Hello and welcome to this yin yoga practice to help you sleep.
So I have a bolster here.
You can also grab a couple of pillows from your bed.
That's all you'll need.
We'll do a couple of poses to just help support your rest and your sleep.
So we're gonna go right into our first position.
You will take your bolster or your pillows and you're gonna put them up against your low back.
Laying yourself back over the props,
Touching the soles of the feet,
Opening up the knees.
And just letting your arms either open up to the side or maybe rest down at your sides or on your belly.
And take a moment.
Making sure that you're comfortable here.
If at any point this position for the legs doesn't feel right.
You could always put your knees towards the ceiling and planting your feet on the ground.
Straighten out the legs,
Anything that feels good to your body.
You can always do that.
Then once you've settled in,
Take a moment to scan through your body.
It's the end of the day.
And just notice where your body is calling your attention.
Maybe you notice that your throat is feeling a little bit tense or closed off.
Could take some deep breaths to open the throat.
Or maybe the chest is tight and every time you inhale and exhale,
You feel the chest,
The shoulders begin to melt and release around that bolster or the pillows.
Maybe your body is telling you that it feels tired.
Or something else.
Just listen to your body signals.
And then send the breath down low into your belly.
Just feeling the natural rise and fall of the belly with every inhale and each exhale.
Inhaling,
The belly rises.
And exhaling,
The belly falls.
Just letting the shoulders,
The heart,
And the hips begin to open and soften as you breathe down low into the belly.
Maybe noticing how the mind responds to the breath.
Perhaps with every inhale and exhale,
The mind calms down a little bit.
The chatter gets a bit quieter.
Just let gravity do your work.
As you breathe down low into the belly.
Just for a few more breath cycles here.
Now easing out of this position by bringing the knees back up.
Rolling over to one side and pressing yourself up to seated.
Going to move into a supported child's pose.
So leave your bolster and your props right where they are.
We'll take our knees wide,
Maybe touching the big toes,
Draping ourself over the bolster.
And letting those pillow or pillows support our chest.
Breathing down into the belly.
Letting yourself be held and supported here.
Still sending that breath down low into the belly.
But this time imagining that that breath is going so low it goes down across your low back.
Softening and releasing into the low back and through the hips.
Just breathing down low.
Just letting yourself be held.
Imagining that as you're in the supported child's pose.
Any stress,
Any worry you have.
That weight that you're carrying around on you.
All the life stuff.
Imagine it melting off of your back.
Pouring down your arms and your body and onto the floor.
Almost like you're creating this little stress puddle that will be cleaned up and removed.
Letting all of life's stuff just melt off of your back,
Roll down your body and be gone.
Continuing to focus on that breath down low into the belly.
Letting it all go here.
And now to release out of this position.
All you have to do is take your hands by your shoulders.
And just gently press the floor away.
Sitting yourself back up.
And setting your bolster or pillows off to the side will come to a seat.
We're going to move into a cow face pose.
So taking your right leg underneath you.
Top leg is going to cross on top of it.
And you'll see here that that top leg,
That left leg,
It's creating a little bit of a slope that you can rest your pillow.
Or your bolster on.
Can rest your head here.
And take a moment to settle in.
You should feel this position in the outside of your hips.
Continuing to breathe down low into the belly.
But this time,
As you breathe,
Imagine the breath is going right into the hip.
Inhaling,
Feeling that breath.
Open up the hips and exhale tension releases from this space.
Releasing tension from your neck as your head rests into the bolster or into your pillows.
Breathing down low into the belly,
Feeling that expansion in the hips.
It may feel a little tight at first and that's okay.
Just allow yourself to be here.
Every breath softens this part of your body a little bit more.
Allowing yourself to soften and rest in the stillness with every single breath cycle.
And from here,
All we'll do is just switch to the other side.
So lifting up your head.
Switching your legs so the top leg now becomes the bottom leg crossing underneath you.
That bottom leg goes over top.
Creating that bit of a slope.
For your bolster or pillows to rest on.
Maybe working on stacking one knee over the other.
Opposite heels go back towards the hips.
Finding a place to gently rest your head so you can release neck tension.
And continue to breathe down low into the belly.
Sending the breath to your hips and your low back.
Perhaps just noticing if it feels a little bit different on this side compared to the other side.
As you're in this position.
Allow yourself to settle into stillness.
Remaining present with your body.
Letting yourself be quiet and still.
If the mind wanders off,
That's okay.
Just gently guide it back.
Returning your focus to your breath down in the belly.
The softening through the hips and the low back.
Now taking a moment to ease out of this position.
By lifting the head and winding the legs.
Taking them out wide on your mat.
You can take your pillows,
You can bring them in front of you,
Kind of propping them up under the forehead.
Maybe laying them in front of your chest.
Adjusting your props,
It can be high,
Medium,
Low.
It's all just going to depend on the hips and what the body feels good doing today.
But we're taking this wide angle position,
Letting your forehead rest on something.
Breathing here once again down low into the belly.
But imagine that that breath also goes to the inner thighs.
Each inhale,
This part of the body expands and on the exhale,
It softens.
Maybe releasing even 1% more into this position.
Breathing here.
And imagining that the breath is down in the belly,
But also.
.
.
Into the spine.
On your next inhale,
Imagine that the breath rises from the base of the spine up to the crown of the head.
And exhaling,
The breath falls from the crown of the head back down to the base of the spine.
Inhaling the breath rises from the base of the spine up to the crown of the head.
And exhaling,
The breath falls from the crown of the head back down to the base of the spine.
Every breath cycle.
Your body softens a little bit more.
Releases into this wide angle position a tiny bit more.
As you rest and breathe,
Feeling the breath dance up and down the spine with every inhale.
And each exhale.
Releasing now out of this position by just lifting the head.
Walking yourself back.
Setting your pillow off to the side.
And rolling down onto your bag.
We have one last pose before we go to Shavasana and do a tiny meditation.
We're gonna lay on our back,
Put the pillows or bolster underneath your low back.
Bending the knees and gently windshield wiping the legs from side to side.
Letting go of any of that low back tension.
Then bringing the knees into the chest and legs go up towards the sky.
Coming to his supported legs up the wall.
You should be able to find a position where it's pretty effortless to hold the legs up.
So maybe if it feels like you're really having to use your core,
Try moving that bolster or pillows a little bit lower down your back.
Breathing here once again.
This pose has been proven to help support you sleep by reducing insomnia.
Also really good for any inflammation of the lower extremities.
Just imagining as you breathe here.
Each inhale and every exhale.
Your body becomes 1% more relaxed.
Inhale,
Exhale,
1% more relaxed.
Continuing to breathe.
Maybe noticing any of that cooling or tingling sensation in the legs.
Allowing the mind to quiet the body to relax.
Become a bit more still with every inhale and each exhale.
Taking a few final moments here.
And releasing out of this position.
Just by bringing your knees into your chest.
Bringing your legs back onto the mat.
Pausing for a moment.
And then when you're ready,
Sliding that bolster underneath the knees.
Coming to Shavasana.
Our final position.
We're going to take about three minutes or so.
To quiet our mind and do a quick body scan.
I'm bringing your awareness to the soles of the feet.
Softening the soles of the feet.
And relaxing through the tops of the feet.
Ankles.
As shins and calves.
Releasing tension through the fronts of the knees,
The backs of the knees.
Releasing through the thighs.
The pelvis.
And the hips.
And releasing the abdomen.
The rib cage,
The chest.
Softening through the sides of the body.
The low back.
The mid back.
And the upper back.
Releasing through the shoulder blades.
Letting go of all tension through the shoulders.
Through the arms all the way to the fingertips.
Then releasing through the throat and the neck.
The back of the head,
The ears.
And softening through the face.
Letting it all go here as your body melts and surrenders into the mat.
Just give yourself the gift of a few quiet moments.
And taking a big deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Beginning to gently reawaken your body.
Maybe finding a full body stretch.
Then finding your way up to seated.
Thank you so,
So much for joining me for this yin yoga practice.
I hope you enjoyed it and I hope that you sleep well tonight.
See you next time.
