Transitioning into Winter’s Deep Rest Yoga Nidra | Yoga with Melissa 751

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As the light fades and winter draws us inward, this Yoga Nidra supports a deliberate transition into long, deep rest. Winter is a gestation phase, a return to the dark where energy gathers and reorganizes. In nature, hibernation is a biological necessity. Bears slow their heart rates, breathe less often, and conserve life force so that renewal becomes possible. We carry the same seasonal intelligence. When we choose rest, our cells repair, our immune system recalibrates, and the nervous system settles into coherence. This practice invites you to question the cultural push toward constant output and instead attune to stillness, intuition, patience, and the quiet reset that winter naturally offers.

Before you settle in, create your own hibernation den. Dim the lights. Support your body with a pillow or bolster under your knees if needed. Add a blanket for warmth and an eye pillow to help you drop into the winter darkness. This Yoga Nidra is a sanctuary for retreat, restoration, and receiving. As you rest, you align with the earth’s rhythm rather than resisting it. Choosing deep rest in winter is not withdrawal; it’s participation in a larger cycle. It’s a way of honouring your place in nature and letting your body remember its own timing.

I’m enjoying the winter section of my book right now: Five Element Yin Yoga. Go to the blue tabs for water element and winter. Book: ➡️ https://melissawest.com/book/

75-Minute ULTIMATE Restorative YIN for Deepest Nervous System REST 🎂 YWM 750

Month Long Nervous System Program in Membership https://melissawest.com/membership

This 75 minute Ultimate Restorative Yin for Deepest Nervous System Rest brings together what the research is clear about: long, supported yin shapes plus slow, coherent breathing reliably shift the body into parasympathetic physiology. This is the foundation of a true nervous system reset. Practices like extended exhale breathing and coherent breath strengthen vagal tone, increase HRV, and downshift amygdala activation, which is why yin yoga is so effective for people who feel drained, wired, overwhelmed, or “fried.” Through interoceptive awareness, gentle vagus nerve stimulation, and repeated micro moments of safety, your system learns a calmer baseline. This yin yoga class with luxurious holds is designed to help you experience that shift directly.

You will be guided through a sequence that uses the physiology of rest. Each long hold works with your vagus nerve, your interoceptive pathways, and your natural regulatory reflexes so your system can shift out of chronic fight, flight, or collapse and into ease, clarity, and emotional steadiness. 

Research on gentle somatic and trauma-informed yoga shows measurable improvements in autonomic regulation, mood, and stress resilience, even for people who have been overwhelmed for years. This practice treats yin yoga as nervous system training rather than stretching.

As we celebrate 750 episodes, I would love to hear from you: Which of our 750 practices was a turning point in your life, and why?

If you want to go deeper, we have a month-long nervous system program in our membership exploring what it means to have a flexible, adaptable nervous system. Your system is designed to move between different states depending on the demands of your life. Learning how to transition smoothly between safety and connection, sympathetic activation, and dorsal shutdown is a core skill for resilience. Inside the membership, this becomes an embodied, practical exploration supported by classes, discussions, and guided practices. Join us and begin learning how to navigate your states with more clarity, stability, and ease.

Poem: Only when I am Not Rushing by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Props: wall, blocks, bolster, blanket

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NOURISHING Beginner Yin Yoga to SOOTHE STRESS & RESET Your NERVOUS SYSTEM | YWM 749

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Welcome to Yoga with Melissa 749! Join me for this NOURISHING Beginner Yin Yoga session designed to SOOTHE STRESS and guide a full RESET** for your NERVOUS SYSTEM. This is a gentle yoga for anxiety practice that helps your body release deep-seated tension.

This slow-paced, therapeutic yin yoga class is perfect for beginners or anyone seeking a powerful, healing yoga experience. We'll focus on poses that gently open the hips and back, key areas for holding stress, while naturally activating your parasympathetic nervous system. By holding these shapes, we stimulate the vagus nerve to foster deep regulation, relaxation and a calm mind. Use this time to unplug, find inner peace, and release emotional tension from your body.

Timeline:

Figure Four Pose

Child’s Pose

Reclined Twist

Butterfly

Forward Fold (Half Butterfly)

Legs up the Wall

Savasana 

Props: Wall, bolster, 2 blocks, blanket, (options will be given if you don’t have these)

Poem: A Prayer for Everyday  by Julia Fehrenbacher

Restorative Yoga & Breathwork for when you feel 😩DRAINED 🥱YWM 748

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When you’re feeling emotionally exhausted, overstimulated, or simply too tired to push through another thing, this Restorative Yoga and Breathwork for when you feel drained offers a cozy space to rest deeply and recover your energy. In this 60-minute Melissa West restorative yoga class, we’ll combine gentle breathwork and fully supported postures using props like a bolster, blankets, and pillows to help your nervous system shift from depletion to calm. You’ll soften tension in your low back, slow your breathing, and reconnect to an inner sense of safety and peace.

This restorative yoga for overwhelm and burnout is designed to help you melt stress, soothe your emotions, and reset your nervous system. It’s perfect as a restorative yoga for emotional healing, a restorative yoga for anxiety, or simply a cozy restorative yoga session at the end of a long day. Whether you’re practicing for peace, nervous system regulation, or emotional renewal, this class will guide you back to grounded presence. 🕯️🌙

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🌅MORNING YOGA to START YOUR DAY in the COZY AUTUMN🍁 & ❄️WINTER months

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Welcome to this morning yoga to start your day with me, Melissa West 🌅 In the darker, shorter days of autumn and winter, it can be hard to get moving. This gentle morning yoga to wake up sequence is designed to help you ease into your day.. Through soft, mindful stretches, you’ll awaken your body, open your lungs, and bring circulation to your whole system so you can begin your day feeling balanced, and centered.

This beginner-friendly morning yoga routine includes cozy movements to stretch stiffness, boost energy, and help you feel good in your body as you move from rest into action. This autumn morning yoga and winter morning yoga flow invites you to meet the day at your own pace. You could practice this in your pajamas!

✨ Deepen your seasonal practice

In my membership, I guide you through yoga practices that align with the rhythms of the seasons, helping your body and nervous system stay in harmony all year long. Join here ➡️ https://www.melissawest.com/membership

📘 Explore the 5 Elements through Yin Yoga

In my book 5 Element Yin Yoga, autumn corresponds with the Metal Element (white section) and winter with the Water Element (blue section). Discover how each season supports your energy, emotions, and overall well-being ➡️ https://melissawest.com/book/

30 minute BEGINNER PILATES to Wake Up & Strengthen Your Core |YWM 746

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This beginner morning Pilates class is designed to wake you up and help you connect with your core in a way that feels grounded, kind, and sustainable. My intention is to make Pilates accessible for everyone, whether you’re new to it, rebuilding strength, or looking for a more mindful approach that honors your body’s limits. 

In my own experience, many real-life classes move too fast or expect you to already be strong enough to keep up. They’re often expensive, and lack modifications, so I find I end up with neck pain or even migraines. This class is my offering to bridge that gap so you can experience the benefits of Pilates without strain and I will slowly build while offering lots of modifications and options.

We’ll move gently through foundational Pilates exercises that engage your core, wake up your spine, and bring strength and mobility into your morning. You’ll build warmth from the inside out while staying connected to your breath and body. My aspiration is that this practice helps you feel stronger and more at home in your body, while also reminding you that accessible, high-quality movement doesn’t need to be expensive.

Yin Yoga for TIGHT HIPS | Yoga with Melissa 745 

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Meet the deep tension that gathers in your hips with this yin yoga class. Through long-held, floor-based poses, you’ll explore the principles of Yin Yoga: choosing an appropriate edge, softening, being still, and staying awhile. These four anchors guide your body to release resistance, deepen your breath and downshift your nervous system into safety. As the connective tissues around your hips, pelvis, and lower back begin to hydrate and unwind, space and ease naturally return to your movement and breath.

Energetically, the practice supports the smooth flow of Qi through the Liver, Gallbladder, and Kidney meridians that run through the hips and inner thighs. These pathways are linked with flexibility, emotional release, and grounded vitality.

This yin yoga for tight hips is designed to gently unwind deep-seated tension and restore mobility through the hips and pelvis. Invite your body to release long-held tightness in the fascia and connective tissues that surround the hip joints. The extended holds allow these tissues to rehydrate and regain elasticity, improving circulation, nourishing the joints, and expanding your natural range of motion.

Beyond the physical release, Yin Yoga supports your nervous system in shifting out of stress and into a state of deep rest. As your body settles, your parasympathetic response is activated, calming the mind and dissolving habitual guarding patterns. 

Poem: In the Quiet After by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Props: Blocks, Blanket, Bolster 

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Melt Away Stress | Cozy Restorative Yoga | YWM 744

Settle into deep calm with this cozy restorative yoga class designed to help you unwind and destress. Through gentle, supported postures and slow, steady breathing, you’ll soothe your nervous system and create space for ease. This class offers a soft landing for when life feels full, helping you release layers of tension, anxiety, and overwhelm while grounding back into the body’s natural rhythm of rest and repair.

As you linger in each pose, your body will begin to melt open, your mind will quiet, and your breath will lead you toward peace. This is your invitation to slow down, to reconnect with the quiet underneath the noise, and to experience true anxiety relief. Perfect for evenings or anytime you need a reset, this restorative practice helps you return to balance, supported, soothed, and deeply at ease.

Props Needed: bolster, block, chair

Poems:

Between the Lines by Jeff Foster (adapted)

Tree by Jane Hirschfield

Sitting in a Quiet Room by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

January by Betty Adcock

This ROOT CHAKRA VAGUS NERVE YOGA is SO nourishing 🌿 safety, calm + ease in your body | YWM 743

Full month vagus nerve + nervous system practices inside ➡️ https://melissawest.com/membership

When life feels like it’s rushing you forward and your body responds with tightening, bracing, and agitation, this Root Chakra Vagus Nerve Yoga practice will help you slow down and reconnect to safety. Fear, rushing, fixing, and the feeling of being wired or overstimulated are all signs of sympathetic activation in the nervous system. This class is designed for anyone who wants to shift out of fight-or-flight and back into calm, ease, and resourcing. If you struggle with anxiety, low back tension, digestive discomfort, or a constant scanning for “what’s wrong,” this practice will support you in softening those patterns and coming home to your body.

In this nourishing class we’ll connect the Root Chakra and Vagus Nerve through gentle movement, grounding awareness, and emotional regulation. Like the roots of a plant, your root chakra invites you to reach down into the ground for nourishment and stability. By pairing this with vagus nerve yoga you’ll invite your body into a state of calm where you can not only survive, but thrive. This practice is ideal for beginners and experienced students alike who want a safe, grounding, and resourcing yoga class. Join me, Melissa West, for this root chakra yoga for beginners, hatha yoga, and vagus nerve reset yoga to experience safety, calm, and ease in your body.

🌿 If you love this class, I’ve dedicated an entire month to the vagus nerve and nervous system inside our Revive and Thrive Incubator. You’ll find a full library of practices designed to restore balance, regulation, and resilience. Become a member today ➡️ https://melissawest.com/membership

Autumn Yoga Nidra | Yoga with Melissa 742 

Prepare to Conserve Your Energy this Autumn: https://melissawest.com/membership 

This Melissa West Yoga Nidra for Autumn is a 30-minute yoga nidra meditation created to help you align with the natural rhythm of the fall season. In autumn, nature turns inward light fades, leaves fall, and the season reminds us of impermanence and the preciousness of our human life. This autumn yoga nidra invites you to let go of busy-ness, productivity, and the weight of what no longer serves you. By releasing into stillness, you create space for renewal and conservation of energy, preparing for the deeper rest of winter. Whether you are searching for Melissa West Yoga Nidra for autumn sleep, fall yoga nidra, or yoga nidra for sleep, this practice will guide you into profound restoration.

As you rest, your nervous system is gently restored, your energy conserved, and your body attuned to the wisdom of the season. Allow yourself to be supported as you plant seeds of stillness and clarity that will carry you through the months ahead.

If you feel called to go deeper, our REST Incubator will support you in preparing to conserve your energy this autumn season, offering you a container of practices, guidance, and community: https://melissawest.com/membership

Already a member? This is the perfect season to take advantage of your REST incubator: https://www.members.melissawest.com/r-e-s-t-incubator/