Stretching exercises, especially when combined with yoga breathing, are a
great way to set yourself up for deep, restful sleep. When done consistently and regularly,
this type of practice promotes a parasympathetic rest and digest response. It can help you have
higher quality of sleep as well as fall asleep more quickly. It can even help with symptoms of
things like restless leg syndrome and nocturnal breathing problems. In an ideal world, of course,
all of us would turn off our screens and spend about an hour winding down before bed. In the
real world most of us don't do this and that's OK. The good news is, with just about 10 minutes
of dedicated practice right before bed, you can often make up for that lost time and also tee up,
get yourself set up for a great night's sleep. To keep things simple today we'll
practice right next to our bed and we'll finish up our practice in bed. So when you're done,
you can go right to sleep. If we've never met before, my name is Lucas. I always drop a PDF
of the poses that we'll cover down in the description below. Before we get started,
I'd like to show you a breathing practice that we'll use in the poses and we'll also use to
prepare our body for rest. It's a little bit different than typical yoga class breathing.
Here's how it works. We breathe in through our nose to the count of four. I'll do it with you.
And then out with a "ha" sound to the count of eight.
Let's try again. In for four.
And then out for eight.
We'll use this nose-mouth, four, eight breathing in all of the postures and practices that we're
doing. If you get a little mixed up or get lost, don't worry. Just come back to it, that slow, deep
breath, that doubling of the exhale, all of this promotes that rest, digest, relax response. Let's
get started. To begin, stand next to the edge of your bed with your feet as wide as your hips
and your knees slightly bent throughout. Inhale, reach your arms out and up, stretch through your
fingers. Exhale, hinge at your hips, extend your arms forward, shoot your hips back behind you.
Inhale, stand up, reach your fingertips up towards the sky. Exhale, criss cross your arms and slide
the palms of your hands down the insides of your legs as far as is comfortable for you.
Inhale, reach your arms out, stretch up through your fingers.
Exhale, interlace your hands behind your back, squeeze the palms of your hands together,
lift your chin, gaze towards the ceiling. Release your hands, stand up, and shake it out.
Second set. Feet as wide as your hips, remember your knees stay slightly bent throughout.
Inhale, reach your arms out and up, stretch through your fingers, look up.
Exhale, hinge at your hips, place your hands on the bed in front of you, shoot your hips back.
Inhale, stand up, spread through your fingers, reach up.
Exhale, criss cross your arms, slide the palms of your hands down the insides of your legs,
just as far as you feel comfortable. Inhale, stand up, reach up, stretch through your fingers.
Exhale, interlace your hands behind your back,
squeeze the palms of your hands together, lift your gaze and your chin up towards the ceiling.
Release your hands, stand up tall, and shake It out.
One more set. Your feet are as wide as your hips, your knees stay bent throughout.
Inhale, reach up, stretch through your fingertips, look up. Exhale,
hinge at your hips, extend your arms forward on the bed, shoot your hips back behind you.
Inhale, stand up tall, stretch through your fingertips.
Exhale, criss cross your arms, slide the palms of your hands down the insides of your legs.
Inhale, stand up, stretch through your fingertips.
Exhale, interlace your hands behind your back, press the palms of your hands together,
lift your chin and your gaze up. And release, stand up, shake it out.
Step your feet wider apart, turn your feet out at a slight angle, place your straight arms on the
bed in front of you. Keep your heels down, and squat down, down, down, heels stay down, squat
down just as far as you can, down, down, keep your heels down. Drop your head and hold here.
Slowly make your way all the way back up to stand, straighten your legs, and shake it out.
One more passive squat. Step your feet a little wider than your hips, turn your feet out about
15 degrees, place your fingertips on the bed in front of you, straight arms. Squat down,
heels are heavy, squat down, heels stay connected to the ground, squat down,
down, just as far as you can with your heels connected. Drop your head, breathe here.
Slowly rise all the way back up to stand, release, and shake it out.
Lift up your right leg and put your right shin across the edge of the bed.
Please use pillows underneath your knee for support if you need to. You'd like your knee
and your ankle to both have connection with the bed, or a pillow on the bed.
On your left leg stay up on your toes, so we get a nice calf stretch here as well
as a hip stretch on the right leg. Inhale, reach your arms up over your head, stretch.
Exhale as you fold forward just as far as you feel comfortable over your right leg.
Inhale, rise up carefully, slowly reach your arms up towards the sky, spread your fingers.
Exhale, fold out over your leg onto the bed, just as far as you feel comfortable. One more
time on this side. Inhale, reach your arms up, stretch through your fingers, gaze up.
And exhale, fold out over your right leg.
Slowly, carefully, make your way back up. Release your right leg, switch legs.
Left leg goes across the bed, again use a pillow underneath your knee if you need to for support.
Make sure your knee feels stable and connected.
Stay on your right toes on the back foot, so we get a nice calf stretch here.
Inhale, reach your arms out and up. Exhale, gently, carefully fold forward over your left leg.
Inhale, rise, reach up towards the sky, spread your fingers.
Exhale, fold forward over your left leg.
Final set. Inhale, reach your arms out and up, stretch through your fingers, look up.
And exhale, fold out over your left leg with your
arms or your elbows, maybe even your head, dropping onto the bed.
Slowly, carefully make your way all the way back up. Release your left leg and shake it out.
Step your feet as wide as your hips, outer edges of your feet are parallel,
both your knees are slightly bent. Extend your arms out in front of you,
with your fingertips on the bed and your arms straight.
Reach your straight right arm back behind you, now straighten your right leg, so left leg bent,
right leg straight, right arm straight. Turn, twist, look at your right hand with your eyes.
Exhale as you twist and open to the side.
Place your right hand back on the bed, reset here. Both knees are slightly bent, both arms
are straight. This time, straighten your left leg, this time with your straight left arm, reach
back behind you as you inhale. And then exhale, turn, twist, and gaze at that left hand.
Return your left arm back to center, inhale, straighten your right leg, reach with your right
arm back behind you. Exhale as you turn, twist, with your eyes gaze to the right.
Return your right arm back to center, both knees are bent. Inhale, straighten your left leg, reach
your left arm back behind you. Exhale as you turn and twist, following your hand with your eyes.
Slowly place both hands down, straighten your legs, and shake out your arms.
Let's finish our practice today the same way we started,
with that breathing in through the nose for four, out through the mouth for eight. I'll
count and breathe with you for three rounds. Together let's inhale through our nose.
And out through our mouth.
In through your nose.
Out through your mouth.
One more round. In through your nose.
Out through your mouth.
Close your mouth, breathe just through your nose, lie down, and go to bed.
Hope you found this practice helpful. If you'd like more nutritional tips for sleeping,
if you'd like more postural tips for sleeping, I have other videos on the channel. You can
find my teaching calendar at yogabody.com. And remember to hit subscribe if you'd like more
science-based yoga videos. Thanks so much for joining me and I'll see you in the next video.