, bend the opposite leg, releasing the heels to the ground. On your next inhale, switch the left foot center a little bit so that you can swing your right leg high up to the sky. As you exhale, draw the right knee in towards your nose and then step your right foot right between your hands. Soften the back knee down, take a walk with your hands on top of the right thigh so you can allow the left quadricep to really sink towards the earth.

You can lift the chest and from there reach your arms up. You allow the shoulders to melt down the back. Every inhale you can lift up so that the exhale can allow you to sink down and arch back release your hands down, tuck your back toes under and step into downward dog. Inhale your roll forward into your plank. Exhale, knees, chest, chin. Inhale, cobra. Exhale into downward dog and step your right foot center and reach your left leg up high, breathe in. As you exhale, step forward between your hands and soften your back knee down. Again, hands at the top of the thigh can begin to also draw the low belly in so that you can lengthen the low back so as you arch up and back you're not really dropping so deep into the low back, allowing the top of the thigh to release as you reach up. Feel free to move in any way that feels good here and then frame your left foot as you step back into downward dog. This time take a slow journey, a walk towards the top of your mat. Now you can stop the rushing around, slowing everything down and exhale to allow the spine to melt and waterfall out of the hips. You can move a little from side to side here. Twisting again may feel good. As you plant the left fingertips down reach the right arm up, take the right fingertips down, extend the left arm up and then allow the head to drop as you roll and rise up, checking in to every part. If you come up to stand in your tadasana or mountain pose, we're taking a couple moments in stillness, that great still point, which is that gesture of this mudra. We can continue to come back and from that point you can begin to step out to the center of your mat. Make sure you have a couple blocks, maybe one towards the top, one towards the back as we move through a couple standing poses. It may be nice to have them. So from tadasana or mountain pose you can begin to step or hop your legs out wide. Then inhale your arms up to the sky so that you can fill up and lift your right foot up so that you can swivel onto the heel, turning the right hip out and then plant the right foot down and begin to bend through the right knee so that you can come into warrior two. The right knee opens up towards the pinky toe side of the foot. You can really sink down and allow your focus to shift towards your fingers. Then you can even begin to tip the palms up, join your thumb and index fingers as that point of focus and then arch all the way back for a peaceful warrior. You can look down to release the right side of the neck. And then from here plant your right forearm to the top of your thigh and begin to extend the left arm up and over your head, opening up through the whole left side body, stretching out, pelvis comes forward a little bit as you draw the right knee back. You can take a big breath in and a big breath out, maybe even for the next couple of breaths you can slide your right foot back and take your hand a little bit deeper as you open up. And from here we're going to transition into Ardachandrasana or half moon. So again you may slide the right foot back so that the right hand can come onto a block towards the top of your mat. Begin to shift the weight into the right foot and your right hand and then begin to peel the left hip open as you flex through the back toes. So first I like to keep my gaze towards the ground to find that steadiness and connection and then when you're ready begin to reach the right arm up and shift your gaze up. You can take a couple breaths, movement is totally natural and fine, listening to your body and what it needs. Take one more inhale, you can take a bend through both knees so from there you can shoot your leg back out, come on up towards center, reach your arms high and it's warrior two to the left side. So turn your left leg out, plant your left foot down as you sink down into warrior two on the left side. So there is this equal sinking down reaching up and radiating out in all directions from the center point. Turn your palms open as you sink down and tip backwards, peaceful warrior opening up the left side ways. Again looking down, you can release the neck and then come on up through center for your extended side angle stretching from the outer edge of the right foot. So we stretch our perspectives, we stretch our minds in this practice as well as our bodies. Refine the block underneath your left hand if you'd like to take it a little bit deeper and then transition into your Ardha Chandrasana by stepping the left foot back a little so that your left hand can find your block.

See if you can set up the pelvis by rotating out the right hip a little bit, reaching your right arm up and then maybe your gaze when you're ready. Take a couple of breaths and then you'll shoot the right leg back to rise up. Parallel the toes and breathe in, exhale to come all the way forward. You can bend your knees, your hands can find the ground, begin to bend one knee, bend the other knee and finally let the head drop down. You can reach for your ankles, this can even be like a little headstand. If your head doesn't come to the ground, you can take a block or two or three and allow the weight of the head to really sink down and the crown of the head. Release the block if you had it, plant your hands to your hips as you rise on up to stand. You can put a little bend through the knees to hop the feet together and then come on up to the top of your mat again. You can place the blocks out to the side. From here you're going to begin to lift your left leg up, find balance onto your right foot, slide your shoulders back, then you're going to wrap the left leg around the right once or twice for eagle pose. Your toes can come to the ground and even if this pose is new or sometimes at the end of the day balance is really hard, you can place your foot onto a block and then your left arm, you can find cactus arms first, can come underneath the right once or twice. Start first by stretching the two sides away from each other, get really long through the spine and then you can begin to come forward sending the hips back. So this opens up the whole back side of the body as you come forward. Again, focus and concentration in the mind, the quieting. As you begin to rise up, take your arms up, the right the left knee can lift up and then you're going to step back into somewhat of a lunge. Your block can even stay there so that you can sink the left heel down. It takes a moment even here to transition from pose to pose. It's all about transitions, how we make our way from one thing to the next. Inhale your arms up and then open up your arms wide so that you can begin to find your hands either in a prayer behind your heart if that's comfortable or you can take a hold of your elbows, whichever way that your chest can open up as we begin to make our way into pyramid pose. Draw the right hip back and then allow your spine to spill forward as we create the sacred geometry of the body.

I like the great architecture. So you can breathe in and breathe out allowing the spine to really hang heavy, making sure to release your jaw and the belly and the breath while the legs are nice and active. And from here take your right hand to your right hip. The block is going to be really nice here to keep on the outside of your right foot so that you can begin to drag the right hip back a little bit manually to lengthen, especially this IT band you're going to feel on the whole outer edge of the hip. And then begin to find a revolved triangle pose by pressing your ankle or your shin even into the block. You'll find some steadiness then maybe lift the right arm up. You can take the gaze down if you need to or look up. Breathing is essential here. It's ringing out of the body and release your right hand down and step forward with the left foot. You can shake it out a little bit. Make sure you have your block on the other side and then begin to rise up nice and slowly, arms up to the sky. Transition onto the left foot and then hug the right knee in towards your chest. Start by finding your balance, grounding, and then you can wrap your right leg around the left.

Again, the block is there to keep the hips pretty centered and then take your right arm under. First begin to lift up so that the spine is nice and long for eagle pose. And then begin to take it forward with your hips back. That great majestic bird and lift it up with a greater perspective. And take one more big breath in, rise back up, undo your arms and then step back, sealing the right heel to the ground and this time finding the hands behind you.

You can play with finding the prayer or your elbows before you send the right hip back and spill the chest like a great waterfall over your left leg. And it becomes like a ceremony when we ritualize these moments. And from one thing to the next, like a tea ceremony. I'll take one more inhale, exhale to lengthen a little bit deeper and to prepare for our revolved triangle on the left side. It's a block on the outside of the foot. The inside is fine, it's up to you to really experiment for your body. Then move your left hip back as you peel the right arm up to the sky. At Mudra you can always use if you lose yourself or your breath to come back with our intention. And then release your blocks, release your hands and even step back into downward facing dog. You can walk back, move your hips a little bit from side to side. Roll forward into a plank pose and take your knees to the ground for child's pose. Take a moment here, rock your head a little bit from side to side as we take one more transition this time back down towards the ground. So you're going to need a few props for this one, a blanket and your two blocks. Keep them near you. We're going to start in Virasana, hero's pose, heroine's pose. You can crawl forward towards the top of your mat and then you're going to have to again experiment for you which length feels great as far as padding underneath your sitting bones. Some people are really open in the knee joints, have healthy knees, others of us don't and need more padding but it could be a block, it could be a blanket and if the blanket is long this way then you can always fold it up underneath your sit bones again. You can take a couple moments here to sit, you can find that same Mudra as this is great meditative pose as well. Then after the next breath or two if your knees feel okay here we are going to begin to recline our Virasana. So one block can come straight back behind you, it wants to come behind the upper spine or the thoracic spine. The other block is going to come just like this right underneath your head. So I like the first block to be the medium size and then this block to be the highest size. So again it's a little bit the first couple times you'll begin to move around from side to side and you'll get the hang of it to allow the body to really reset and open up and in the restorative poses it can just release into the opening. Again maybe some more micro adjustments with your hips, with your legs but the knees stay together to allow the whole front body to open.

We'll stay here for a couple breaths and then whenever you're ready to make your way out press down into your shins. You can use your hands but try not to lead with the head, you're leading with the heart as you begin to make your way up with your chin in towards your throat and then you can begin to come forward onto your hands and knees, crawl back a little bit. You can now place your blocks over to the side. I'm going to use them once more but you can use your blanket to simply lower down onto your bellies. Allow your head to release to one side and shake out your hips. You'll feel the energy in your legs for sure and take your forehead center and interlace your hands behind your back. Let's see if we can begin to draw the shoulder blades towards each other and lift the shoulders off the ground and then long away from the ears so that the neck is nice and long. And take a big breath in see if you can begin to peel the chest off the ground maybe even lift the legs. You can play with lowering down, inhaling a little bit higher and then releasing, helping your hips release to the other side. And then right from here you can roll over onto your left hip.

You can move your blankets over to the side one more time to come onto your back. Do one more supported back bend by taking a block and placing it underneath your sacrum. So this again it can be this medium height, it can be the low height, high one but the point is to allow the body to release over the props. We'll stay here in the supported bridge and see if you can come back to your breath or even your mantra that great lull. Lullaby. That says, oh I know now it's time.

Take one more breath here and press into your feet to lift your hips up. Release the block down. There can be one more transition into an inversion as you begin to make your way forward. And the same thing with your block you're going to take it a little bit closer. Come forward to lie down onto your back for an inversion, restorative inversions that your sitting bones are going to come towards the wall, your legs up the wall and then by pressing your feet into the wall you can lift your hips and place the block underneath your sacrum. So there is a draping of the low back so again it may be a little playing with what feels best but the groins do want to drop down a little bit for the legs to lengthen and then the chest can expand. And your arms can come by your side so it's the same feeling in the chest but the legs are elevated. And you can play around here with your legs up the walls. A couple of things to do might be to take the soles of the feet together. Gently draw your hands at the tops of the knees a little bit from side to side. Gently listening to your body and what it needs. And then place your feet to the wall. You begin to take your hands towards the ground and then if it feels okay for the neck by pressing into your feet you can begin to lift your hips up a little bit higher towards shoulder stand but using your hands towards the wall so that the energy is not dropping into the neck but more into your feet pressing into the wall.

Having a little bit more of this inverted practice. As you lower yourself down move your block over to the side slowly and this transition will be interesting because you do want to scoot back one more time towards the center of your mat and then begin to hug the knees in towards your chest. You're going to come into a passive hip stretch or happy baby this is called. So taking the outer edges of your feet or your big toes the idea is just to take the knees using the natural drawing down of the hands and knees towards the armpits and the soles of the feet towards the sky. Breathing into the hips and the low back sacrum spine, shoulders draw down and away from the ears. And then from here you'll take your right ankle on top of your left knee and roll open through the right hip. So it's kind of an isometric meaning the left knee comes forward and then the right knee draws towards the wall and you can interlace your hands underneath figure four shape and then maybe take a couple pulses and do exhale pulses until you exhale into the right hip. You can inhale to release and then breathe out as everything starts to slow. One more big breath in and then breathe out. You can hug your knees in towards your chest and then switch out your legs. So it's the left shin on top, right foot on your right knee, your left ankle. Play with hugging the knee in. Breathing out, knee tension there inside of the hip.

Hug your knees in. Then let's come on up for a couple last poses, forward bends and twists are so soothing and calming for the mind. So we'll start with the left foot behind and then the right shin opening just like we were doing on the ground, towards the ground, pretty parallel towards the front of your mat. And then you'll find the twist, sinking down through the hips, lifting up through the spine, by twisting the whole body over to the right, but then you gaze towards your left shoulder. You can sink down through the hips that allow the chest to lift and find the twist at the same time. So these turnings from one thing to the next twists are so helpful for that. Come through center. You can lean back into your hands so you can switch out your feet, the right foot behind you. Twist your chest all the way towards the left as much as it can go and then simply turn your head towards the right shoulder and come through center. Shift the weight back. This time the soles of both of your feet are going to come together. Come forward for bada konasana. A couple of props can be helpful. This is a newer posture.

So maybe some blocks underneath your knees and a blanket underneath your sitting bones. This helps to shift the weight forward a little bit as you begin to hinge forward at your weight. So you can take a hold of your feet. You can even give yourself a little foot massage. There's nothing better. Release all that tension from the whole body. I'm going to take another breath in and you can begin to make your way forward. Your hands can reach out and sway a little bit from side to side. The body loves movement. And your next inhale begin to rise. Plant your feet down in front of you, your hands behind you to lift up for a counter pose and release your hips down for short meditations. It's kind of bookending our practice. The moment of stillness. Clear your space. Simply rest your hands on your thighs.

Sit up tall and find your breath. In this meditation, the eyes are slightly open. A lot of the times you see Shiva, the great meditator with his eyes, what's called the drunken gaze. They're just slightly open, gazing at the earth. As we come back to ourselves, the shift from our focus outward towards inward, the day into night. You can stay here in this meditation for as long as you'd like.

And when you're ready, begin to lower yourself down for a few moments of Shavasana. Blanket rolled out underneath your knees is nice to support your low back and help the body release a little more fully. Allow the shoulders to drop down. Squeeze everything tight and then exhale, let go. In the Yogi's practice of letting go of everything. And to connect to your truest self in this piece that can't be given externally, but only found within. And slowly begin to bring your awareness back.

Keeping your body completely still for a few moments into just a little more aware Shavasana. And begin to connect back to the sound of your breath. Move your fingers and your toes, come back into your body. And give a big hug of your knees and towards your chest. Roll over onto your right side for a moment and reach into the ground to rise up to sit. Take your hands to your heart in prayer.

Namaste. Thank you for joining me. I'll see you again soon.