Gentle Bedtime Stretch & Deep Breathing

Enjoy this gentle yoga bedtime stretch with deep breathing to wind down from your day before you go to bed to sleep. Deep breathing and stretching is a great way to calm your nervous system before going to bed.

Transcript

So my name is Michelle and today this is just going to be a gentle bedtime stretch.

So you can have your yoga mat.

You can also have some yoga blocks nearby.

Also feel free to turn on some background music if that feels good for you.

So we're going to go ahead and get started.

So go ahead and come into a seated position and just cross your legs.

So first I want you to think about just sitting up nice and tall.

So we're working our posture and I want you to make sure those shoulders drop down.

So we don't want them shrugged up.

And if it feels comfortable you can close your eyes.

And just take a nice deep inhale.

And purse your lips and do a slow exhale.

Continue with that breath.

Inhale through the nose.

And exhale through your lips.

One more time and this time on the exhale really try to slow down your breath.

Good.

From here we're going to come into some seated cat and cows.

So your hands can be on your shin.

I want you to round your spine,

Tuck your chin.

And then we're going to sit up tall,

Stick out our chest,

A little arch in the back.

Now we're going to add our breath to it.

Good.

Exhale round that spine,

Tuck the chin.

Inhale cow,

Lifting that chest up.

Good.

Exhale cat round the spine.

And inhale cow,

Stick up that chest as you look up.

Good.

And just go ahead and sit up nice and tall here.

And we'll do a little bit of side stretching.

So go ahead and inhale those hands up and center.

And exhale,

Go to one side,

Look down at your mat.

Inhale center.

And exhale to the other side.

Just continue with this at your own breath.

Inhaling for center and exhaling to the side.

Good.

Just notice where you're feeling tension in your body tonight.

And just try to release those muscles.

And go ahead and do one more at each side.

Just allowing your breath to lead you here.

Good.

Inhale come center.

And on the exhale I want you to twist and look behind your right shoulder.

So you can have one hand in front,

One hand in back.

Good.

Inhale center.

And exhale twist to the left.

Good.

Continue with your breath here.

Inhaling center.

And exhaling for the twist.

Inhale center.

And exhale twist.

Go ahead and do one more on each side.

Keeping that spine nice and tall as you're twisting here.

Good.

Inhale hands up.

And exhale hands to your chest.

Good.

Bring those hands down to the mat.

And walk those fingertips out forward as you just sink into the stretch.

Nice big inhale.

And slow exhale.

Continue with your breath here.

Really relax your shoulders and release any tension that you're feeling.

Nice big slow breath.

And go ahead and walk those hands up.

And go ahead and switch the cross in your legs.

It might feel a little funny.

And go ahead and sit up tall.

Inhale those hands up.

And exhale bring your hands down.

And if you have room just walk those hands out forward.

And just take a nice deep breath in.

And a slow exhale.

As you keep taking a deep breath allow your body just to really relax on that exhale.

Let your body feel heavy and sink a little closer to the ground.

Go to one more deep breath.

Nice slow exhale.

And go ahead and walk those hands up.

And we'll come into tabletop position.

So come into hands and knees.

So we're in tabletop.

Make sure the wrists are right under your shoulder.

We'll do some cat and cows here.

So drop your belly as you look up.

Take an inhale.

Exhale tuck your chin around your spine for cat.

And just continue with your breath here.

Inhaling for cow.

And exhaling for cat.

And go ahead and do a couple more.

Just releasing that tension in your spine and your stomach.

And then meet me back in tabletop position.

And we'll do puppy pose from here.

So go ahead and keep your hips up.

And walk your hands towards the top of the mat.

And bring your forehead or your chest down to the mat.

And just take a nice deep breath.

And really just allow that chest to come closer to the mat.

So we always want to work with our breath.

So we really want to use that exhale to relax into our stretches.

And release that tension from our muscle.

And go ahead and take one more breath.

Nice little exhale.

And walk the hands back up to tabletop.

From here we're going to come into low lunge.

If you have yoga blocks you can grab them.

If not your hands can stay on the floor.

So go ahead and bring your left foot between your hands.

And come into low lunge.

If you're on your blocks it will look like this.

If you're just on your mat your hands are down here.

Or you can also do fists.

So right here we're just going to really work into this stretch.

So take an inhale.

And on that exhale just release those muscles in your hips.

You're still going to feel tension.

But you're letting a little bit of it go.

Good.

And just take a couple more breaths right here.

Sinking into the hips.

Releasing that tension.

Especially if we've been sitting all day our hips can tend to get really tight.

Good.

And from here go ahead and bring that front leg back.

And then bring your right leg forward.

So low lunge on the other side.

And just go ahead and adjust yourself.

And then take a nice deep inhale.

And a slow exhale.

And just release that tension in those hips.

Let those muscles relax.

And also make sure you're relaxing your shoulders here.

So we don't want to tense those up as we do have some weight in our arms.

Good.

And go ahead and bring that right knee back.

We're going to do it one more time on our left side.

So left foot between our hand.

Low lunge.

So that back toe is untucked.

And just take a nice deep breath.

And slow exhale.

Really sink into that stretch.

And just notice if it feels a little different this time.

And from here we'll come into half splits.

So you're going to walk your hands back as you straighten your front leg.

So if you have blocks you can bring it with you.

Otherwise you can have your hands or fingertips on the floor or hands on your shin.

So find the position that's comfortable.

And you can have that front foot flexed.

And you want to try to make sure that you're not rounding too much in the spine.

So take a nice deep breath.

And a slow exhale.

Good.

Walk those hands back forward.

And go ahead and switch out your feet.

So right foot comes in front.

Low lunge.

Take an inhale.

And exhale.

Sink into those hips.

Release your tension.

Again,

Take notice if it feels different doing this exercise a second time.

And we'll come into half splits.

Walk those hands back as you straighten that front leg.

Good.

Really puff up that chest a little bit.

If you have blocks you can always switch the direction.

And take a nice deep breath.

And a slow exhale.

Make sure you're not shrugging your shoulders up by your ears.

That you're just releasing that tension.

Good.

And walk those hands back forward as you bend that front knee.

And bring that front knee back.

If you have blocks,

Go ahead and move them off to the side.

And come into tabletop.

This time we're going to do Thread the Needle.

So I want you to bring your right hand up towards the ceiling,

Keeping your back flat.

Take an inhale.

And exhale.

Bring that hand between your other arm and leg.

Bringing the right side of your face down to the mat.

And push with that left hand.

And just take a couple deep breaths here.

Really opening up that chest.

Good.

Just continue with your breath.

And just notice how your body is feeling.

And go ahead and push with that left hand.

As you come back up,

Right hand towards the ceiling.

Take an inhale.

And exhale.

Bring that hand down.

Good.

Left hand up towards the ceiling.

Take an inhale.

And exhale.

Bring that hand between the opposite arm and leg.

Left side of the face down to the mat.

Really push with that right hand and open the chest.

Take a nice deep breath.

And slow exhale.

Good.

And continue with that breath.

And just take notice of any thoughts that you're having.

Are there any thoughts you don't need right now that you can just let go?

And go ahead and push with that right arm,

Making it straight.

Inhale that left hand up.

And exhale your hand down.

Good job.

And go ahead and come into a seated position.

And we're just going to do a butterfly stretch.

So feet are together.

And just go ahead and sit up nice and tall.

Good.

If this feels too much for you,

You can sit on a pillow to lift those hips up.

So shoulders relaxed down away from your ears.

And take an inhale.

And exhale.

Hinge forward.

Keep your back straight so you're not going to come very far.

And we're just going to take a couple breaths right here.

Good.

So notice how that's feeling in your hips.

On your next exhale,

I want you to go ahead and round that spine,

Bringing the chest closer towards your feet.

And as you exhale here,

I just want you to really let gravity weigh you down.

So don't feel like you have to hold yourself up.

Just letting yourself relax.

Releasing the tension in your hips or your backs.

Good.

Just trying to be in this moment right now.

So if you have any wandering thoughts,

It's always nice to just come back to a nice deep breath to sort of center that mind.

Good.

One more full breath here.

And slow exhale.

And go ahead and sit back up.

And this time we'll come into a straddle position.

So legs are out wide.

And I want you to keep your knees and your toes up towards the ceiling so we don't want those legs rolling.

And first just step nice and tall.

And take an inhale.

Good.

Go ahead and face your left leg.

And then I just want you to walk your hands out.

So it doesn't matter.

Your hands don't have to touch your feet or your shin.

They can just rest wherever they're comfortable.

So as you take an exhale,

Just let gravity weigh your body down.

Relax into the stretch.

Good.

Continue with that breath.

And that relaxation.

So you might notice on an exhale as you relax your body,

Your chest might get just a little bit closer.

Go ahead and walk those hands back up.

And go ahead and face your right leg.

Sit up nice and tall.

And then walk those hands out again.

So you may notice on one side you can go further or you can't go further and that's pretty normal to have different sides where you can stretch more.

And just take a nice deep breath.

And on that exhale,

Just let gravity do the work here.

You're releasing any tension you're feeling.

And one more full breath here.

Go ahead and walk those hands up.

And then we'll stretch the center.

So take an inhale.

And exhale,

Just walk those hands out.

It doesn't really matter how far they go.

So you can still have your hands in close as your body comes forward.

And on your next exhale,

Just let gravity do the work as it brings your chest closer towards the mat.

You don't have to force it.

Just use your breath here.

And just use that natural weight of gravity.

And just take note where you're feeling the stretch.

Are you feeling it more in your inner thighs or your back?

And there's no right or wrong answer.

And go ahead and walk those hands up.

And we'll go ahead and make our way down to our back.

So you can roll on down.

And you can have your knees bent with your feet flat on the mat.

And from here,

We're just going to come into a hamstring stretch.

So go ahead and straighten the left leg towards the ceiling.

And you can grab behind the leg or the shin.

You just don't want to grab on that knee joint.

Good.

And go ahead and flex the foot.

And point.

And we'll do that a couple more times.

Flexing the foot and pointing.

Good.

Option to stay here or you can straighten that right leg towards the ground.

And we'll just take a few breaths here.

Just using that exhale to release any tension you're feeling.

Just being grateful for this moment to move your body to relax and to stretch it out.

And go ahead and bend that right knee.

And go ahead and bring the left foot to the ground.

And we'll switch legs here.

So right foot goes up towards the ceiling,

Grabbing behind the leg or the calf.

Good.

And go ahead and flex that foot.

And point.

Flex.

And point.

And go ahead and do one more.

Good.

And then you can just hold some stillness.

And option to stay here or straighten that left leg towards the ground.

Good.

And just take a few deep breaths here.

And just start to notice that rise and fall of your belly.

So as we inhale,

We want our belly to rise.

And on the exhale,

The belly sinks in.

So we want to make sure that breath is not just in the chest,

But is moving down towards our belly.

And go ahead and bend the left knee.

And you can bring the right leg back down.

Go ahead and hug both knees into your chest.

And take a big inhale,

Belly expands.

And exhale.

And you can just stay still here or you can rock side to side.

And if you're rocking side to side,

Maybe notice if there is a spot that feels good and you can hold that for a breath.

So there's no right or wrong here.

Just sort of tuning into what your body needs.

Good.

And go ahead and find some stillness.

I want you to keep your knees bent just like they are.

But bring your arms out to the ground so they make a T.

And keeping your legs and feet together,

Go ahead and drop the legs to your left side.

So we're coming into a twist here.

Good.

You can look up at the ceiling or towards your right hand.

And go ahead and let your palms face up.

Just take a nice big inhale here.

And on that exhale,

Just relax into your mat.

Notice your body get a little heavier with each exhale.

Notice yourself releasing a little more tension,

Maybe in your shoulders or your hips.

And go ahead and take one more breath.

And slow exhale.

Good.

Go ahead and hug those knees into your chest again.

And bring the arms out to a T again,

Palms face up.

And go ahead and let the legs fall to the right side,

Keeping them together.

Good.

And you can look up at the ceiling or at the left hand.

And just take a nice deep breath.

And a slow exhale.

On each exhale you take here,

I want you to really just relax that body into the mat.

Just let it feel heavy on each exhale.

And notice yourself releasing tension and releasing some of your muscles.

And go ahead and take one more full breath.

Good.

And hug those knees into your chest.

Take a nice deep inhale.

And a slow exhale.

And go ahead,

Hug just the left knee into your chest and straighten the right leg out.

Good.

So see if you can straighten that right leg.

So that may mean your foot may not touch.

Good.

And then just release it.

Let it relax.

Take an inhale.

And exhale.

Release your body into the mat.

Good.

Bring the right knee back into your chest and this time straighten your left leg out.

And go ahead and squeeze that left leg straight.

And go ahead and relax.

And take a nice deep breath.

Good.

Go ahead and bend both of your knees,

Putting your feet on the floor.

You can have your arms out to a T and we're just going to let our knees windshield wiper back and forth.

So feet stay on the ground.

You may go up on the sides and let your knees fall to the right and to the left.

And just keep switching sides here.

Keeping your back on the mat as you do this.

Go ahead one more time to each side.

And then go ahead and find some stillness.

And you can just come into your final resting pose.

So this could be feet at the edge of your mat with your knees knocked together or you can straighten your legs out.

So you find the position that's comfortable for you.

If you want,

I invite you to close your eyes and take a nice deep inhale and a slow exhale.

And on your next exhale,

I want you to imagine a wave going through your body,

Head to toe,

And it just relaxes your body.

Good.

Exhale and relax your body head to toe.

And just do that for a couple more breaths.

It's OK if you notice the same spot getting tight.

Just use that exhale to release that spot again.

Just take a nice deep breath and I want you to notice any spot on your body that seems to be holding tension.

I just want you to take a deep breath.

Just relax that area and just imagine that tension melting out.

So continue with that on your exhale,

That area just releases the tension,

Just melts away.

And we'll spend about one more minute here in silence and just take a deep breath if you lose track of being in the present moment.

Good.

And feel free to stay here longer or you can roll to your side and take one deep breath.

Just go ahead and push yourself up to a seated position.

And we'll just end with one more breath here.

Relax those shoulders.

Take an inhale through the nose and push your lips and take a slow exhale.

And that is all for today.

Reviews

Fantastic! Thoroughly stretched and fully relaxed!☺️ Thank you for the clear cues, perfect pace, and gentle voice🙏🏼 This calming practice would be great any time of day❤️

Wonderful and relaxing. Great stretch routine that I can feel from top to bottom.

Very nice and relaxing practice to do before bed. The cues were easy to follow. You have a wonderfully soothing voice.