Evening Yin Yoga for Sleep (45 min)

This evening Yin yoga practice focuses on gently releasing tension in the hips to help the body unwind before sleep.

Through slow, passive poses—including sleeping pigeon (swan), shoelace pose, and butterfly—the sequence encourages spaciousness through the hips while inviting the nervous system to settle.

Each posture is held for longer periods, allowing the body to soften and the breath to slow.

This practice is well suited for the evening hours, offering a quiet moment to release the day and prepare for restful sleep.

Suitable for all levels.

Transcript

Welcome to this short yin yoga practice that is specifically to stretch the hips and create spaciousness in the outer bum, Thigh and the inner groin region of the hip area where we store our emotions and where that's connected with our sensuality, Our creativity as well. We'll start in a comfortable all fours position facing towards one side of your yoga mat. As you come onto all fours, Take a moment to notice how that feels and then now slowly and gently we're gonna move your right knee towards your right wrist, Sliding it forward. From here start to slink your left knee away from you and there are a few options for this pigeon pose or swan pose. You might stay with your foot underneath your bum area, You might glide the foot to the opposite hip area or you might bring it even more horizontal towards the narrow side of the yoga mat. Whichever feels right for you as long as there's no knee pain or ankle pain, No pain in the joints. Now you're welcome to stay here, You're also welcome to slot a cushion or some form of support right underneath the bum and thigh region to support you if you find the bum is floating off the ground and at any point of time you can always adjust that cushion or that block. We're gonna take a breath in as you press down through the fingertips to find lift through the spine and then as you breathe out, Soften and begin to come onto one or maybe two forearms. From here you're welcome to linger in the center if that feels right, You're welcome to move away from the knee closer towards the left hip or you're welcome to move towards the knee that is bent in front of you. Now notice that where you place your body relative towards your lower half of the body, Upper body to the lower body will change where and how you feel the stretch in the bum and thigh region. So let's take a moment to find the position that feels right and then we're gonna linger here and if it feels good, If you can and if it feels nice, You can come down all the way to the ground and we're gonna stay for a couple more breaths longer here. Just about five more breaths here, Really relax the shoulders, Soften the whole of your upper body as much as possible. And now if you want to linger here, You're very welcome. If you feel ready to transition into the next pose, Slowly and gently begin to rise up if you've come all the way down, Coming on towards your forearms and then maybe on your palms, Gently nudge away any cushions or blocks and then roll so that you sit on the sit bone area of that front leg and softly bend the back knee and start to bring it forward, Swing it across and then in front of you to come into a loose shoelace position with what was your back leg. Now the ankle of that back leg is in front of this knee that was bent in front of you in pigeon pose. You might stay with this option, You might let the ankle come on top of the knee so you come into a figure of four or a shoelace position, A firelock position or maybe you stack the knees and begin to fold forward. So those are the three options, Please feel free to choose the one that works for you. And as you're folding forward, Softening your gaze, You can use any blocks, Cushions for support. Here instead we're stretching the outer bum and thigh area of that top leg. You might also feel it in the outside of the bottom leg as well, Noticing how that feels in this position. Similar to the other side, You're welcome to linger here if that feels good. If you feel ready, With the next breath in, Rising up from this position, Taking a moment and then we're going to slowly transition out from this pose the same way we came back in. Begin to lengthen your left leg behind you, Coming onto all fours in an all fours position. Feel free to take the next five breaths to come into any rebound pose or rebound movement or maybe you stay in stillness. When you feel ready to come to the other side, Gliding your left knee towards your left wrist this time, You might stay with this option as you glide your right leg far behind. So your left foot might be underneath your left bum or maybe you slink it so it's closer to the right hip or maybe you slinky even further so it's more horizontal or even diagonal to the left corner of the mat. Finding what is sustainable and accessible for you and then pressing down through your fingertips to find some lift through the spine and then as you exhale, Soften the shoulders, Let your hips blossom open and slowly coming on to maybe one or two forearms. As you come a little bit lower, Maybe you stay in the center, Maybe you move away from the front knee or maybe you move towards the front knee, Whichever feels best for you. Similar to the other side, You're welcome to use any cushions, Blocks for support underneath the bum area and then we're going to stay here just like we did on the other side. Similar to the other side, You're welcome to linger here. If this feels like a really delicious stretch, Feel free to marinate here longer, Really sensing and feeling into the outer bum and thigh region of your front leg. If and when you begin to feel ready to rise, Let your next inhale support you to rise from your all the way down towards your hands or maybe forearms. Take a moment in the starting position and then roll so that you lie on the bum of that front leg, Bend the back knee and softly begin to sweep that back leg over and across so you let the ankle of your right leg come in front of your left knee. I'll show you this in a forward-facing position now. First option, A loose shoelace position here. Second option, The firelock position with the knees and the ankles stacked and the last option is to let your knees align. And for this one, I forgot to mention the other side, You might want to come onto your hands first, Let the knees align and then sit back and you might find that gives you a little bit more leverage. From here, We'll press down through the sit bones, Lengthen the spine and as you exhale, Begin to fold forward. Similar to the previous side, You are welcome to linger here longer in the forward fold to really stay with this outer bum and thigh stretch here. If you feel ready to rise with the breath, Let your next inhale carry you to rise up from this position. From here, What I like to do is to lean back since we've completed both sides, Let the feet gently unthread, Unravel themselves and you might be on your hands as you let the knees fall over from one side to the other. Couple rounds of what is called a windshield wiper and then slowly we'll let both of your feet come together and let the knees gently move apart. You can flutter out your butterfly wings for the next five more rounds. And then when you're ready to come into this inner groin and thigh stretch, Take a nice long deep breath in, Lengthen the spine. As you exhale, Begin to fold and maybe let your spine round over your feet. If your head is quite far from the ground, You can always use your elbows to rest them either on the yoga mat or on your legs and use your palms to support your forehead or your third eye connecting with that space of introspection and intuition. Similar to the previous side, You're welcome to linger here if this feels good. If you feel ready to rise with the breath with your next inhale, Slowly and gently rising up, Taking a moment to feel that space that you just stretched the inner groin and thigh area and then you can use your hands to close these butterfly wings, Squeeze the thighs together, You can rock side to side. And then we finish off today's practice with a gesture to send gladness into the lower thigh and hip area. We let the palms form a downward facing diamond or heart as you breathe in. As you breathe out, Send the breath down into this lower thigh groin area, The lower chakras at the palms reside and connect with this space and then breathe in, Bringing it back to heart. Let's try that two more times. Breath in, Breathing out, Sending the breath down to those areas and then inhale back to heart. One last time, Deep breath in, Long breath out, Sending this gladness down into the space of your fluidity, Your creativity, Your safety, Your rootedness and inhale from this source of being, We bring it back to heart. Letting your hip bow down towards your heart, Taking a moment to thank everyone and everything that made it possible for you to be here and practice today. Thank you so much for joining me for this yummy hip practice. I hope you enjoyed this practice as much as I did and looking forward to seeing you in the next video.