Bedtime Ritual

This embodied meditation is a short, soothing bedtime ritual. It combines gentle movement, breathwork, and guided visualization to help your body shift its rhythms from the day’s bright, outward focus to a still, quiet state that’s ready for sleep.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Paige.

Today's embodied meditation is a short,

Soothing bedtime ritual.

It combines movement,

Breathing,

And a guided visualization to help your body shift its rhythms from the day's bright outward focus to a still,

Quiet state that's ready for sleep.

You can do this practice anywhere you'd like to begin winding down.

Maybe you'd even just like to be on the floor right next to your bed.

And we'll begin in a standing forward fold.

So you'll simply hinge at your hips and bend forward.

You can,

Of course,

Have a bend in your knees to make this more comfortable on the backs of your legs.

Then as you come into this standing forward fold shape,

See how it feels to grab a hold of opposite elbows.

Let your head be heavy in traction,

And just begin to gently sway side to side.

Just a sense here as your feet plant in the ground,

And your spine tractions,

The back of your neck tractions,

And your heavy head drops,

Beginning to feel your day drain away.

Allow your breath to be easy,

Just as it is.

Swaying and letting the day drain.

And after another breath or so here,

If you're holding onto your elbows,

You might simply release that and allow your arms to dangle and your fingertips to drip down toward the ground.

And perhaps that swaying motion becomes still.

Another couple of breaths,

Physically turning inward,

Allowing anything that you're holding from the day that you would like to release to drain all the way down the spine,

All the way down the arms,

All the way down the fingertips,

And just to drip back into the earth.

And from here,

We'll slowly and gradually roll up.

So even if you don't yet have a bend in your knees,

Add that just out of bend to your knees.

Feel yourself beginning to hug in toward your center,

Let your feet ground against the earth,

And then begin to slowly roll your way up,

Stacking one bone on top of the next of your spine until you make your way all the way up to standing,

Really taking your time.

And when you're ready to inhale,

Scoop your shoulders forward,

Way up to your ears.

And as you feel ready to exhale,

Let your shoulders drop and let yourself release a ha sound as your shoulders drop.

Try that another couple of times as you inhale,

Let your shoulders inch up towards your ears like you're squeezing any tension right along the sides of the neck or the tops of the shoulders.

And with a ha sound,

Release the shoulders back down.

One more just like that.

Inhale,

Squeeze your shoulders up to your ears,

Maybe squeeze a little bit more,

Sip in a little bit more breath,

And then a ha sound as you let your shoulders drop.

And from here,

We'll come to a comfortable seat.

So you could simply sit on the floor,

You could sit up on a cushion,

You could sit on the edge of your bed.

If you're on the floor and it feels comfortable to cross your legs,

You can do that.

Taking a moment to settle into a supportive,

Comfortable seat.

Once you're there,

Let yourself draw in an inhale,

And as you exhale,

Let yourself tilt way over to the right.

Maybe your left hip stays grounded and heavy,

Just tilt way over to the right.

And then inhale,

Bring yourself back up through a long,

Tall spine,

A neutral seat.

And as you exhale,

Let yourself tilt way over to the left,

That right hip might stay heavy,

Tilting just as far as you feel comfortable.

And then as you tilt,

Come back off to the left and 한h point over to right.

November is our month of knowing,

And I've done a lot of what I do right now.

Just think about yourself,

ESS what was that,

And if you thought,

Wouldn't you be looking at me acting like that?

Let yourself feel that we're doing something,

Every time we're using this remote room,

The first time.

Inhale back through center.

One more time now,

Just a subtle tilt as you exhale to the right.

Inhale back through center,

Subtle tilt to the left as you exhale.

And all the way back up through a long,

Tall,

Easy spine.

And now a gentle twist to the right.

So you'll just spiral along your spine as you twist your way right.

That left arm might cross the body and anchor itself on the outside of your right thigh.

The right hand could be right outside your right hip.

So as you inhale,

You can let your spine feel like it grows a little bit taller.

And then as you exhale,

Just a subtle ringing out of your day as you wrap yourself around to the right.

You might even float your gaze over that right shoulder.

Just watch your body breathe here for a couple more rounds of breath.

And before we finish this twist,

Keep your body as it is.

Just drop your chin toward your chest.

You could roll your left ear toward your left shoulder,

Tip your chin up toward the sky.

Drop your chin back to your chest,

Roll your right ear toward your right shoulder,

Tip your chin up.

Let your chin drop all the way back down to your chest.

And when you're ready to inhale,

Float the crown of your head back up and unwind your spine,

Come right back through a neutral,

Easy seat.

If your legs are crossed,

You may feel that you want to uncross your legs and recross them.

So you feel some balance here in your hips and your seat.

And then when you're ready,

Twist to the left,

An easy twist to the left,

That right arm might cross the body,

Anchor on the outside of your left thigh.

When you're ready to inhale,

Let that inhale stretch up the length of your spine.

And as you exhale,

Like a ringing out of your day,

Let your body twist to the left,

Your gaze might even float,

Drifting over your left shoulder.

Another couple of breaths here.

And then you can drop your chin toward your chest,

Let your right ear float its way over to your right shoulder.

You might tip your chin up toward the sky.

Let your chin drop all the way back down to your chest,

Left ear,

Left shoulder,

Maybe your chin tips up.

Let your chin drop all the way back down to your chest.

And as you feel ready to inhale,

Let the crown of your head float up,

Unwrap that twist all the way back to center.

From here,

We'll finish with some breathing and a gentle visualization.

So you can stay in the seat you're in.

If you're sitting on your bed or right near your bed and you want to lie down,

You can lie down.

You can soften your gaze or even close your eyes.

Your circadian rhythm,

Your body's internal clock,

Responds to the messages your eyes send your brain about light.

We'll use a short visualization to coax that system naturally towards sleep.

Imagine yourself sitting or lying down in a safe,

Restful spot outdoors at sunset.

The temperature is perfect and you're completely comfortable.

As your body naturally releases tension,

Notice your exhales beginning to gently lengthen out.

And just the exhaling half of your breath,

Effortlessly lengthening out.

As if you could dive into your exhales.

Follow them all the way to their end point.

Maybe there's even a slight pause at the bottom of each exhale.

Maybe you're just feeling a little bit of a pause at the bottom of each exhale.

And as your exhales continue to lengthen,

In your mind's eye,

Watch the sunset slowly begin to fade.

Watch the sun set slowly begin to fade.

Watch the colors deepen and then darken and finally disappear.

Finding yourself in that dusky light that feels calm and restful.

And let your eyes feel slightly heavier as this shadow light now begins to slip away.

As if a shade is being drawn down.

Until you're sitting peacefully in darkness.

Allow it to be a comfortable,

Soothing darkness.

The whole world a little quieter as if it's just let out a sigh.

And your exhales still slow and long.

Just enough subtle starlight beginning to appear now.

So you can make your way to bed when you're ready.

Thank you so much for ending your day this way.

I look forward to being with you again soon.

You

Reviews

This was so wondrously creative - the idea of calming your system as you visualise the light fading is ingenious and, importantly, very calming. Thank you so much.

This meditation has become a part of my bedtime routine :) thank you

Love this! A great transition from the day to bed.

Thank you the stretching part it was very helpful to relax 🙏

Amazing and relaxing meditation! I loved doing the stretches.

Very soothing. Thank you.