10 min Evening Full Body Yoga Stretch - Bedtime Yoga for Beginners

Yogis .

Welcome to my channel .

My name is Cassandra and I'm gonna take you through a 10 minute evening stretch .

This is great to do as you wind down from your day and even just right before bed to help you ease into a good night's sleep .

So you'll want to make sure you're close to a wall for the final pose and will begin in a wide like a child's pose .

So bring your big toes together , knees as wide as you would like them to be reaching your hips back towards your heels , just relax the upper body towards the floor and see if you can shrug your shoulders down and away from your ears .

Let go of any tension lingering from your neck , your upper back and your hips , the pacing of our breath can really help us to calm down the nervous system .

So as you take an inhale through your nose , see if you can exhale a little bit longer , also out your nose .

So you might inhale and count up to four .

But as you exhale , see if you can count up to six or maybe even eight , those long exhales helped you activate the parasympathetic nervous system , the part of our nervous system which allows us to lower stress hormones and to ease into a good night's sleep .

So , take about five more breaths right here .

Relax your belly completely .

Um Let's start to lift back up onto hands and knees , walk in the palms and bring your knees underneath your hips .

We'll just go through some really simple cat and cows drop your belly , lift your gaze curl tail bone and as you exhale , reverse this motion , drop the head down , tail bone is heavy and keep going in and out of those two poses .

Here .

Two more cycles , inhale , open and expand , exhale , really letting go of any stress or mental activity from the day last one year .

And let's bring our hips down to the floor .

Just extend your legs out in front of you .

We'll take a forward fold , but making this really passive so you can bend your knees a lot .

There's really no need to hyperextend and just let yourself round as you fold .

So we're not pushing or pulling and you're probably not going to go very far into this forward fold .

And that's totally fine .

This is just a way for us to really stretch all through the backs of our legs all through the spine and try to relax your neck and your arms .

This is probably one of my top three favorite yoga poses to do in the evening .

It really helps to undo any of the tension that we accumulate throughout the day .

Give yourself one more big deep breath here and now push your hands into the floor so that you can walk them back , inch by inch in order to lift head and chest back up , rolling your shoulders back and now let's lower all the way down .

And as you lower down onto the floor , we're going to draw the right knee in towards the belly and extend your left leg straight .

So I'm noticing if there's any tension through the front of your left thigh or into the inner groin , you might sway the knee a little bit side to side or roll into the ankle .

Let's prepare for a twist , cross your right knee over your body towards the left .

You can use your left hand to guide it along , reach your right arm off to the side .

Try to keep your right shoulder , pressing on the floor and maybe close your eyes .

Keep your focus inward , internal .

This practice is meant to be a transition from whatever kind of day you've had to .

Now entering a restful state where you can let it go and come all the way back to center .

And before we go to the other side , bend your left knee and just cross your right ankle over the top of your left knee , maybe holding here or you can reach through with your arms , drawing that left thigh in towards you .

We're engaging our arms a little but try to keep them heavy .

So you're not curling or lifting off the floor to do this , just an easy stretch into that outer right hip and see if you can stay with that breath rhythm .

Inhaling for a count of four and exhaling for a count of six or maybe even eight all in and out through your nose and let's release and we'll go and switch sides .

So this time , draw your left knee in towards your chest and keep your right leg straight onto the floor .

And you might roll a little , little bit through that knee and that hip just shifting it side to side , keeping the right leg straight and the shoulder blades grounded , moving into your twist , left knee and thigh cross over towards the right side of your mat and you can extend your left arm out nice spinal twist here .

So it's as if you're trying to create more space between your left shoulder and your left hip .

So moving both in opposite directions , I'm breathing in through the nose and let's bring that knee all the way back through the center and take your reclined pigeon pose .

So cross the left ankle over the top of your right knee before drawing that thigh in towards you totally normal for one side to feel a little bit more stiff than the other .

Try to let go of any attachment to outcome , no judgment or comparison .

It's all fine .

Whatever your experience is , our only goal for this class is to rest and give it one more little squeeze before setting down .

And now you'll want to make your way over to the wall and we're just gonna come into legs up the wall so you can keep your hips like six inches or a foot away from the wall , whatever works and feels the best to you .

And as you lift your legs up , I also like to really extend my arms up overhead just so there's a gentle stretch and opening through the shoulders through your chest .

So a very mild , gentle inversion giving your feet and your legs the opportunity to relax , especially if you've been on your feet all day and we'll stay here for about a minute or so .

And you might mentally scan your body , inviting each muscle to relax .

Feeling yourself get a little heavier with every exhale .

If you had your arms up overhead , you can slide them back down and start to bend your knee .

So you're walking your feet off the wall and just roll over to one side into a little fetal pose .

You can cradle your head in your arm , give yourself a few breaths here just to feel the effects of that pose and of the rest of the sequence , push into your palms , slowly , lift up , taking a seat , take your time hands , joining together at the front of your heart , inviting more relaxation more surrender .

Calling in a great night's rest .

Let's take an inhale through the nose and a big sigh out the mouth .

Breathe in , bowling forward and I must stay .

Thank you so much yokes for doing this very simple 10 minute stretch to ease into a good night's rest .

I hope that you feel a little bit more relaxed and that you have a wonderful rest of your evening .

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Thank you .

And I must say .