Winter Evening Yoga (Encore)

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Speaker 1 Welcome to bedtime stories for everyone,

Speaker 1 in which

Speaker 1 nothing much happens.

Speaker 1 You feel good,

Speaker 1 and then

Speaker 1 you fall asleep.

Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.

Speaker 1 I write and read

Speaker 1 all the stories you hear on Nothing Much Happens.

Speaker 1 Audio Engineering is by Bob Wittersheim.

Speaker 1 We are bringing you an encore episode tonight, meaning that this story originally aired at some point in the past. It could have been recorded with different equipment in a different location.

Speaker 1 And since I'm a person and not a computer, I sometimes sound just slightly different.

Speaker 1 But the stories are always soothing and family-friendly. And our wishes for you are always deep rest and sweet dreams.

Speaker 1 Let me take you behind the scenes for a moment. I'm here in my recording booth, and with me at all times is a weighted pillow that I keep on my lap as I read.

Speaker 1 The effect of the deep pressure stimulation helps me stay in my body and I like it so much

Speaker 1 I called up Quiet Mind, the maker, and said, hey, let's work together.

Speaker 1 So Now available is our very own Nothing Much Happens weighted pillow. That's the perfect holiday gift for NMH fans and folks who need extra help feeling calm and grounded.

Speaker 1 The first 100 orders will also get two months free of our Premium Plus podcast membership. Order now through the link in our bio.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 I have a story to tell you.

Speaker 1 And it is a soft place to rest your busy mind.

Speaker 1 Just by listening, you'll be training your brain and nervous system for a reliable and swift shift into sleep.

Speaker 1 The more you do it, the stronger that response will become.

Speaker 1 I'll tell the story twice and I'll go a little slower the second time through.

Speaker 1 If you wake again later in the night, turn the story right back on.

Speaker 1 You'll be asleep again within moments.

Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called Winter Evening Yoga.

Speaker 1 And it's a story about stepping into a safe, soothing space after a long day.

Speaker 1 It's also about bolsters and blankets, love notes sent to yourself,

Speaker 1 low lights and soft music,

Speaker 1 and feeling completely at ease.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 it's time.

Speaker 1 Set things down.

Speaker 1 Close up shop.

Speaker 1 Feel how good it is to be in your bed right now.

Speaker 1 I know that I am just a stranger on the internet.

Speaker 1 But I hope you can feel how genuinely I am wishing for your rest and relaxation.

Speaker 1 Most of us could stand a bit more tenderness in our world.

Speaker 1 And I want to offer you mine.

Speaker 1 So as you settle in,

Speaker 1 feel that you are cared for,

Speaker 1 that you have a friend in me and in the village of nothing much.

Speaker 1 Take a slow, deep breath in through your nose

Speaker 1 and sigh through your mouth.

Speaker 1 Nice.

Speaker 1 Let's do one more. Breathe in.

Speaker 1 Let it go.

Speaker 1 Good.

Speaker 1 Winter Evening Yoga

Speaker 1 Ever since the time change a few weeks back,

Speaker 1 I'd found it more challenging to get out of the house,

Speaker 1 especially once the sun had set and the darkness had sunk in.

Speaker 1 And I didn't force myself.

Speaker 1 There were plenty of evenings

Speaker 1 when I got into my pajamas as soon as I got home

Speaker 1 and into bed as soon as the dinner dishes were drying in the rack.

Speaker 1 But there were a couple of things that could get me back out into the world.

Speaker 1 And one was the restorative yoga class at the studio in downtown.

Speaker 1 Half of the lure

Speaker 1 was just knowing that the room would be warm and quiet.

Speaker 1 And as I sometimes felt like I'd heard too much for one day,

Speaker 1 seen too many headlines,

Speaker 1 talked to too many people, or

Speaker 1 just thought too many thoughts,

Speaker 1 the promise of that space

Speaker 1 where nothing was required of me,

Speaker 1 where there would be few words and a lot of comfort and relaxation.

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 it sounded like exactly what I needed on every level.

Speaker 1 So tonight, I'd reminded myself how good I would feel afterward.

Speaker 1 As I got my yoga clothes on,

Speaker 1 in fact, I'd left myself a note on the bathroom mirror that I'd written after last week's class.

Speaker 1 It just said,

Speaker 1 I'm so glad I went.

Speaker 1 Don't hesitate.

Speaker 1 These little missives sent from past me to present me helped.

Speaker 1 It was easy to lose track of how good things were

Speaker 1 when you were out of the moment,

Speaker 1 out of step with that experience.

Speaker 1 And these little handwritten reminders slipped me back into the groove.

Speaker 1 I remembered how relaxed my neck and shoulders had felt as I'd written this.

Speaker 1 How the worry lines around my brow had smoothed out,

Speaker 1 and how grateful I had been to have made class happen.

Speaker 1 I carried the sticky note with me as I gathered my keys, my mat, and water bottle,

Speaker 1 and put on my coat and boots.

Speaker 1 When I got in the car, I stuck it to the center of the steering wheel,

Speaker 1 and it cheered me on all the way into downtown.

Speaker 1 This class was still one of the village's best kept secrets.

Speaker 1 So I easily found a parking spot right in front of the studio.

Speaker 1 I think yoga makes my senses sharper.

Speaker 1 And I found that every part of entering the studio struck a chord.

Speaker 1 Whether it was the faint maple scent of the old wood floors

Speaker 1 or the very quiet ambient music playing from the speakers,

Speaker 1 the air felt warm and soothing on my skin as I shed my coat and hung it up.

Speaker 1 I signed in at the desk, just exchanging a smile with the teacher

Speaker 1 and went to set up.

Speaker 1 This class was a restorative yoga practice, and I'd been skeptical at first,

Speaker 1 thinking that it wasn't really something I'd benefit from.

Speaker 1 Probably not something that I needed.

Speaker 1 But from the very first time I attended, I realized I'd been missing out.

Speaker 1 My nervous system needed the deep reset

Speaker 1 that came with such intentional rest and relaxation.

Speaker 1 And my body moved more smoothly afterwards.

Speaker 1 In my regular practice, I often used a block or two,

Speaker 1 maybe an extra cushion under my knees.

Speaker 1 But for this practice, I got all the props.

Speaker 1 I had a sturdy cylindrical bolster, a couple of cushions,

Speaker 1 blocks, blankets, a strap,

Speaker 1 and even a couple of weighted bean bags.

Speaker 1 Once my props were lined up by my mat,

Speaker 1 I stretched out in the dim room

Speaker 1 and just listened to my own breathing.

Speaker 1 Students were setting up around me,

Speaker 1 but

Speaker 1 this studio had a strict no-talking in the yoga room rule,

Speaker 1 and everyone followed it because it felt so good to have that quiet before class

Speaker 1 eventually I heard my teacher moving around

Speaker 1 she was just quietly adjusting the music and lights

Speaker 1 making sure everyone had all the props they needed

Speaker 1 and that the heat would stay consistent for us while we practiced.

Speaker 1 Then she talked us into our first posture.

Speaker 1 We laid on our backs with the bolster under our knees.

Speaker 1 She suggested that if we felt a bit restless,

Speaker 1 we try holding on to those weighted bean bags,

Speaker 1 letting them pin our cupped palms to the floor.

Speaker 1 We rustled around for a few moments,

Speaker 1 everyone

Speaker 1 getting into position.

Speaker 1 And then there was

Speaker 1 a collective sigh

Speaker 1 as we began to let the shape work on us.

Speaker 1 I'd learned that using these postures,

Speaker 1 my breath,

Speaker 1 and just being in the environment,

Speaker 1 were ways to speak to my nervous system,

Speaker 1 to communicate that

Speaker 1 everything

Speaker 1 was okay.

Speaker 1 All danger had passed,

Speaker 1 and energy could be spent on restoration.

Speaker 1 Sometimes I found myself stuck in red alert after a stressful day,

Speaker 1 unable to shake a feeling of urgency that just wasn't needed or helpful.

Speaker 1 I hadn't been able to think my way out of that,

Speaker 1 but practices like this moved me out of it.

Speaker 1 In the quiet, time passed,

Speaker 1 and every few minutes we'd shift slightly.

Speaker 1 We laid with the bolsters under our spines to open our chests,

Speaker 1 and folded forward over cushions to release tight necks and shoulders.

Speaker 1 We were encouraged to make adjustments,

Speaker 1 to find comfortable expressions of each posture,

Speaker 1 so that ease was constant.

Speaker 1 After constructing a little pillow fort of blocks and cushions, and propping one leg up on it,

Speaker 1 letting the other bend at the knee and tip to the side,

Speaker 1 I felt so comfortable.

Speaker 1 My mind was so quiet that I started to doze.

Speaker 1 My teacher often said that if we fell asleep during practice,

Speaker 1 it simply meant we needed sleep

Speaker 1 and that we'd succeeded in making ourselves feel safe enough

Speaker 1 that it just happened.

Speaker 1 From there on out,

Speaker 1 I dipped into sleep for a few minutes at a time.

Speaker 1 And it was a different kind of sleep than I experience at home in bed.

Speaker 1 I didn't dream.

Speaker 1 I didn't notice anything.

Speaker 1 I simply had the awareness every few minutes that

Speaker 1 I had been somewhere,

Speaker 1 but with no idea of where.

Speaker 1 Finally, the teacher encouraged us to set up for Shavasana,

Speaker 1 the final posture of the hour.

Speaker 1 And even though we'd been resting throughout,

Speaker 1 this deep resting shape was meant to seal in all that we had done.

Speaker 1 so that it stayed

Speaker 1 even after we ventured back out into the world.

Speaker 1 Most of us laid flat,

Speaker 1 though a few turned to the wall and swung their legs up.

Speaker 1 The lights went even dimmer.

Speaker 1 There was just a faint orange glow in the room,

Speaker 1 and the sound of my teacher's footsteps as she went from one student to the next,

Speaker 1 covering each with a blanket.

Speaker 1 I remember the first time she had done this for me.

Speaker 1 It felt like being a child,

Speaker 1 tenderly covered as I slept on the sofa.

Speaker 1 It had brought tears to my eyes.

Speaker 1 Now, as I felt her presence beside me,

Speaker 1 the quick gust of cooler air

Speaker 1 as she tossed the blanket across me,

Speaker 1 and then the soft fabric floating down and settling on my limbs.

Speaker 1 I let out

Speaker 1 one more sigh.

Speaker 1 I imagined the sticky note

Speaker 1 I would write for future me tonight.

Speaker 1 Dear me,

Speaker 1 we feel

Speaker 1 so much better after yoga.

Speaker 1 Just go.

Speaker 1 Winter Evening Yoga.

Speaker 1 Ever since the time change

Speaker 1 a few weeks back,

Speaker 1 I'd found found it more challenging to get out of the house,

Speaker 1 especially once the sun had set

Speaker 1 and the darkness had sunk in.

Speaker 1 And I didn't force myself.

Speaker 1 There were plenty of evenings when

Speaker 1 I got into my pajamas as soon as I got home

Speaker 1 and into bed

Speaker 1 as soon as the dinner dishes were drying in the rack.

Speaker 1 But there were a couple of things

Speaker 1 that could get me back out into the world.

Speaker 1 And one was the restorative yoga class at the studio in downtown.

Speaker 1 Half of the lure

Speaker 1 was just knowing that the room would be warm and quiet.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 as I sometimes felt like

Speaker 1 I'd heard too much for one day,

Speaker 1 seen

Speaker 1 too many headlines,

Speaker 1 talked to too many people,

Speaker 1 or just thought

Speaker 1 too many thoughts.

Speaker 1 The promise of that space where

Speaker 1 nothing was required of me,

Speaker 1 where there would be few words

Speaker 1 and a lot of comfort and relaxation.

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 it sounded like exactly what I needed on every level.

Speaker 1 So tonight,

Speaker 1 I'd reminded myself how good I would feel afterward

Speaker 1 as I got my yoga clothes on.

Speaker 1 In fact,

Speaker 1 I'd left myself a note on my bathroom mirror

Speaker 1 that I'd written after last week's class.

Speaker 1 It just said,

Speaker 1 I'm so glad I went.

Speaker 1 Don't hesitate.

Speaker 1 These little missives sent from past me

Speaker 1 to present me

Speaker 1 helped.

Speaker 1 It was easy to lose track of

Speaker 1 how good things were

Speaker 1 when you were out of the moment,

Speaker 1 out of step with the experience.

Speaker 1 And these little handwritten reminders slipped me back into the groove.

Speaker 1 I remembered how relaxed my neck and shoulders had felt as I'd written this.

Speaker 1 how the worry lines around my brow had smoothed out,

Speaker 1 and how grateful I had been

Speaker 1 to have made class happen.

Speaker 1 I carried the sticky note with me

Speaker 1 as I gathered my keys,

Speaker 1 my mat, and water bottle,

Speaker 1 and put on my coat and boots.

Speaker 1 When I got in the car,

Speaker 1 I stuck it to the center of the steering wheel,

Speaker 1 and it cheered me on

Speaker 1 all the way into downtown.

Speaker 1 This class was still one of the village's best kept secrets.

Speaker 1 So I easily found a parking spot right in front of the studio.

Speaker 1 I think yoga made my senses sharper,

Speaker 1 and I found that

Speaker 1 every part of entering the studio struck a chord.

Speaker 1 Whether it was the faint maple scent of the old wood floors

Speaker 1 or the very quiet, ambient music playing from the speakers.

Speaker 1 The air felt warm and soothing on my skin

Speaker 1 as I shed my coat and hung it up.

Speaker 1 I signed in at the desk, just exchanging a smile with the teacher,

Speaker 1 and went to set up.

Speaker 1 This class was a restorative yoga practice,

Speaker 1 and I had been skeptical at first,

Speaker 1 thinking that it wasn't really something I'd benefit from.

Speaker 1 Probably not something

Speaker 1 that I I needed.

Speaker 1 But from the very first time I attended,

Speaker 1 I realized I'd been missing out.

Speaker 1 My nervous system needed the deep reset

Speaker 1 that came with such

Speaker 1 intentional rest and relaxation.

Speaker 1 And my body moved more smoothly afterward.

Speaker 1 In my regular practice, I often used a block or two,

Speaker 1 maybe an extra cushion under my knees.

Speaker 1 But for this practice,

Speaker 1 I got all the props.

Speaker 1 I had a sturdy cylindrical bolster,

Speaker 1 a couple of cushions,

Speaker 1 blocks, blankets, a strap,

Speaker 1 and even a couple of weighted bean bags.

Speaker 1 Once my props were lined up by my mat,

Speaker 1 I stretched out in the dim room and just listened to my own breathing.

Speaker 1 Students were setting up around me,

Speaker 1 but

Speaker 1 this studio had a strict

Speaker 1 no-talking in the yoga room rule.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 everyone followed it

Speaker 1 because it felt so good to have that quiet

Speaker 1 before class.

Speaker 1 Eventually, I heard my teacher moving around.

Speaker 1 She was just quietly adjusting the music and lights,

Speaker 1 making sure everyone had all the props they needed

Speaker 1 and that the heat would stay consistent for us while we practiced.

Speaker 1 Then she talked us into our first posture.

Speaker 1 We laid on our backs with the bolster under our knees.

Speaker 1 She suggested that if we felt a bit restless,

Speaker 1 we try holding on to those weighted bean bags,

Speaker 1 letting them pin our cupped palms to the floor.

Speaker 1 We rustled around for a few moments,

Speaker 1 everyone

Speaker 1 getting into position.

Speaker 1 And then there was a collective sigh

Speaker 1 as we began to let the shape work on us.

Speaker 1 I'd learned that using these postures, my breath,

Speaker 1 and just being in the environment,

Speaker 1 were ways to speak to my nervous system,

Speaker 1 to communicate that

Speaker 1 everything

Speaker 1 was okay.

Speaker 1 All danger had passed,

Speaker 1 and energy could be spent on restoration.

Speaker 1 Sometimes I found myself stuck in red alert

Speaker 1 after a successful day.

Speaker 1 Unable to shake a feeling of urgency

Speaker 1 that just wasn't needed or helpful.

Speaker 1 I hadn't been able to think my way out of that.

Speaker 1 But practices like this moved me out of it.

Speaker 1 In the quiet, time passed,

Speaker 1 and every few minutes we'd shift slightly.

Speaker 1 We laid with the bolsters under our spines to open our chests

Speaker 1 and folded forward over cushions to release tight necks and shoulders.

Speaker 1 We were encouraged to make adjustments

Speaker 1 to find comfortable expressions of each posture

Speaker 1 so that ease was constant.

Speaker 1 After constructing a little pillow fort of blocks and cushions

Speaker 1 and propping one leg up on it,

Speaker 1 letting the other bend at the knee and tip to the side,

Speaker 1 I felt so comfortable.

Speaker 1 My mind was so quiet

Speaker 1 that I started to doze.

Speaker 1 My teacher often said

Speaker 1 that

Speaker 1 if we fell asleep during practice,

Speaker 1 it simply meant we needed sleep

Speaker 1 and that we'd succeeded

Speaker 1 in making ourselves feel safe enough

Speaker 1 that it just happened.

Speaker 1 From there on out,

Speaker 1 I dipped into sleep for a few minutes at a time.

Speaker 1 And it was a different kind of sleep than I experience at home in bed.

Speaker 1 I didn't dream.

Speaker 1 I didn't notice

Speaker 1 anything.

Speaker 1 I simply had the awareness every few minutes

Speaker 1 that I had been somewhere,

Speaker 1 but with no idea of where.

Speaker 1 Finally, the teacher encouraged us to set up for Shavasana,

Speaker 1 the final posture of the hour.

Speaker 1 And even though we had been resting throughout,

Speaker 1 this deep, resting shape

Speaker 1 was meant to seal in all that we had done

Speaker 1 so that it stayed

Speaker 1 even after we ventured back out into the world.

Speaker 1 Most of us laid flat,

Speaker 1 though a few turned to the wall and swung their legs up.

Speaker 1 The lights went even dimmer.

Speaker 1 There was just a faint orange glow in the room

Speaker 1 and the sound of my teacher's footsteps

Speaker 1 as she went from one student to the next,

Speaker 1 covering each with a blanket.

Speaker 1 I remember the first time she had done this for me.

Speaker 1 It felt like

Speaker 1 being a child,

Speaker 1 tenderly covered as I slept on the sofa.

Speaker 1 It had brought tears to my eyes.

Speaker 1 Now, as I felt her presence beside me,

Speaker 1 the quick gust of cooler air

Speaker 1 as she tossed the blanket across me

Speaker 1 and then the soft fabric floating down and settling on my limbs

Speaker 1 I let out

Speaker 1 one more sigh

Speaker 1 I imagined the sticky note

Speaker 1 I would write for future me tonight

Speaker 1 dear me,

Speaker 1 we feel

Speaker 1 so much better

Speaker 1 after yoga.

Speaker 1 Just go.

Speaker 1 Sweet dreams.