Hello,
Good evening,
Welcome back to your journey yoga.
My name is Natalia and tonight we have a bedtime meditation.
This practice will help you unwind the body,
De-stress the mind,
And set you up for a great night's sleep.
This practice can be done lying down in bed if you would like to do so,
Or if you're practicing on your mat,
That's great too.
We're going to begin lying on our backs,
So take a few moments here to get settled in.
If you would like to cozy up with a blanket on top of you,
That might feel nice.
Maybe you bring a pillow underneath your head.
And just give yourself a moment to snuggle in.
And when you arrive,
Allow your eyelids to close,
And take a deep inhale in,
And a super slow exhale through the mouth.
Another deep inhale,
Super slow exhale.
One more,
Fill your lungs.
And with this exhale,
Let everything go.
Allowing your body to surrender into stillness.
Simply observing what it feels like to be lying down,
Noticing if there's any restlessness still within the body,
Or maybe also in the mind.
And if that's the case for you,
Know that that's totally okay.
You probably came to this practice for a reason.
Just begin to scan your body.
And when you come up against those points of restlessness or tension,
You might practice directing your inhales to that part of the body,
Creating space,
And allowing your exhales to bring you into a deeper state of relaxation.
Committing the muscles of your body to rest.
Allowing them to melt.
There's nothing that your body needs to do here except breathe,
And be.
Let the body melt a little bit heavier into your bed or whatever surface you're lying on.
Continuing to use your inhales and exhales to slow the body down.
And as you're relaxing the body here,
Maybe the mind continues to raise,
Or maybe thoughts have just started to trickle in.
Simply notice if that has happened for you,
And give the brain a moment to acknowledge that there is no more planning,
Thinking,
Or anything else to do here.
You are simply preparing for rest.
Your only job is to relax right here,
Right now.
Anything that happened earlier in your day can also be laid to rest.
Anything you are planning for tomorrow will happen tomorrow.
There is nowhere you need to be,
Nothing you need to do,
But simply relax the mind,
Open the heart,
And soften your body.
Take a moment to check in with the muscles of your face,
Smooth out your brow,
Let your muscles in the eyes be still.
And check in with your jaw,
Can you soften and unclench there?
Bringing a sense of ease to the entirety of your face,
And allowing that ease to travel down through your neck and your shoulders,
Down through your arms,
Your torso,
And your legs.
Anytime that the mind or the body tenses up again,
Simply re-relax,
Deepen your breathing,
And find places to soften.
As you begin to untangle your mind,
You might find yourself feeling tired,
Or even drifting off to sleep.
Just allow whatever wants to unfold for you to unfold.
Perhaps you don't even make it through the rest of this meditation without drifting off into sleep.
Know that whatever your body asks of you is perfect.
We are surrendering here into rest.
Simply allow yourself to do so,
Allowing the steadiness of the inflow and outflow of your breath to keep you in a state of peace.
And if you can sense sensation within your body,
Allow that to ebb and flow with your breathing as well.
To close out practice,
Take one more super deep inhale in,
And on a slow exhale release anything else that you may be holding on to.
Fully surrendering into rest,
Calling in a night of deep sleep and sweet dreams.
I wish you well,
Thank you for joining me,
I'll see you in the next practice,
Namaste.
