10-Minute Bedtime Yoga

Hello everyone, good evening. It's time for bed. We have a 10 minute yoga practice for you. So grab a blanket and a pillow. If you have them, hop into something comfy, maybe your PJs, and let's get started. Alright, welcome. Come on down to the ground. We're going to begin either in a seated position or a kneeling position. So you get to choose. You can use your blanket or pillow if you brought one to sit up on. And after you've selected a starting position, Benji has chosen to lay down. We'll get there eventually. But I'll invite us to relax our shoulders, close the eyes, and allow the sound of my voice to guide you here. 10 minutes to shift the state of our nervous system, to soften our grip on the day, to mindfully and intentionally slow down, draw our attention inward, and prepare for rest. Allow your hands to rest gently in your lap, or maybe you bring your hands somewhere on your body, maybe the belly, the heart, or palms together in prayer. And after you've made your selection, your choice with your hands, begin to notice your breath. Gently tuck the chin, feeling the back of your neck lengthen. And just take a moment to relax here, letting go of the day, really embracing this short but sweet practice, honoring it as a meaningful and valuable transition that will support you in deep rest. And in your next inhale, breathe in through your nose and fill your belly with air. And then pause after the inhale, hold the breath for one moment, and then slowly exhale. Once more like that, big inhale, fill the belly, fill it up, big diaphragmatic breath, and pause, retain the breath, keep the skin of the face soft, shoulders relaxed, holding the breath, and then releasing, releasing all of that steam from the day. Beautiful, bat the eyelashes open, or keep just a soft gaze or the eyes closed, but you can still allow the sound of my voice to guide you, no need to look at the video. Here, we're gonna drop the chin to the chest, and then slowly rock the left ear over to the left shoulder, and send the right fingertips gently to the ground, and just feel this lengthen and this stretch in the right side of the neck. And then drop the chin to the chest, take it to the other side, right ear over right shoulder. Breathe, keep the shoulders heavy and relaxed, and left fingertips come down to the earth. Soften the skin of the face, soften the jaw, and then bring the head back to center, and we're gonna just slowly widen the knees, so if you're seated on your buttocks, come up to your knees, and we'll just slowly widen the knees as wide as the yoga mat, bring the toes to touch, and send the fingertips forward for Extended Child's Pose, melting the heart down to the ground, relaxing the forehead, the jaw, and we'll take a cue from Benji here, and just relax the weight of our body completely and fully with a big sigh, so we're gonna inhale in through the nose, and as you exhale, sigh it out through the mouth, it's more just like that, inhaling in through the nose, big, full, deep breath, and then exhale, sigh it out. Exhale, seal the lips and continue to slowly breathe, option to soften the fingertips here, so less active arms than maybe you are used to in this posture, option to move the tongue around in the mouth, part the lips, and then option to rock the head, the forehead, massaging against the earth, and let all of that go as you slowly press the palms into the earth, and lift the head. We'll come forward onto all fours, walk the knees all the way up to the wrists, and then swing the legs to one side to come to a seat with the legs stretched out in front of you. Great, again, use pillow or blanket to sit up on if you like here, Dandasana, fingertips are gonna come to the mat in line with the hips, then squeeze the shoulders up to the ears, take them back and down. If the palms can press firmly into the earth, you can try that, otherwise keep the fingertips pressing, flex the toes towards the face, sit up nice and tall, Dandasana, head over heart, heart over pelvis. Close your eyes, squeeze the elbows in a little closer to your body, lift the chest, bend the knees slightly if your body is whispering to do so, so they can be straight or they can be bent. Nice, then release the fingertips, reach the arms all the way up and overhead, inhale in, exhale, slowly reach forward, melting your heart towards the tops of your legs. Again, bend the knees as generously as you need or as generously as you like. Maybe we grab one of our props here to help find a coziness in this posture. Take a deep breath in, and as you exhale, close your eyes, relax the weight of your head down, Seated Forward Fold, Paschimottanasana. Get quiet, still, feel the rise and the fall of your breath, and slowly begin to release, come out of the fold, and we're gonna come on to our backs. You can take your pillow or blanket and put it under the head for a pillow. When you get there, bend the knees and hug them up towards the chest. Take the knees, take the palms, excuse me, to the knees, and we're gonna slowly just draw soft, sweet, easy circles, so you don't need to jerk yourself around here, or push or squeeze too hard, just nice and easy. Again, you can close the eyes, you can part the lips, listen to the sound of your breath, and just let the feet be soft as you move in slow, sweet circles one way, massaging the low back, the sacrum, the outer hip, and then reversing the circle. Nice, and squeeze both knees in towards the chest. Inhale in, as you exhale, take them to the right side for a twist. Let your hands rest gently on your left ribcage as you breathe into the ribs, the belly, the diaphragm, and then use your exhale to soften and relax everything, and then slowly melt it to center, and take it to the other side. Nice and easy, twisting to the left, breathing that nice, wide breath into the ribs, filling the lungs, and using the exhale to soften and surrender. Start to really let go and wind down for the day, and slowly come back. You can take a butterfly here, or a happy baby, anything else that you may feel compelled to explore safely and sweetly, you can do that now, finding what feels good. If you're ready for rest, take your blanket, cover up the legs, extend the legs out long, allow your arms to either rest gently at your side, or somewhere on your body, and close your eyes. Take one final loving breath in, and one last loving exhale. May you feel peace, and may you rest well. Thank you for sharing this darling little practice with me. Namaste.