Evening Yoga: Your Soft Landing for a Better Night’s Sleep
A Gentle Way to End the Day
After a long day, your body deserves more than just collapsing into bed. In fact, it deserves a moment of calm and intentional care. Evening yoga, helps you release tension, slow down rushing thoughts, and actively prepare your mind for deep, restful sleep.
I won’t pretend it’s been easy. Since my operation, managing shoulder tension and a disrupted sleep pattern has been a struggle. However, last month, this specific yoga flow quickly became my favorite ritual. As a result, I’ve been finding new ways to reconnect with my body, mind, and soul again. Gentle yoga has become my sanctuary, especially since my gym days paused partly out of fear of returning to a space that once felt like home.
Where I once started my mornings lifting heavy weights, I now end my evenings by gently lifting my energy. As a result, I can already feel my body craving the stillness and release that comes with each pose. Closing the day with presence, softness, and calm has become my anchor, and I’d love for you to experience this powerful shift too.
Because sometimes, the best way to rest isn’t sleep, it’s slow, mindful movement.
Set The Intentions
Set Your Intention
Here’s my gentle challenge for you this week:
Unroll your mat and give yourself the gift of movement. Although these flows are designed for evening use, they can be practiced anytime you need to slow down, release tension, or simply breathe. Each sequence takes less than 20 minutes; nonetheless, the feeling of calm lasts so much longer.
Before you begin, take a deep, centering breath, soften your shoulders, and set the intention to end your day with ease.
The Flows: Your Guided Journey Through Evening Yoga
Here’s what these bedtime yoga experiences offer:
- 🌙 Flow One: Unwind & Rebalance: Melt away tension in your spine and shoulders with slow, seated stretches, perfect after hours of sitting or screen time.
- 🌙 Flow Two: Settle & Soften: Ease your mind and reset your energy with grounding poses like Child’s Pose and Pigeon Pose. Promoting yoga for deep sleep.
- 🌙 Flow Three: Relax & Renew: Sink into restorative postures such as Supported Bridge and Legs-Up-The-Wall, signaling to your body that it’s time to truly rest.
Ultimately, each flow helps you reconnect with your breath and gently return home to yourself.
Rebalance Flow
Flow One: Unwind & Rebalance (Hips & Shoulders)
Focus: Shoulders, back, and hips
This flow acts as a gentle reset, perfect if you’ve been sitting or standing all day. As you move, imagine melting the day off your shoulders and consciously creating space for peace within.
Start with an Affirmation: “With each breath, I create space for calm.”
Sequence:
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- 🧘♀️ Cat-Cow Pose: Awaken the spine with fluid movement, releasing any stiffness.
- 🧘♀️ Downward Dog: Stretch out your hamstrings and shoulders, preparing your body to settle.
- 🧘♀️ Low Lunge: Open the hips and chest to release stored tension.
- 🧘♀️ Seated Forward Fold: Lengthen the back body and actively calm your mind.
- 🧘♀️ Supine Twist: Finish with a gentle spinal release before resting flat.
This sequence is your invitation to breathe, soften, and let go.
Light a Candle & Dim the Lights
Flow Two: Settle & Soften
Focus: Relaxation, emotional release, and nervous system reset
When your mind feels full and your body restless, this flow helps you come back to center. To enhance your practice, light a candle, dim the lights, and move slowly, this is your dedicated time to land and practice yoga for relaxation.
Start with an Affirmation: “I release what no longer serves me.”
Sequence:
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- 🌸 Child’s Pose: Surrender the day and let the earth completely hold you.
- 🌸 Puppy Pose: Lengthen through the spine and soften your heart space to release upper back tension.
- 🌸 Pigeon Pose (Gentle Variation): Open your hips and release emotional tightness, a key component of bedtime yoga.
- 🌸 Legs-Up-the-Wall: A grounding inversion that soothes the nervous system.
Furthermore, feel free to play soft music or simply listen to the sound of your own breath.
Flow Three: Relax & Renew
Focus: Surrender, recovery, and deep rest
This final flow is pure restoration, it requires no effort, only being. Ultimately, it tells your nervous system: You’re safe to rest now. This is your most powerful sequence for better sleep.
Start with an Affirmation: “I am safe. I am still. I am whole.”
Sequence:
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- 💫 Supported Bridge: A gentle lift to open the chest and calm the breath.
- 💫 Reclined Butterfly: Release through the hips and inner thighs using cushions for support.
- 💫 Supine Twist (Restorative): Melt into the mat, allowing gravity to guide the final release.
- 💫 Savasana (Corpse Pose): Finish with a blanket and let go completely for 5–10 minutes.
Make It a Ritual
You don’t need an hour; in fact, even 15–20 minutes is enough to completely change your evening energy.
I like to make it sacred: lighting a candle, playing soft instrumental music, and dimming the lights. Afterward, I’ll sip herbal tea or journal a few reflections like: What tension did I release today? or How do I want to feel tomorrow morning?
These small, intentional acts of mindfulness turn an ordinary evening into sacred self-care.
🌸 Why It Matters
Your body will thank you for letting go of the weight it carried all day. In addition, your mind will thank you for slowing down. Most importantly, your soul, it’ll thank you for remembering what it truly feels like to simply be.
“Slow down. You’re allowed to rest.”
💌 Join Me & Our Community
If you’re craving more gentle movement and soulful nourishment, I invite you to join the Her Body, Her Power Community.
- ✨ To start, sign up to receive your free printable Evening Yoga Flow Guide, a calming step-by-step companion you can keep right by your mat.
- ✨ Furthermore, be part of a space that celebrates healing, softness, and reconnection, one breath at a time.
Get Your Free Printable Evening Yoga Flow Guide: Join Her Body, Her Power ⬇️
🌸 Click Here ➡️ Free Guide Printable
🌸 Click Here ➡️ Join Her Body, Her Power
✨ P.S.: If you love these gentle rituals, stay tuned for my next release inside Her Body, Her Power: the Rest & Restore Journal Prompt Series, designed to help you wind down mindfully each night. Coming Soon!
