Scrolling in bed keeps the brain in daytime mode. This fifteen-minute floor sequence does the opposite — it tells every muscle the day is over. Do it in pajamas, lights low, phone in another room.
Minutes 1–5 · Unfold the day
Child's pose for ten slow breaths. Then thread-the-needle each side to wring out the upper back, and a slow cat-cow to remind the spine it can move in more than one direction. If the jaw is clenched, let it hang open — nobody's watching.
Minutes 6–10 · Open the front body
Low lunge each side for the hip flexors, a supported bridge for the chest and belly, then happy baby to release the lower back. Move at half the speed you think you should — evening practice is about downshifting, not achieving.
Minutes 11–15 · Surrender
Legs up the wall (or the sofa) for three minutes while you breathe in for four and out for eight. Finish with two minutes of plain savasana. Then stand up slowly, brush teeth, and go straight to bed — no "quick check" of anything.
Why it works
Gentle forward folds and long exhales activate the parasympathetic nervous system — the rest-and-digest branch. Students who do this nightly report falling asleep in half the time within a week. The hard part isn't the poses; it's starting before the scroll takes over.