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The Calm Lab Podcast
Nervous system education for bodies that won't settle
Welcome to The Calm Lab — a podcast about nervous system regulation, trauma-informed healing, and what it actually takes to feel safe in your body.
Hosted by Kassandra, a trauma-informed yoga teacher and nervous system educator.
If you've ever felt like your body won't cooperate — like you know you should relax but you can't — this podcast is for you.
Each episode, we explore:
- Polyvagal theory and how your nervous system works
- Why trauma lives in the body (and how to release it)
- Vagal toning, breathwork, and somatic practices that actually work
- Conversations with therapists, somatic practitioners, and researchers
This isn't surface-level wellness advice. We go deep into the science and the practice of nervous system regulation.
Whether you're healing from trauma, managing chronic stress, or simply trying to sleep better, you're welcome here.
New episodes Bi-weekly Mondays.
Breathe. Move. Learn.
The Calm Lab by Namasté Your Life, LLC recommends that you consult your physician regarding the applicability of any recommendations and follow all safety instructions before beginning any exercise program. When participating in any exercise or exercise program, there is the possibility of physical injury. If you engage in this exercise or exercise program, you agree that you do so at your own risk, are voluntarily participating in these activities, and assume all risk of injury to yourself.
The Calm Lab Podcast
Yoga in Bed & Body Scan for Sleep — Gentle Movement to Calm Your Nervous System
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Feeling calm? Have a question? Send me a text:)
This one is for the nights when you have nothing left.
This 15-minute guided practice meets you in bed — no mat, no effort, no complicated instructions. We move through slow shoulder rolls and neck release, child's pose, a gentle cobra flow, spinal twists, and then a full head-to-toe body scan to help every part of you finally let go.
The movements are intentionally slow — because slow is what signals safety to your nervous system. When your body stops bracing, sleep has room to come in.
If you're tired but can't land, wired but want to rest — press play, close your eyes, and let this guide you down.
💤 Audio-only. Just feel your body and follow along.
What's included: Shoulder & neck release → mini cat-cow → child's pose → cobra flow → spinal twists → full body scan (head to toe) → rest
Great for: insomnia, racing thoughts at bedtime, body tension, anxiety, exhaustion, nervous system dysregulation
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
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 ...
Hi friend, this is the Calm Lab Podcast. I'm Cassandra. Tonight's episode is Yoga in bed. Gentle movement for when you have nothing left. Find your bed. Keep the lamps soft. I'll walk you through it. This is audio only. You don't need to see anything. Just feel your body and follow along. Let's land. Let's begin in a comfortable seated position. Close the eyes down if you feel comfortable. Begin listening to the sound of your breathing. Inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the nose. Go ahead and look up toward the ceiling very gently, opening the throat, opening the chest. Roll the shoulders up back and down, really opening wide. And then exhaling, bringing the chin to the chest. Shoulders come in towards the nose, tucking the chin, really rounding the spine here. It's like a mini cat cow. Inhale, looking up, rolling the shoulders up, back and down. Eyes come up toward the ceiling. And then exhale, chin comes to chest. Roll the shoulders forward. Bring the belly button back toward the spine. Just moving at your own pace here, like you're moving through honey. Slow. Gentle massaging movements. Let's take one last one wherever you are. And then come back to seated. Keep the chin dropped down toward the chest, left ear to left shoulder, chin back to chest on the exhale, inhaling right ear to right shoulder. Just using just moving left to right here, taking the head all the way back if you like, drawing circles with the nose. Beautiful coming back to center. Take a big inhale through the nose. Bring the shoulders up towards the ears. Squeeze the muscles tight, tight, tight. And then exhale through the mouth, release, relax the shoulders down. Come on to hands and knees. Tabletop position. Let's go ahead and tap the tops of the feet on the bed. Maybe loosening the neck. Just swing the head left and right here. Beautiful. And then press back. You're going to bring the knees wide, big toes to touch. Hips come back to your heels. Child's pose. Walk the hands forward. Drop the forehead down. You can rest the forehead on stacked hands or a pillow if that feels better. And then here you might just want to shake the hips a little bit, shake the head. No, massaging the forehead. And then hands come back out in front of you. We are going to keep the forearms on the bed here. Okay, so as we inhale, we're going to bring the hips forward, dropping the hips down, pressing through the hands, inhaling just a little cobra. And then on the exhale, we're going to press back into child's pose. So inhale forward, keep your forearms down on the bed, spread the fingers wide, press up into a little cobra, maybe keeping the elbows bent or straighten them out, and then exhale, come back to your child's pose. So just flowing here. And any postures that kind of feel good. Just getting into a rhythmic slow flow, letting your body know it can rest. When we move slowly, our heart rate really slows down. And then we tap into the parasympathetic nervous system, the rest and digest. So we can sleep deeply. Inhale up into your cobra. Hold here, bend the elbow slightly, and then reach through your chin. Exhale, roll down all the way down, chin to the bed, and then inhale, roll up, exhale, roll down, just little rolling cobras here. One more. Beautiful. Exhale, roll down. Again, stack the forehead on the hands. Then we're going to shake our hips left and right, releasing any tension in the lower back, massaging the belly and the hips. Alright, next we are going to come on our back. So go ahead and get there however feels best to you. Okay, so now let's bring the soles of the feet to the bed, wider than hips width. Bring the arms out to the side like a capital T, bend at the elbow. And really open the arms up, allowing the chest to open up, drop both knees to the left, come back through center, and then drop both knees to the right. We're releasing tension in your glutes, your hips, your lower back. Move nice and slowly here. We're going to cross the left ankle over the right thigh, and then drop both knees to the left, look over to the right, and then drop both knees over to the right, look over to the left. Feeling that stretch in the left outer thigh and glute. You can play with just moving back and forth here if that feels good. Or you can cross the left leg all the way over the right, and then play with dropping the knees left and right. And you might want to stay with the knees dropped to the right. Look over the left shoulder. Breathe deeply into the left side body. Beautiful. Release that coming back to center. Then we're going to do it on the other side. Right ankle comes over the left thigh. Drop both knees to the right, looking left. Take a breath, and then both knees to the left, looking right. Taking a breath here. Just playing with that movement or crossing the right knee over the left. Drop both knees to the right, and then both knees to the left. Stay here with both knees drop to the left if that feels good. Looking over the right shoulder and breathing deeply into the right side body. Bring the soles of the feet together, knees come wide. And if you want to, you can place pillows on the outside of the thighs for some extra support. Hands can rest on the belly, maybe one hand on the belly, one on the heart space. Beginning at the crown of the head, we're going to do a full body scan, just noticing parts of the body that are holding tension. I'm going to show you how to release that tension by breathing deeply into those areas, beginning with the forehead, eyebrows, eyes, the temples, the nose, the lips, the cheeks, the chin, the jaw, the ears, the top of the head, the back of the head, the entire neck, the throat. Take nice long, slow, deep breaths, releasing any tension in those spaces just mentioned. Breathing in through the nose. Breathing out through the nose. Traveling down to the chest, the shoulders, the upper back, the tops of the arms, the elbows, the forearms, the wrists, the tops of the hands, the palms of the hands, the thumbs, index fingers, middle fingers, ring fingers, little fingers, the entire hand, the entire arm traveling back up to the shoulders, the middle back, the belly, the lower back, the lower abdomen, the hips, the glutes, the pelvis, the entire torso. Breathe deeply into the spaces that still hold attention, traveling down to the tops of the legs, the knees, the shins, the calves, the ankles, the tops of the feet, the soles of the feet, big toes, second toes, middle toes, fourth toes, little toes, breathe deeply into any remaining tight spaces. Move back to the crown of your head and complete one more quick body scan, breathing anywhere that needs space. Thank you for being here today. If this episode landed, share it with someone who needs it. And if you want to go deeper, the free seven day nervous system reset is waiting for you at thecalmlab.org. Link is in the episode notes. I'm Cassandra. Breathe, move, learn.
