Evening Wind Down

This yoga and relaxation practice helps you wind down, wring out, and move into a quieter time of day. It’s a nice ritual for transitioning from being out in the world to settling in at home. It’s also perfect just before climbing into bed, to prepare your body and mind for deep rest.

Transcript

This week's session is to help you wind down and move into a quieter time of day.

You might find this practice to be a really nice ritual for transitioning between being out in the world and settling in at home.

It's also perfect to do just before climbing into bed to prepare your body and your mind for rest.

You can use a yoga mat or simply practice on a rug or a blanket on the floor.

You may want a folded blanket or a cushion to sit on and at the end you could tuck the cushion or the blanket rolled up under your knees,

But it's also fine if you're practicing without any props.

Let's start sitting on the floor.

You can sit in a cross-legged position or any way that's comfortable.

Let the parts of your body that are touching the ground settle in.

Feet,

Legs,

Your hips.

Rest your palms on your thighs,

Subtly settling and grounding your energy a bit more.

Feel your shoulders drop away from your ears.

Feel your front body ever so slightly rest toward your back body.

Feel your back body broaden.

All of the days forward moving outward focused energy beginning to gather back in.

As you tune into your body sitting here and breathing,

Let your next inhale happen naturally.

As you exhale,

Feel your physical body gently hugging in all the scattered and dispersed bits of yourself reintegrating,

Coming back home.

And the inhale happens naturally.

As your physical body gently hugs in everything that's been scattered or busy reintegrating,

Coming home.

Inhale naturally.

Feel a subtle sense of energy,

Even musculature,

Hogging in toward your center.

From this seat,

Simply stretch your right hand out.

It can just touch the floor.

Maybe it'll walk out a bit.

You might decide it feels comfortable to bend that right elbow slightly and then stretch your left arm up.

It'll stretch right up and alongside the left ear and allow your body to lean to the right.

Take a couple of nice full breaths here.

That left hip might sink toward the earth,

Left arm gently draping up and over,

Right hand supported by the earth,

Body leaning right.

As you're ready,

Bring yourself back up.

Perhaps it feels nice for both arms to stretch up alongside your ears.

And we'll take that side bend to the other side.

So the left hand will come down and touch the earth.

Maybe walk its way out a bit.

You might bend the left elbow and the right arm just drapes up and over to the left.

As it does that,

The right hip can sink down,

Feeling the breath moving into the right side body.

As you inhale,

Bring everything back up through center.

Both arms reach again.

Maybe a gentle sigh out of your mouth as you exhale and let both arms drift all the way back down.

Maybe it would feel balanced to switch the cross of your legs here and stretch them out and recross them.

Feeling steady and sitting tall,

When you're ready to exhale next,

Let your body twist to the right.

Maybe that left hand crosses the body and gently anchors on the outside of the right thigh.

The right hand might come to the floor right beside the right hip.

On your inhales,

You can feel your spine just effortlessly stretching tall.

As you exhale,

Subtle ringing out of your day all the way along the whole spindle of your spine.

Inhale,

Spine naturally,

Effortlessly reaching tall.

Exhale,

Ringing out as you twist.

As you move through another cycle or two of breath here,

It might also feel nice to gently move the head through some really subtle half neck rolls.

Just one ear drifting over to its shoulder,

Head coming back through center,

Chin dropping,

Other ear toward its shoulder.

As you feel ready to come back through center,

Once again,

Both arms can stretch up alongside your ears,

Sitting tall,

Spine neutral now facing forward.

And as you exhale,

That same twist this time to the left,

So the arms float down.

The right arm could cross the body,

Right hand gently anchoring on the outside of the left thigh,

Left fingertips perhaps propped up beside your left hip.

Inhales lengthening through the spine.

Exhales a subtle ringing out as the body wraps to the left.

Long,

Effortlessly tall spine on the inhale.

Exhale,

Gentle twisting,

Sensation to the left,

Ringing out.

And as you breathe through another cycle here again,

Maybe those really gentle half neck rolls,

Chin dropping to the chest,

One ear rolling over to its shoulder.

Chin rolling back through other ear,

Other shoulder.

Chin back through center,

Crown of the head floating up,

Long,

Tall inhale through the spine,

Unwind,

Maybe both arms reach up alongside your ears,

Facing forward again.

And maybe a gentle sigh as you exhale and let your hands press through the air as both arms come back down by your sides.

From here,

Let's gently move to hands and knees.

So just an easy,

Supported tabletop shape.

Knees under hips,

Wrists under shoulders.

And we'll move into some really simple cow and cat motion with the spine,

Cow and cat breathing.

I'll talk you through it.

As you inhale,

Gently drop your belly,

Arch your spine,

Broaden through your collarbones,

Lift through your sitting bones.

And as you exhale,

Reverse that direction of your spine.

So spine makes the shape of a Halloween cat as the belly button draws up toward the spine and you round in.

Inhale belly drops,

Spine arches,

Shoulders draw away from the ears,

Sitting bones lift.

And as you exhale,

Belly button very gently hugs up toward the spine as you round in,

Press the earth away,

Let the head drop.

A few more like this,

As you inhale and drop the belly and arch the spine,

You might even imagine water pooling in the small of your low back.

And as you exhale and tuck the belly button toward the spine and round the spine as if that water could wash down the spine off the back body.

Inhale,

Drop the belly,

Arch the spine as if water could pool right in the arched low back.

And as you exhale and tuck and round that water spilling off the low back,

Washing off the upper back,

The shoulders,

The back of the neck.

Once more,

Inhale,

Drop the belly,

Arch the spine.

Inhale that pooled water just washing the day away,

Washing off the spine,

Washing off the back body.

Good.

Inhale bring yourself back through a neutral spine,

That tabletop shape again.

And then stretch your hips back toward your heels for a child's pose.

So you can gently widen your knees,

Your big toes could touch,

Hips back towards your heels,

Arms lengthen.

Nice big inhale here.

And an exhale allowing the body just to bow toward the earth.

Let's add to this a bit as you're ready to inhale very easily just peel yourself back up to your hands and your knees.

And as you feel ready to exhale,

Make your way all the way down to your belly so your knees might scoot back a bit as you lower down nice and easy.

And as you inhale,

Cobra Pose,

So the heart will tug forward as the gaze lifts,

The shoulders roll around back and down as the tailbone stretches back.

And as you exhale,

Melt your forehead,

Your whole body back down to the earth.

Inhale press back up through your hands and your knees.

As you exhale,

Sink your hips back toward your heels,

Child's pose again.

And again,

Same thing,

Inhale,

Draw back up to your hands and your knees.

Exhale all the way down to your belly like a full body bow.

Inhale,

Peel your heart forward,

Lift your gaze,

Roll your shoulders around back and down Cobra Pose.

Inhale melt all the way back down bowing the forehead back down to the earth.

Inhale press up through your hands and your knees.

Exhale stretch your hips back toward your heels,

Child's pose.

One more time through this bowing meditation to settle the energy into your evening.

Inhale peel up to hands and knees.

Inhale lower all the way down to your belly.

Inhale Cobra Pose as you peel up and let the heart tug forward,

Roll the shoulders around,

Stretch the tailbone back.

Exhale melt all the way back down to the earth.

Inhale press up through your hands and your knees.

Exhale all the way back,

Child's pose.

Let the movement now settle into stillness for a couple of breaths.

Energy saddling in.

From here simply roll all the way over onto your back.

We'll move into a basic reclining twist to ring out your day.

So from your back you can draw your knees in toward your chest.

It might feel nice to give yourself a little rock side to side here.

And then just gently guide your knees all the way over to the left.

So both knees,

Guide them over to the left.

That left hand or arm might provide a little bit of weight to help the knees settle toward the earth.

Let your right arm open out like a wing,

Palm facing up.

Maybe your gaze even drifts off to the right.

As you inhale here,

Like we did early in the practice,

Feel the inhales lengthen through your spine.

And as you exhale,

Ringing out sensation.

Inhale breath stretches through the spine.

Exhale the day ringing out along the spindle of the length of your spine.

One more breath.

Inhale,

Let that inhale lengthen along the column of the spine.

Exhale as if those right ribs could drip down to the earth a little bit more,

Ringing out.

And everything come back through center as you're ready.

The knees come back,

Recalibrate the body.

Guide both knees over to the right.

Let them just drift off to the right.

The right hand or the right arm might gently rest on the legs to help them ground toward the earth.

The left arm can open up like a wing,

Left palm facing up,

Left shoulder opening.

The inhale drift up the column of the spine.

Exhale,

Subtlest ringing out as if those left ribs could melt down toward the earth a little bit more.

The inhale stretches up the spine space.

Exhale soft ringing out along the central axis of the body.

Once more,

Inhale along the whole center of the body.

And a whole day just ringing out,

Washing away.

Bring everything back through center.

Hugging the knees in.

Once again,

Channel rock side to side,

Nestling yourself in toward this spot against the earth.

And we'll finish with a brief guided relaxation.

You can do this lying down in the yoga pose we call Shavasana.

You could always have your knees bent with your feet resting on the earth.

Maybe tuck a cushion or a rolled blanket beneath your knees if that would feel supportive.

As you settle in here,

Feel yourself inhabiting your body a little more fully.

Go back to the inhales happening naturally.

Exhales a subtle gathering in,

Coming home.

Inhale naturally.

Exhale gather,

Coming home.

You may even find your exhales naturally lasting a little bit longer than the inhales.

Inhale naturally.

Exhale gathering in,

Coming home.

Inhale effortless,

Natural.

Exhale gathering in,

Coming home.

Imagine your whole system as if it's on a dimmer switch.

Every exhale toning down the parts of you that have had to be active,

Outwardly productive,

Multitasking,

Even hyper alert today.

The exhales letting these parts of you dim.

Maybe in your imagination,

You dim these qualities to a sunset light.

Maybe they dim further to dusk.

All the way perhaps to starlight,

Moonlight.

Letting that go,

Just breathing naturally.

In the space of this recalibration,

Trusting that as you dim some of those outward qualities,

You're nourishing equally important parts of yourself.

Imagination,

Intuition,

Creativity,

Reflection,

Leaving your whole system more integrated.

Thank you so much for making this time for yourself.

And I'll be with you again soon.

Reviews

One of my favourite teachers on IT. Paige’s meditations are gentle, nourishing and very well paced. I always fell better afterwards.

Nice;

Perfect 🙏

Excellent evening meditation

Excellent. Namaste 🌞

This was such a soothing practice. Great voice, nice pacing, and I loved the imagery of water and dimming light. I had a little too much energy humming through my body so I slipped in a couple of down dogs and finished with legs up the wall, but the practice is fine just as delivered. Adding to my favorites list.

Haven’t don’t any type of yoga in a long time. This was absolutely lovely before bed. Thank you!

Very calm relaxing voice and perfect end to a stressful day!

This is the most relaxing, energy resetting evening practice. Thank you so much, Paige! Your calming voice is so nice to hear before bed!

Lovely guidance. Thank you Paige 🙏💕✨

Ahhhhhj..............⚓️

Beautiful combination of gentle yoga and meditation. ✨✨✨💖 Deeply appreciated before bedtime.

First time listening to this for an evening yoga practice and really found it to be easy to follow. The soft music was perfectly paired with this practice. Thank you 🙏🏻

Excellent. Absolutely loved it. Clear instructions which were easy to follow and a beautiful calm voice. Perfect to end the day. I feel definitely unwound. Will be making this part of my nightly ritual. So glad I found this. Thank you.

TY, Paige. Having had 2 major surgeries
in the past year even Yoga can be a
challenge. This was very gentle and relaxing
I thoroughly enjoyed it. Many Blessings 🙏💚

That was lovely. Thank you.