A Gift for Tired Bodies — 16-Min Yoga in Bed

The shoulders hold what the day couldn't put down. The neck carries words that were never said. By the time you're in bed, your body is still working — and that's why sleep won't come, even when you're exhausted.

This 16-minute yoga in bed practice is for the kind of tired that sleep alone doesn't fix. Slow shoulder releases, gentle neck rolls, and supported reclined poses that signal to your nervous system that the day is finally over.

Whether you're giving yourself this practice for Mother's Day, after a hard week, or just because your body has been asking — this is for you.

No props needed. Just your bed.

📥 Free 7-Day Nervous System Reset Protocol → thecalmlab.org/lead-collection 

💛 14-Day Nervous System Reset Challenge → thecalmlab.org/challenges 

▶️ Watch the full video version → https://youtu.be/-RnIvBsHRbQ?si=tyqEXZtm_t1zgaIa

📌 Pinterest → pinterest.com/thecalmlabwithkassandra 

💌 Substack newsletter → thecalmlabwithkassandra.substack.com

About Kassandra:
Kassandra is a trauma-informed yoga teacher, breathwork guide, and Harvard-certified lifestyle & wellness coach who blends nervous system education with accessible mind–body practices to help people sleep better, ease anxiety, and feel grounded.

Links:

Rewire Your Nervous System in 7 Days (Free Guide)

The 14-Day Nervous System Reset 

YouTube

Pinterest

Instagram

The Calm Lab

Substack

My Apple Music Playlist

LinkedIn

If The Calm Lab is helping your nervous system, the best way to support is to:

★ Rate and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 

★ Share an episode with someone who needs it 

★ Subscribe so you don't miss the next one

Thank you for being here. — Kassandra 🌿

The Calm Lab by Namasté Your Life, LLC recommends that you consult your physician regarding the applicability of any recomme...

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to this session on a way to celebrate yourself, whether it's Mother's Day or any other special occasion, by celebrating the way we sleep and take care of our nervous system. Begin in a comfortable seated position. Make sure your lights are turned down low or maybe off. Hopefully, you're in your pajamas. Just ready to slip into a nice deep and restorative sleep from here. Let's place the left hand on the bed. Stretch the right arm up and over, stretching the right side body, looking up toward the ceiling under your right underarm. And exhale, let's just switch sides. Right hand comes down to the bed, left hand comes up, stretching the left side body, looking under the left arm. Beautiful, coming back to center, rolling the shoulders up, back and down a few times. Just taking this slow, keeping our heart rate down so we can really get into the parasympathetic nervous system quickly. Gorgeous. Let's look over the left shoulder back to center. Look over the right shoulder. Let's just do a few of these moving at your own pace, really stretching the neck, releasing any tension in the head, the neck, the shoulders, or the jaw. Just notice if you're furrowing your eyebrows, relax the face. Maybe part your lips slightly. Just relaxing the muscles of the entire face. Beautiful. Let's draw circles with the wrists here. So make fists and close down your eyes if you feel comfortable. Move in the other direction. Noticing your breath, breathing in and out of the nose, sitting up tall, reaching through the crown of your head, tucking your chin slightly. Gorgeous, coming up onto your knees, walking the knees a little bit wider than hip width apart, so you have a nice base here. We're going to either let's start with putting the left hand on the lower left, the lower spine. We don't have a left spine. Okay, so left hand goes to the lower back. Okay, so it's kind of like a prop, it's supporting you, it's a stabilization. Tuck the pelvis so you feel your core engage, and then we're going to reach our right hand up and take a little back bend here. So you're leaning slightly left and back, and then let's just do the other side. So the right hand comes to the lower back, left hand comes up, and then we're just arching our spine a bit, but using that right hand for support. Tuck the pelvis, engage the core. Beautiful. You can do that again, or you can reach for your ankle. So begin by tucking the toes. Left hand comes to left ankle. Reach the right hand up, maybe dipping the head back. You can also hold the back of your head with your right hand, kind of like you're gazing up at the sky. Feeling a stretch in the front of the body. And if your hand is back here, you'll feel a stretch in the tricep, the bicep, and just the right side of the body. Alright, engage the cord, tuck the pelvis, come back up, right hand to right ankle, left hand comes up, and just play here. Dip the head back, hold the head with the left hand, open the chest, open the throat, really expand here. Alright, engage the core, come back up. We're gonna play a little bit more with this camel variation. If you're not into it, just go ahead and sit your hips down and take a child's pose, folding forward. Otherwise, let's come back up. Alright, so you can untuck your toes if you want to go back a little bit more deeply in this back bend. So left hand comes to left heel, right hand reaches over toward the right, and then circle it over and around, maybe grabbing the right heel. And then exhale, the left hand comes up and around, circling, grabbing the left heel. So you're just kind of switching here. Another variation, sit your hips back and just reach the arms around. So just play. It doesn't really matter how it looks. We have a goal here, okay? The goal is to stretch the front of the body to release any tension that we're holding in our chest, our neck, our shoulders, and to sleep deeply. Pressing the hips forward in this camel pose, maybe just taking a pause. And let's all come out of that, engage the core, tuck the pelvis, sit the hips back, and we're going to take a child's pose if you're ready. If not, just come into tabletop, shake the hips left and right, maybe releasing the lower back and the hips a little bit and the glutes. So just play here. I think the theme is play. Okay, we're gonna celebrate our nervous systems, celebrate ourselves, and we're just going to play a little bit. You can go ahead and sit your hips back when you're ready. Stack your hands on top of one another. Rest your forehead down. Shake your head, yes and no. Let me know if those back bends were a little bit intense. Maybe we'll work on some different variations next time. Alright, reach the arms nice and forward. Okay, so before you lift your hips up, really reach the arms forward. Reach, reach, reach, reach, reach. Feel a stretch in the upper back. And then exhale, sit the hips all the way down toward the hands. I'm gonna take some rolling cobras, so bend the elbows, roll the belly down, and then inhale, come back up to your cobra as high as feels good for the lower back. And then exhale, rolling down to the belly. Taking your time, we want to keep the heart rate slow. So we want to move kind of slowly here. Alright, when this feels complete, we're going to come down onto our back. Just take your time, bringing the soles of the feet to the bed, dropping the knees left and right, windshield wipering the legs, releasing any tension in the hips, the glutes, the groin area, as well as the lower and middle back. Arms rest wherever feels good. Again, just play with that hand movement. Where do they feel good? Alright, we're going to take happy baby. So bring the legs up toward the ceiling, bend at the knee, and then you can grab behind the thighs and the glutes, the calves, the ankles, the outer edge of the feet. And either find stillness or slow movement. You can bend one leg and straighten the other, massaging the back as you move side to side. So what is going to help you fall asleep most quickly is a lower heart rate. So if you feel like your heart rate is up a little bit, find stillness instead of movement. Breathing in and out of the nose. Let's bend the legs down, allow the soles of the feet to come together. Knees are nice and wide. If this is a bit much on your hips, place pillows right here under your thighs so that the opening is not quite as wide. Let's place our hands on our belly and our heart. Let's breathe in for a count of four and then out for a count of six, in and out of the nose. Inhale, two, three, four. Exhale, two, three, four, five, six. Breathe in. Breathe out. Inhale. Exhale. Again, inhale. And release, let it go. So either stay here with this breathwork pattern. Or if you'd like a little bit more, we're going to send the left leg out straight, hug the right knee in, and then we're just going to cross the right leg over to the left side. A little twist, look over to the right hand, and just melting the right shoulder blade down to the bed. And just notice how you want this position. Kind of shift your hips back and around. Again, play is the theme, I think, today. So don't worry about what this shape looks like. Notice how it feels. You can even grab the outer edge of the right foot, extend that right leg and twist more deeply here. Come back to the breathing. Inhale for a count of four. Exhale for a count of six. You can switch sides when you're ready. Hugging the left knee in, straightening the right leg, knee down twist to the right, switching the hips back, looking over the left shoulder, melting that left shoulder blade down. And really working to release holding any muscles here. So the only muscles you're really using in this position is probably the right hand and arm if you're holding the left outer thigh to hold it down. Otherwise, relax everything else completely. I am going to do legs up the wall. So if you have a headboard, you can move your tush very close, or if your bed is against the wall. Just moving so the legs can go vertical here. The blood is going to move in the opposite direction down towards the body. And that very quickly, new science is telling us that that helps us get into the parasympathetic nervous system so quickly. And that's where we need to be to rest and digest, to sleep, and allow our body to really restore and repair. You can even butterfly the legs here by bringing the soles of the feet together if that feels better. Whatever feels best for you. Just notice what you want. Let's come back to that breathing. Inhale for a count of four. Exhale through the nose for a count of six. Inhale. See if you can place your hand where you can feel your heart beating. I want you to notice your heart rate slowing down as you stay here with legs up the wall and with this breath work. Really tune into the muscles in the body, focusing on relaxing the muscles you don't need. Allow your body to be propped up in a way that you don't have to hold yourself up. You're just being here, being present, sinking into the bed. And I hope you can celebrate this really beautiful position as you move into sleep and rest. Be well. Enjoy your evening.