20 Beginner Bedtime Yoga Stretch - STRETCH & RELAX

I must and welcome to my bedroom .

My name is Cassandra and I'm gonna take you through this relax and stretch evening yoga practice .

This is wonderful to do before you go to bed at night .

We're not going to be moving very fast .

All of the poses are very low to the earth .

This is very grounding and just a great way to prepare for a wonderful night's sleep .

I'm not using any props and this is great for all levels .

So whether you're a beginner , intermediate or advanced , you should find this really nourishing and soothing .

So let's begin in blose a wide leg , a child's pose , you can bring your big toes together to touch and bring your knees out as wide as you would like to .

So this one is completely up to you just finding enough sensation so that you feel a stretch through your inner thighs and into your hips .

And I like to extend the arms forward while still pressing my shoulders down and away from the ears .

And especially in this pose , try to focus your breath in your lower belly and you might count up to 45 or six as you inhale , feeling your lower stomach really inflate like a balloon and find that same count of 45 or six as you draw your navel back towards your lower back , letting all of the air out .

So finding a rhythm that works for you tonight , letting go of your day .

Knowing that all is well , you've done your best today and now you have full permission to relax .

Tomorrow will be a new day .

Take five more breaths right here .

Stay in this child's pose belo but just stretch your arms out a little further , coming up onto your fingertips , really lengthen and reach out and you can walk your hands back in , take your time , really try not to rush in and out of poses .

We are relaxing from our day .

We're just going to come into a tabletop pose so we can step our right foot to the outer edge of our right hand .

So both palms are to the inside of that right leg .

Then you wanna have your knee pretty much over the top of your ankle .

We'll take a moment here to ground as you really press your hips forward and down and lengthen through your heart through your chest .

Still shrugging your shoulder blades down your back , letting gravity pull your hips lower will come from here into goa or shoelace pose , at least a variation of it .

So you can start those toes that are in the back .

See if you can bring them a little bit over towards the right bottom side of your mouth , send your hips back and you're gonna cross your right thigh over your left .

So you want to reach your feet away from one another as much as possible and just start to press your hips back .

If flexibility is limited , you might just be holding here pushing it down .

Otherwise you might be able to bring your hips on the floor .

And one option can be to just work the pose and work the stretch , sitting up nice and tall or you can fold on down to really get into the it band , the outer hips .

I go across in a cow face pose trying to stack one knee over the other and we're only here for a few breaths .

So don't worry too much about which variation you end up in .

Breathe into the intensity of the pose , relax your shoulders and your neck .

We come into a straight legged forward fold so you can push into the floor lift on up and from wherever you were , we're just going to extend our legs out in front of us .

I'm gonna make this a very passive forward fold , meaning I'm letting my spine naturally round .

I'm not worrying about how far I'm getting into this one .

So as much as you're probably feeling this along the back of your legs , we're also trying to release along the spine forward , folds are just so great .

To do before bed .

So what can you let go of from your day ?

What can you release ?

See if you can even tuck your chin to your chest a little bit more .

We walk our hands and lift up nice and slow .

Let me just bring your feet in a little windshield wiper motion here dropping the knees side to side as a way to release your lower back before we go and repeat the sequence over on the other side , we're gonna take a half soup or half reclined hero pose .

Bring your right foot back in .

So you wanna have your right thigh parallel to the longer edge of your mouth .

Your heel is on the outside pointing up and you want the top of your foot to really be flat to the floor .

See if you can lift and tuck your tailbone under before setting your hips down and try to keep your knee pressing into the floor .

So you're getting a nice thigh stretch and you might just stay up here .

If it's suitable for your body , you can also lower down on your forms or all the way down onto the mat .

We'll take five deep breaths here .

Big release through the hip flexor through the quads , maintain that same breath rhythm , inhaling for a count of 45 or six , maybe your breath is even deeper going to seven or eight .

But matching that count on the exhale in and out through your nose .

And if you were laying and reclined , you can push into your hands to lift on up and let's find tabletop holes on hands and knees .

Let's find that dragon pose or lizard pose on the other side .

Your left foot steps forward to the top of the map .

Both palms to the inside of that leg , knees over your ankle , toes are pointing forward and you're just working on melting tension from your pelvis through the inner groin , through your hip , flexor , your arms are there for support .

Try not to struggle against the floor , maybe close your eyes as you bring your focus inward to your breath or to the internal sensations .

You might choose to repeat , I am calm , I am relaxed .

I am grounded .

We transition from here into goana so you can start to bring your right toes a little bit over to the left and you're going to cross your left thigh , stacking it on top of the right .

So left knee stacks over the right one and maybe just push your hips back until you get a nice stretch through the outer thighs or go all the way into it by letting your hips come down to the floor , maybe holding from here or melting it down further .

And when I give these options and poses , the progression doesn't mean worst to best .

The benefits of the pose really are the same whether you're going super deep into it or not .

Regardless of what this pose looks like for you .

We are all opening up our hips , we are all releasing our low back .

So try not to judge the experience or set too many expectations on yourself .

This is meant to be a self care practice that we do at the end of the day .

So the last thing we want is to start judging the experience or being critical of ourselves and of our body .

try to let go as much as you can .

Let's walk it out .

We'll come into another forward fold .

If you wanted to do the straight leg fold like we did before again , you're welcome to do that .

Otherwise , we can take a and a butterfly fold , bringing the soles of the feet together , knees apart .

And this one also , I'm going to make it very passive , just soothing and relaxing .

I like to turn my palms to face up and just gradually softening into the shape .

So that again , even though you're probably feeling the most intensity in your hips and in your lower body , we are still trying to decompress along our spine .

So no tension even in your jaw , even notice along your eyes and in your cheeks .

Can you relax a little more ?

Push your hands into the floor , take your time inch by inch , we roll up and we'll just do that same windshield wiper motion with the knees .

So letting knees and thighs drop from one side to the other as a way to release the low back .

Setting ourselves up for that quad stretch on the other side , half reclined hero , bring your left shin back , left foot back and do make sure you have your calf on the outside of your thigh .

Both hips are parallel , push into the top of your foot and you can lift your hips , tuck the tailbone under .

Keep pushing your left knee into the floor and go any amount into the stretch .

It's very normal for one side to feel different than the other .

Take another big breath , sending it all the way down through your belly and will lift up nice and slow .

01 last time , let's make our way tabletop pose and we'll finish with a little puppy stretch on a keeping your hips over your knees , walk your palms forward , melt your heart and your chest to the mat .

And I'm going to relax my arms in this one so that my elbows stay on the floor .

Try not to sink into your low back too much here .

Instead try to focus on your chest making its way closer to the floor and to the mat and just bend out , your elbows will come into a little crocodile pose , kind of like a little belly , one hand over the other , just let your forehead rest over your palms .

Take a few moments here to breathe into your low back , feeling your lower abdomen push into the floor .

As you inhale and it relaxes back on the exhale .

I am calm .

I am relaxed .

I am grounded .

What are you letting go of from today ?

And you might wanna just roll onto one side into a little fetal pose , cradle your head into your arm .

Who come to take his seat ?

Push into the floor .

Nice and slow sitting in any way that is comfortable and suitable for you , bringing your hands together at the front of your heart , closing your eyes .

Let's close our practice with the chant of 01 time inhale to chant big breath in .

Mhm No .

Thank you so very much for doing this stretch and relaxed evening yoga practice with me .

I hope you enjoyed it and that you feel ready for bed .

If you'd like to stay longer , I would recommend doing this meditation right here before you drift off to sleep .

Please subscribe and hopefully I'll practice again with you very soon .