Wind-Down Before Bed

Set yourself up for a great night's sleep with this sequence of floor-based yoga poses. With luxurious stretches for the spine and hips, this practice is like one big exhale. Practice in your PJs if you like!

Transcript

Hi, I'm Carrie. Thanks for joining me for this little before bed yoga wind down. Let's get to it. All you need is the floor, Mad if you have one, And preferably a blanket just to cushion your knees. So bring yourself to a kneeling position. Practicing a little bit of mindful movement before bed is such a wonderful way to send you off to a lovely sleep. Start with a little cat and cow, Tucking the toes, Lifting the gaze as you inhale. Exhale as you round up nice and high. Just do this a few times back and forth. Flowing with your breath. Feeling the kinks of the day being worked out throughout the spine. And then slowly bring yourself back to a neutral position, Taking a resting pose of your choice. You can lower down into a puppy pose. This tends to be gentler on the knee. You can rest your forehead on your arms or extend your arms. If you like child's pose, Bring your feet together and your knees apart, Resting down that way, Again with arms either bent or straight. Take just a few breaths in your resting pose to tune in. To how you feel right now. Now whether you're in puppy or child's pose, Begin to straighten out your arms, Elongate your arms, And walk both of your hands over towards the left side, Reaching out towards the left side. I like to bend the left arm and rest the forehead on it, But you can do with arms straight too if you like. Just reach the right arm away from the right hip. Breathe to the right side of the ribcage. And then walk through center. And over to the other side. Elongating left fingertips away from left hip, Breathe into the left side. Okay, Then back to center, Reaching both arms out. Extend those arms and rock up through hands and knees. Step now your left foot up outside of your hands for a lunge. You can turn your left toes out for this one so it's a lizard-style lunge. Then begin by just straightening your leg for a moment, Giving a break for the knee, And you can rock a little bit back and forth. Then you'll slowly lower your knee maybe you like to take your knee back and down so you're not right on top of the kneecap but you're just above the kneecap Feel the elongation through the front of the hip as you inhale. Then exhale, Pull the hips back, Maybe even flexing your foot as you exhale. Rock a few times back and forth. And the next time when your leg comes back to straight, Just bend the knee a slight bit step the leg back and just shift the hips a little side to side and you go to the other side Stepping right foot up outside of the hands for the lizard lunge. Turn the front leg out. Tuck the back toes under. Lift the back knee and just take a few rocks. And observe. Little stretch for the calf, The ankle, The foot. Then lower the back knee gently down, Coming just above the kneecap if you can. Feel this opening in the front hip and the elongation and the hip flexors on the back leg. And then rock back and forth with your breath. Okay, Then bend the knee, Slide the knee next to the other one. And now my favorite part, Put your hands on the floor or if your wrists are not having it, Come down to your forearms and do a big sweeping hip circle. Oh, This is just so lovely. Let your hips really move in a way that feels good and organic. Don't force range of motion. But allow them to be free. Slowing the breath. Reverse your circling. All right, Then come back to neutral. Scooch this blanket, If you're using it, Out of your way. Lower all the way to your belly. So slowly coming down to the ground. You can take your hands underneath. Kind of by your side ribs. So first starting at the shoulders perhaps, But then take them a little lower for a cobra pose. Press the tops of your feet down. And as you inhale, Peel the body up away from the mat, Squeezing the shoulders back. And exhale as you lower. If this doesn't feel good, Then you can flip over onto your back for a bridge. Just putting your feet on the floor and lifting and lowering the hips that way. So wherever you are, Just a couple more breaths with your dynamic backbend. If you're in this cobra variation and you'd like to either lift everything up off the floor in a locust or slide your forearms underneath you, Your elbows under your shoulders for a sphinx, Take either of those, Whichever feels best to you. Just one or two more breaths. Then begin to slowly release out of the pose, Stacking your hands, Resting your forehead for my favorite no prop restorative pose, Crocodile. And just start to rock your hips side to side, Releasing your back. Bend your knees and flop your feet side to side. Circling the legs a few times, And then going the other way. And then relax your legs. Let them really be floppy. Head heavy. Take a couple breaths. No prop restorative. Observe. Notice what it's like to rest here in crocodile. One more breath. Then slide your hands in underneath you. Push up and back. You can take your choice of either a puppy or. . . A child's pose, Or if you'd like a downward facing dog, Tuck your toes under and feel free to pedal out the legs. A few slow breaths in the pose you've chosen. Really feel. What's happening right now? Okay, And then lowering down if you were in a down dog, Rising up if you're in a puppy or a child's pose. Come to sitting with your legs in front of you for our last little sequence. So this is a lovely hip release and twist. Take your hands behind you, Take the feet a little wider, And then begin to windshield wiper the legs side to side. You can let the opposite hip come up so that you get a little extra bit of a back bend and a release for the hip. And then the next time you go to the right side, Lean over to the right hand and sweep the left arm around, Reaching left fingertips away from left knee. Go to the other side. Do that one more time, Both sides, And then we'll add one last piece to this. Use your breath. To make this movement feel even better. Next time you go to the right, You'll enjoy a lovely release for the quads. So leaning over to the right, Reach back for your left foot. See if you could gently pull it in towards you a little. If you like, You can move the left knee back a little and then turn the thigh down towards the ground. I like to rotate in and out. So it moves the stretch a little bit from around the front of the thigh to the inner thigh. All right, Then release the legs slowly and head over to side two. Reach back for the bent leg. Gently pulling in, Start to rock if you like. All right. Release that leg. Come back to sitting any comfortable way. You're ready, Right? Ready to go right to bed. Just observe how your body feels after those few little bit of movement and breath combos. Take a nice smooth breath in. And a long breath out. Sweet dreams. I hope you sleep well and I'll see you next time.