Movement & Meditation: Evening Wind Down

Find a tall seated position in a quiet area, raising your hips with a folded blanket or pillow. This gentle practice will give you a variety of movements, and help you return your attention to your body and your breath. Slip straight into bed afterward.

Transcript

Hi,

Welcome to this evening wind down practice.

We're going to start seated so come to a cross-legged position or something that feels comfy to you on the floor.

Feel free to raise your hips up on a block or a pillow or maybe a folded blanket.

Find a tall seat and a purposeful place for your hands,

Maybe on your knees,

Folded in your lap or even crossed over your heart.

We're going to take a couple of moments to let our mind settle into our bodies and into the current moment.

Let's take two big breaths together.

Inhale to full,

Exhale to empty,

Inhale to full,

Exhale to empty.

Notice the feeling of where your body meets the ground.

Notice the feeling of the weight of your hands on your lap.

Notice the temperature of the air on your skin.

Notice the feeling of your clothes on your skin.

Without attaching to them,

Notice the sounds going on around you.

Notice your sense of vision maybe behind closed eyes.

Notice the sensation of your breath and where you're noticing it most strongly,

Maybe at your nostrils or your chest or your belly.

When your mind begins to wander during the practice,

Your breath is a great place to come back to.

It's always here for you.

I'd like you to bring to mind something that you are grateful for.

It doesn't have to be one of those great big things,

One of those foundational things that you feel you should feel grateful for.

Maybe it's something small,

Like the library book you wanted being available today or your favorite coffee mug.

Bring to mind all the sights,

Smells,

Sounds that go with this thing you're grateful for.

Notice how your body begins to feel.

Notice how this gratefulness feels in your body.

Take that feeling of gratefulness and use it to silently thank yourself for putting aside some time this evening for yourself.

Take a deep breath.

And we'll begin some movement by bringing our shoulders up to our ears,

Back behind us,

Down,

Forward and up again for some shoulder rolls.

Switch direction.

Bring your shoulders back to neutral and take your right ear over to your right shoulder for a full breath.

Take your chin down to your chest for a full breath.

And take your left ear over to your left shoulder for a full breath.

Go ahead and take any movements here that feel good in your neck.

Bringing your head back to a neutral position will take a slow traffic check by turning to look to the right and slowly turning back to look to the left.

And from here,

Come down gently onto your back and bring your knees into your chest.

Take any movement here that feels good to you,

Maybe rolling from side to side.

Maybe bringing your shoulders in your head up to your knees.

Maybe taking happy baby here.

Release your head and shoulders down to the ground if you had them up.

And bring your right knee into your chest,

Extending your left leg to the mat,

Pressing through your heel.

Staying here for a full breath or maybe taking your knee out to the side a bit.

Inhale to full.

Exhale to empty.

Extend your right leg to the ceiling,

Supporting your thigh with your hands,

And take some ankle rolls.

Switch direction.

Pause that and point your toes to the ceiling and spread them as wide as you can.

Notice what you're feeling in your foot and your calf.

And then flex your foot back towards your face,

Scrunching your toes up almost as if you were trying to pick up a pencil with your toes.

And point and spread your toes again to the ceiling and then pull back towards your face.

And do that five more times.

Release the sole of your foot,

Sole of your right foot to the mat,

And take your left ankle,

Crossing it over your right knee for a figure four stretch.

You can stay here with the sole of your right foot on the ground,

Maybe gently pushing your left knee out or using your hands to bring your right knee into your chest.

Inhale to full.

Exhale to empty.

Unravel your legs and bring both the soles of your feet down to the mat for a moment.

Notice what's,

Notice the difference between your two legs.

Extend your right leg to the mat,

Pushing through your heel and bring your left knee into your chest.

Again,

Here you may want to take your knees slightly out to the side,

But take a full breath here.

Inhale to full.

Exhale to empty.

Extend your left foot to the ceiling,

Supporting your thigh with your hands and take some ankle rolls here.

Switch direction.

Pause your ankle rolls and point your toes to the ceiling,

Spreading your toes as wide as you can,

Noticing what sensations are going on in your foot,

Your calf and your thigh,

Grounding down through your right heel and then pulling your toes back towards your face,

Scrunching them up almost as if you were trying to pick up a pencil and alternate between pointing and spreading and flexing and scrunching.

And do that five times.

Release the sole of your left foot down to the mat and take your right ankle crossing it over your left knee for a figure four.

Feel free to stay here or maybe pushing gently out on your right knee or maybe using your hands to bring your left knee into your chest.

Taking a couple of deep breaths here.

Then ravel your legs and bring both the soles of your feet to your mat,

Noticing the sensations going on in your legs.

In your own time,

Come over into tabletop position with your wrists under your shoulders and your knees under your hips.

From here,

We'll take our right knee out,

Level with our right hip and draw some large circles.

Switch direction,

Trying to keep your hips as level as you can,

Using your core to keep your hips level.

Place your right knee back down on the mat and we'll take our left knee out parallel with our hips,

Drawing some large circles.

Notice if you're leaning one way and switch direction.

Place your knee back down on the mat and we'll come to stand on our shins.

Take your right foot out beside you with your toes pointing forward so your leg,

Your right leg is straight-ish.

And on an inhale,

We'll reach to the ceiling.

And on an exhale,

Taking our right leg over our right hand over to our right leg,

Reaching overhead with our left arm.

Breathing into full,

Breathing out to empty.

Using your core to come back up straight.

Again,

On an inhale,

We'll reach to the ceiling.

And on an exhale,

Taking our left hand to the mat beside us,

Reaching overhead with our right arm.

Notice where sensations are building in your body.

Bring your hands down to the floor and take your right foot out in front of you as if you were in a proposal stance.

If you were to propose to someone,

Down on one knee,

The foot slightly out in front of you,

And take maybe half a step forward.

Take your hands to your thigh or maybe your hips,

Leaning forward for a low lunge.

Inhale to full,

Exhale to empty.

Coming up to a neutral position,

We'll take our hips back towards our left heel,

Stepping out with our heel for a runner's stretch.

Inhale to full,

Exhale to empty.

We'll come back up to neutral and standing on our shins again.

We'll do that all on the other side.

So we'll take our left foot out beside us with our toes pointing forward so our leg is straightish off to the side.

On an inhale,

We'll reach to the ceiling,

And on an exhale,

We'll take our left hand over to our left leg,

Reaching overhead with our right hand.

We'll come back to the breath if your mind is wandering away.

Use your core to bring yourself upwards,

And on an inhale again,

We'll reach to the ceiling,

And on an exhale,

We'll take our right hand over beside us,

Reaching overhead with our left.

Take one long line from the tips of our left fingers to our ankles.

Take one more deep breath,

Noticing where all the sensation is happening on your left side body,

And then we'll take our hands down to the ground,

And coming back into that proposal stance on the other side.

Take about half a step further,

And we'll take our hands to our thighs or our hips,

Leaning forward for a low lunge.

Inhale to full,

Exhale to empty,

And come back up to a neutral position,

Taking our hips back towards our right heel,

Stepping out with our left heel,

And hinging at the hips as far as is comfortable.

Can you notice the sensations going on in your legs without judging them?

Take one more deep breath,

And then come up to a neutral position,

And we'll find a seat with our legs open and extended out in front of us.

So bring your left knee in towards your chest,

Pulling it into your chest with your right elbow,

Taking your left hand behind you,

And on an inhale growing tall,

And on an exhale twisting towards the back.

Taking a couple of deep breaths here.

Release your gaze back to center,

And take the sole of your left foot to the inside of your right thigh,

And on an inhale we'll reach to the ceiling,

And on an exhale hinge at the hips,

Folding towards your right leg,

Trying to keep your attention on the sensations in your body,

Coming back to your breath when you find your mind wandering.

Use your hands to walk your body back up to neutral,

And we'll do that on the other side,

So taking your left leg extended out in front of you,

Bringing your right knee into your chest,

Bringing it in with your left elbow,

With the crook of your left elbow,

And taking your right hand behind you.

Inhale growing tall,

And on an exhale turning towards the back.

Inhale to full,

Exhale to empty,

And release your gaze and then your body back to a neutral position.

Then take the sole of your right foot to the inside of your left leg,

And on an inhale reaching up towards the ceiling,

And on an exhale turning towards your left leg and folding at the hips,

Until you hit the edge,

And then releasing your head and shoulders.

And then noticing what you're feeling in your foot,

In your calf,

In your thigh.

Use your hands to walk your body back up to neutral,

And come down in a way that makes sense to you onto your back.

And then take any movements here that feel good to you,

Maybe bringing your knees into your chest,

Maybe coming up into a tight ball,

Maybe taking happy baby posture.

And then we're going to start our final shavasana,

Releasing your arms and legs to the ground,

Taking up lots of space,

And then you need to relax into the ground.

If there's a way you like to close your yoga practice,

You may want to turn off the recording and do that now.

Take as much time here as you need.

I'm grateful we're on this journey together.

Have a good night.

Reviews

Lovely end to the day - thank you 🙏