Build an Evening Routine, August Book Reviews and Easing Virgo Anxiety

hello and welcome back to the yoga magic podcast friends i'm your host ashley sondergaard thanks so much for tuning in today everyone this is a show all about self-care and self-discovery and i'm just glad you're here learning about yourself learning about how you can take care of yourself i'm definitely working on it live time with you and i'm always really honest with all of you on this show when things are busy when things are crazy when things are awesome those challenges and we are in it right now we are feeling that back to school virgo energy lots of things happening all at once and it's a lot it can be really overwhelming i was sitting down with some clients this week and it's really funny because we're all kind of feeling the same thing it's like wow okay virgo season is so much fun because we get you know that back to school energy we get some time back if you are someone who has kiddos at home over the summer and then they go back to school but then there's like all this pressure to do things with that time to fill up that time to get these projects done and to tackle a bunch of things and it just it almost becomes overwhelming and what's really funny about virgo is that virgo has this insatiable need to fix okay to fix to realign to make better to make and it can sometimes manifest in its shadow state and a little bit of anxiety so that is to say if you're feeling this right now if you're feeling that frenetic virgo energy same a lot of us are feeling that right now and that is okay so we're just going to take a really big breath before we move on in this episode let's do it together exhale everything out of your lungs clear out some space let it go and then take a big breath inhale through your nose an extra sip at the top and a long exhale out let it go you do a few more of those as you're listening to this episode just let everything sink in take some time all right thanks for being here friends a couple updates i'm so happy to be on the mic once again doing a little solo episode we are talking through recent book updates since i haven't done that in a month we're talking through what's happening in the astros we're talking about evening routines everybody how to set yourself up for quality sleep and yeah i think that's it those are the three those are the three big things we're talking about today so let's hop into it um just some some things happening over here in podcast land you might have noticed i'm a little bit late recently with a lot of these episodes i'm definitely prioritizing this because i love sharing the information that i learn and i love connecting with all of you but life has been lifing as it does and i haven't i haven't actually shared this yet i'm so excited that i took on a new job i'm so excited that i took on a new job i'm so excited that i took on a new job i'm so excited that i took on a new job i'm so excited that i took on a new job so not only am i doing um health coaching certification which i just passed today just got the email that i am fully certified but i decided to take on a new job and i'm so excited to be a part of the team at minneapolis integrative medicine i'm helping them on the back end right now and once i'm all kind of ready to go with coaching hopefully getting the coaching with them as well and it's been awesome i'm obsessed i love it so much so if you are in the twin cities and you there perhaps i will see you i would love that but it's funny because i think about this a lot i think a lot about our time and how it feels like we never have enough time and yet somehow we are able to squeeze things in to our time to our days if we need to so when i signed up for this health coaching certification six months ago i was like okay great yeah like i'll squeeze this in i'll be able to get this time in and what i didn't realize is that like oh no it was like a lot of time a lot of setting a lot of class work a lot of coaching and somehow i was able to squeeze it in nothing really changed and then when i really thought about what was next for me what opportunity was next for me i knew that i wanted to be a part of the team at minneapolis integrative medicine made that happen and was able to squeeze in a whole nother job within this time and what i'm finding is like i don't it doesn't feel any harder it actually feels easier than before when things were more open when they were more fluid when i had more free time because i know what to expect i know what to expect each day i have deadlines i have things that i have to finish and that takes a little bit of the pressure off in a weird way so sometimes when we think about our time we we don't realize where those holes might be until we just put something in and i also am a big proponent of you know taking rest and taking time stop doing so much too so please you know it's the balance but if anyone is needing to hear right now that you know what you can squeeze some of these things into your day whether it be self-care whether it be something you want to learn some time spent on exercise when you make it a priority it happens does that mean that i'm doing this super gracefully no that literally is such a hot mess right now our house is a disaster the kiddos are just like we're throwing them in front of the tv when we have to but that's you know sometimes you have to do that right these phases of life you have to figure things out and go with what works best and i think the the litmus test the gust gut test for me is do i feel like i'm moving in the right direction and do i get that that generator feeling of i'm excited to be chasing after the next thing i'm excited to be doing these tasks and the answer is yes so i know i'm going to be doing these tasks enough about me i want to share some fun things for all of you to bring into your life so let's talk astrology first so i mentioned virgo season okay the dates are august 23rd through september 22nd back to school energy we've talked about this before but what i wanted to share again because i've been seeing this with others with friends with clients in myself is that there is so much excitement about a change of season with virgo season but there's also this feeling of should this frenetic energy of needing to accomplish of needing to fix virgo is an earth energy and really thrives on keeping their feet on the ground right and so if you have if you're someone who has a lot of virgo in your chart or you're feeling this you know as a collective right now some ways to keep yourself moving forward and that's still really grounded is to take those moments of pause to look around take a breath move forward one step at a time virgo loves the details of life so with the sun in virgo it's asking us to just see the details find the beauty in those those little moments right go for a walk look outside see what's happening smell the smells you know i know it's really hot for a lot of the the us right now so like maybe you do that in the morning when it's cool and you can really enjoy the temperature on your skin right taking these moments to connect yourself to the earth and to your senses is going to help so much with all that frenetic energy with that feeling of needing to fix of needing to do now we have a little gift coming up if you're listening to this live time on september 9th you'll feel the reverberations of this for a few days after but the sun is trining jupiter and when jupiter and the sun come into this harmonious balance it really gives us the sense of confidence of abundance and there's so much excitement expansion jupiter is the largest planet that we know within our solar system and it's it's really provides us abundance more growth now when i was talking earlier about virgo season and that frenetic energy and that anxiety at times more virgo can be a lot but this in its harmony you know trine is a is a harmonious aspect we're hopefully going to feel that it eases a little head come next week as well take it easy take your time keep your feet on the ground find where you're growing and you're expanding through these moments of perhaps a little bit of stress right but give yourself grace knowing that you're moving forward and that we're really striking that balance as we move further into virgo season i'm not always a huge fan of like let's theme around the sun where the sun is at but because i've been hearing from so many of you about this i wanted to to really talk it through it hopefully this is helpful okay one other thing to note is that venus has also stationed direct as of september 3rd so you know this summer has been about reviewing a lot of our relationships we've talked a lot about that maybe figuring out where we can fine-tune our relationships make them better make them more more just useful to our life in this current system and as we come out of this as venus stations retrograde the sun is trining jupiter we're in this like frenetic virgo energy now might be a good time to rely on some of those people that bubbled up through this venus retrograde that you realize like oh wow i do really value this relationship i can lean on this person for a little bit of help i can ask for support some support i can ask to meet with this friend and just go out and have some some fun keep my feet on the ground while i'm really busy right now but need a little bit of support and i can ask for some support and i can ask for some support of joy in my life, right? you've done the homework and now that venus is stationed direct now this is the time to kind of reap the benefits of that work that you did all right that's what's happened on the astro front everybody let's talk books so my august book reviews my friends i've got a few now i've got some new ones because it's been a journey as i've been finishing up throne of glass a lot of you have let me know that you've started or you've completed fourth wing you've done throne of glass now you're on to court of thorns and roses like we're all in this together right all of the the fantasy romance i had to take a little break after throne of glass from fantasy romance just because they're so dense there's so many details there's so much world building that i needed to like a palette cleanser um but i think i'm ready i'm ready to hop back in so here's what i read last month first and foremost finished throne of glass the sarah j mass masterpiece five stars all around i mean the last book my goodness i you get to know these characters on such a deep level it felt like harry potter if you guys remember when you read harry potter when you finished that series like i i was in withdrawals i felt like summer camp had ended and i was leaving all of my friends behind this is what throne of glass feels like too and you get to know these characters and the thing that i should note that maybe a lot of people don't know about throne of glass is that it's actually not smutty at all like there is some there's some real romance in it but it's not like you're not going to this series for smut so if that's something you love court of thorns and roses is a lot smuttier this one is not it's really targeted more for ya and there is more emphasis on friendship and these true these true relationships not that like sex isn't true relationships but these relationships that are destined and that are meaningful and magical and i just i'm obsessed so that series my friends it took me like a month and a half to get to that point and i'm like oh my god i'm going to like a month and a half i think to get through it um so give yourself some time you know sometimes taking a little break in between can be helpful but they're so fabulous there is a recommendation to read um the second to last two books at the same time and that's how i did it so you read these the two second to last books before the very last one at the same time and there's a very specific way to do it i know it sounds wild but it actually was awesome because it gave you the opportunity to like read what was happening because they're happening at the same time and then not be stuck on a cliffhanger and then have to read a whole nother book before you get to close that cliffhanger in the final book so highly recommend the tandem read for throne of glass find the tiktoks on how to do this it's amazing here's why i love sarah j maas and mass mass i'm not exactly sure how to say it um and why i recommend her and i will stop talking about her after this particular episode everybody but here's why first and foremost the heroes of of her books are women they are pregnant women they are young women they are fierce and fearless women who have been through trauma and have worked through their own mental health issues these are women that have real stories that have real things that they've gone through that are rising above and being able to truly like i mean save the world in the books like it's so empowering it's so feminist and it feels so so good to read about women in this way second i had mentioned pregnant women i love how she uses pregnant women and does not make them weak there's been you know if you've read quarter thorns and roses the main character has um a really kind of like high risk pregnancy and there is like some level of you know you kind of worry about her whereas in throne of glass there's a really important pregnant woman who essentially changes the course i don't want to but like she is a hero and i love that i love that that's what we're treating women who are literally saving the world in all these women all of these ways one of them being creating life right and that's it's just really beautiful i love that number three she uses gay characters young and old as if you know we didn't live in a world where we were so homophobic there's something really cool about if you've watched um schitt's creek how when they decided to write that series there was like like a lot of like a lot of like a lot of people who were like literally no homophobia in it like they didn't write in any storyline where people were like looking at the gay couple in a different way like it would just it is what it was they were just a gay couple and that's how her books are you see these people these couples that love each other and there's like it's not an issue right in quarter thorns and roses there is like a little bit of an undercurrent of some of that with some feeling like struggling to come out but in throne up and like it just is and i'm obsessed i love it finally the heroines of the story they have men that serve them the men are these like hugely powerful extremely attractive like they have all these things going for them and they lay to the feet of these women because they know that these women are going to change the world and i i can't get enough of it so throne of glass the whole series please check it out and i'll see you in the next one bye bye out if you are into any of this sort of like fantasy romance or if you haven't really dipped your toe in yet if you liked fourth wing i would do quarter thorns and roses next and then i would do throne of glass but i might even argue everybody i don't know throwing it out there hot take that throne of glass is better than quarter thorns and roses the series i'm not sure yet because that one isn't done yet but we'll see i don't know but hot take let me know what do you think did you like throne of glass more all right enough about sjm next so i told you after i finished that series i need a little palate cleanser i've been hearing all the time about all the things about ellen hildebrand she writes about nantucket like she writes about the beach and she has this really cool it's very virgo actually like very aesthetic um detail oriented writing where she describes like what people are wearing and they're cooking and like i can just see the places it feels very aina garden like you can see these characters and where they are and what they're wearing and i love that that was so fun the descriptions were really great i read five star weekend which is her latest book i gave it three stars and here's why i felt like it was really unrealistic for one i mean like fantasy romance is pretty unrealistic this is not fantasy romance so i'm used to unrealistic but it just felt kind of like i don't know annoyingly unrealistic to me and really predictable at the same time i'm gonna give her another try because i've heard from a lot of you that like perfect couple is a lot better i don't know i just like the characters kind of annoyed me and i think that's the point of the book i love the descriptions i love the setting i did i i kind of like the story storyline it's just the characters bothered me a little bit so that's my personal take on that i'm gonna try it again i'll let you know what i think a perfect couple after that i had to get back to a little lc silver i've talked about her before she's the cowboy romance books chestnut springs or the series this one was called reckless it's an it's the fourth in the series i gave it three stars it was the least exciting in the series the series is really fun i felt like this one was just like okay it was a secret pregnancy trope which i've never actually read a secret pregnancy trope that was interesting and i don't know it was fine it was fine i feel like those books are really good i'd read the other ones in the series before i would read reckless and then most recently i finished finished the simple wild by k.a tucker and i gave this five stars i really enjoyed it tiktok recommended it to me book talk was like yep you're going to love it i'm going to give it a three stars and i'm going to give it a three stars the main plot is the main character she comes back to find her dad who she hasn't seen in 24 years she goes to alaska and he's he's sick and she comes to be with him and essentially like meet him she doesn't really know him and there's a really cool side romance that that blooms it is not smutty it's kind of a fade to black version of smut but i i've liked it i felt like the it's slow burn spice right so it's like you know you get to that 70 and you're like are these guys gonna get together or are they gonna get together and i'm like i don't know i don't know i don't know what but that's kind of the best because you get to know these characters you get to invest in them and it was kind of it was a bittersweet book but i i enjoyed it i don't think i'm going to read the others in the series it's a series um this one is kind of the one that like people on book talk talk about the most but i liked it i highly recommend it here's my litmus test for fives for giving something a five star is if i like think about it for a while after like even a couple days after and just like oh like i kind of i'm sad that's done that's how i know it's pretty good i just started reading this is embarrassing because i was like not even gonna share it but we're all in this together okay there are these series of villains like disney character villains that get their love story right and i i'm gonna share more next month on this but i just started these books the first one is called hooked it's literally like if captain hook and wendy got together okay i don't know i'm it's not it's fine it's kind of funny it's like actually very funny but i'll give you my full take when i finish it i just started if you've read any of these let me know there's a bunch of them um and people seem to like them so that's my take on the books recently friends if you have anything that you want to read and talk about or you have enjoyed and you want to recommend send me a dm shoot me a message i'd love to hear from you what you're reading if you found any of the recommendations from this show and you're like heck yeah i loved it let me know and i'll see you in the next one bye love hearing from all of you about what you're reading it's just such a good self-care pastime right more to come next month on on these funny series but again i'd love to hear what you're all reading reading okay so let's talk about evening routines everybody this is something that i've been hearing from a lot of you that you want some more help with it's something potentially you struggle with and i think there's so much that we can do with evening routines to set yourself up for better sleep all right everybody so first and foremost this is my take on sleep routines everyone is super personalized and what i know with my clients what i know with talking with yoga students is that sleep ebbs and flows so there's times when we are feeling like really rested we're feeling like we're on our game we're feeling like we're going to bed at the right time and there's other times where you know what there's a lot happening you know kids are waking us up we're stressed we're thinking about things we're having trouble going to bed we're staying up too late reading whatever it is and that's okay setting up a an evening routine is one of the best ways to signal to your body that it's time to rest right and in hormone balance it's signaling that melatonin calming down the cortisol and really setting yourself up for success i a couple episodes ago talked about sleep hygiene i'm going to review those tips of ways to make sure that your room and your behaviors are setting you up for sleep but sleep hygiene is a little bit different than an evening routine an evening routine is more of that like that ritual right perhaps it's spiritual i think of this more as self-care than it is sort of like self-preservation you give yourself these moments a little bit of extra time to say hey it's okay to wind down now your body is safe you can do this you can sleep you can really relax um and that's why you know we set up with evening routines with with like babies you think about that evening routine is one of the best things you can do to help with sleep training is like okay let's do a bath and then you know rub some lotion on and then put them in their little sleep sack and put them in their crib like we're just doing the same thing and we're doing it for ourselves the other piece to note about sleep hygiene is that we're talking about sleep and about this whole kind of cycle is that good sleep really does start at the beginning of the day so i've talked about morning routines in the past morning routines are really great and helpful but the biggest key is that you want your body to know when to feel awake spiking that cortisol first thing in the morning and then when to start to wind down sunlight as i've said so many times is one of the best ways to do this get sunlight into your eyes in the morning when you wake up and then start to wind down and then when to start to wind down turned on the lights at the end of the day so if you can get out and do an evening watch walk watch the sun set oh my gosh it signals to your body and now it's time to relax so sleep hygiene sleep rhythm really does start at the beginning of the day with that light getting outside if you can first thing in the morning so a couple episodes ago i kind of went over those you know building a sleep sanctuary things that you can do for your sleep and sometimes we can't do all of that but if you can do all of that then you're going to be able to do a lot of these things but if you can do some of them it does make a really big difference in the quality of sleep and that's you know that's largely what i hear from clients about is that you know they're they get to sleep but it's like they're waking up a lot or this the quality isn't very good and you wake up in the morning and you're not feeling very rested so here's some ways to make some tweaks some gentle changes to your environment so that you can set yourself up from success so here are some of the ways to improve your sleep hygiene first try to go to bed at the same time every night or around the same time within an hour or so even on the weekends and even on vacation a lot of we're all in different stages of life right some of you are a lot younger and perhaps like you're going out and you're socializing you're dating you're doing different things in the evening life lives right so as much as you can try to get around to bed around the same time most nights secondly set up a bedtime that's early enough so that you can get at least seven to eight hours of sleep some of us only need seven some of us might need two hours of sleep and some of us might need three hours of sleep and some of us might need nine right it depends on what your body requires of you and play around with this see what works best when do you wake up feel rested um can you feel rested with seven hours i laugh i was talking with a client about this that like on those nights when i stay up super late and read my books until midnight which is not my normal bedtime i wake up and maybe i'll get seven hours of sleep and i still feel okay i still totally fine right because i'm doing something that i love so like play with it see what works best for you but strive to get at least seven hours of sleep next establish a super relaxing routine and we're going to talk about that in a moment use your bed for only sleep and sex we hear this all the time but there's a reason to this right it signals to the body that when you're in your bed it's time for relaxation or pleasure right the two things that you're there for not work not eat not who knows what right but your room is a sanctuary and it gives you that you know that signal again there's so much about the stress signaling to the body that it's okay you don't have to be stressed right now take some time relax go to sleep declutter your bedroom this one i learned we did a feng shui episode a long time ago like years ago about your room and like all the junk that might be in your room that's detracting from your sleep so clearing out your room having it be really clean having it be um you know free of any clutter things under your bed can be energetically draining mirrors on your bed can be energetically draining so declutter that space have it be a sanctuary where you have some soft lighting you know you the clothes are put away if you can and have it just feel really relaxing so you don't have to think about that when you're going to sleep temperature bedroom temperature holy cow this one makes a big difference 60 to 68 degrees is what you want to set your temperature to in your bedroom there's so many cool things out there i haven't tried any of these of like cooling your bed certain i think they're called like i don't even know it's like these covers for your mattress that cool your body down and maybe someday we'll get one of those if you have one let me know if you like it but in general your room needs to be cool so that your body can cool down while it's sleeping um some of us sleep with other people right so they can be really warm and by having the room cool you allow your body to be warm or rather cool even if your partner is warm right next to you next limits your exposure to bright light in the evenings we talked about this so when you know you're starting to signal your body for bedtime start to lower the lights in your house turn off those overhead lights avoid super bright screens like tvs tvs aren't as bad as like a computer and phones those are much harder because you're a lot closer to them but if you can try to turn off all electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime makes a big difference has a lot to do with the ocular nerve with all that bright light signaling to the body that it's time to produce melatonin not cortisol next ensure your bedroom is dark as possible so i talked about this a while ago i'm going to show you how to turn off your blackout shades so helpful i mean they're not they're not like super expensive they're kind of ugly i have to admit they're not like the most beautiful thing but they do make a big difference especially if it's to light out when you happen to go to bed or if it's light out when you still want to sleep in in the morning and you know that you need that extra hour blackout shades can be really helpful and i even go so far as to find like little stickers and cover up those lights on electronics in our room because they can even be kind of disruptive when it's really dark in the next avoid vigorous exercise so you know this is a this is a hard one because movement is key and we want to get movement in when we can sometimes that's before bed right if you can avoid exercise that spikes your cortisol so things like HIIT workouts anything where your heart rate's getting up pretty high like running riding things like that avoiding that before bed because it does show it tends to disrupt sleep and that's true of both caffeine and alcohol as well so avoiding caffeine later in the day and alcohol right before bedtime the alcohol one is interesting because that's when we often have drinks right is like after dinner or like out with friends there is a lot of reasons just to push it up a little bit earlier if you're going to have a drink that night maybe do it at happy hour versus like after dinner and it won't impact your sleep so much um if at all right you can play with that as well everyone's super different next don't eat a little bit before bedtime however having a bedtime snack can be healthy can be really helpful if you're somebody who wakes up with like low blood sugar in the middle of the night having just a little bedtime snack little protein a little carbs together is a great thing to do so not a huge meal where you're feeling like you can't relax you can't breathe your heart rate doesn't come down but just a little snack if you need it try not to drink so much water before before bedtime ease your water up earlier in the night and then you can have a good night's sleep so if you're having the day if you can this helps a lot as you know we wake up in the middle of the night it's pretty normal to wake up like once a night um but if more than that you're finding you're waking up more than that it can help to turn you know to push the water earlier in the day and cut it off at a certain time so that you're not waking up from that avoid overstimulating or stress-inducing conversation i think i talked about this when i was talking sleep hygiene before but there's you know like a lot of people fall asleep my husband does this with podcasts or like listening or watching something in their airpods or their headphones and i i personally can't do that it makes me so stimulated so if you find that any sort of evening routine anything that you're doing right before bed is creeping into your dreams or you're finding it hard to fall asleep after that might not be the best thing to do just avoid that overstimulating sort of like conversation before bed and then finally white noise white noise is so helpful to block out some of those other distracting noises be a fan it could be a white nose machine. There's so many things that you can add in. Okay. So that's review. sleep hygiene, let's talk about some things to build an evening routine. Now, reminder, evening routines do not have to be long. They don't have to be drawn out. They don't even have to happen every day, right? What they can be is simple ways to wind the body down, to relax, to signal to the body that it's time for bed, okay? So give yourself grace with these. You don't have to should on yourself. Try it out. See what feels good. Here's some ideas. Take a warm bath or a shower before bed. This is biologically extremely helpful because it stimulates melatonin and it drops the core body temperature, which tells your body it's time to get a little bit sleepy. So if you're somebody who likes to take like a midday shower and you find yourself like yawning after you got out of that hot shower, that's why, right? When you get out of the shower, your body drops, your body temperature drops. So if you can do that, you can take your shower at night or you can take a warm bath at night. It's so helpful. To bringing your body into a state of rest, ready to go to sleep. Step outside to get your eyes to see the sun setting, right? So we talk about the morning sunlight. Same applies to evening. Get outside, maybe go for a little walk, walk your dog, go for a walk with your kiddos as the sun is starting to set and it signals again to your body that it's time to relax. Read a book. Some people, this is a good thing for some of us, not so much. Um, depends on, you know, what you're reading. If it's super stimulating, it might keep you up. But if you like just a relaxing book, before bed, that can be one of the best things to add into your routine because it feels like comfort, right? It feels safe. It gives your body the opportunity to get sleepy and maybe it puts you right to sleep, right? You read a couple of pages and you're falling asleep. Get into your cool, comfy pajamas, maybe sip a tea. Um, some fun teas for evening include Valerian, maybe some chamomile and like feel that, that tourist luxury of the moment, right? You might turn on some music or, you know, try a soothing meditation before bed, but how this feel luxurious, right? Maybe those jammies are, they're soft and they're satin and you've got your slippers and you've got your teen. Now you're taking your meditation, right? All your habits stacking into these things, but it feels like something really special, right? Like some self-care in this moment. Another great thing is to journal a little gratitude practice or list of all the great things that happened at the day. Write it down. End of the day, get into your bed and your comfy pajamas, jot these things down. Now, if you are somebody who likes moving at the end of the day, maybe a gentle stretch or some slow, relaxing yoga can be really good at night. Something like yin or restorative yoga, just some gentle movements, avoid big heart openers at the end of the day, really exposing the front line of the body. Cause that can be really stimulating, but things like a forward fold legs up the wall, anything where you are really bringing your head, like you're folding your body down forward can be setting the body. Essentially, it gives your body that time to come back to homeostasis. So I really personally love legs up the wall before bed. That's a, that's a fun one. Um, but maybe you take a little stretch, seated forward folds, uh, maybe a little gentle twists at the end of the day, ease of digestion, but something really gentle. Another thing is to set out your clothes or like your supplies for the next day, whether you're going to work out in the morning and you want to set out your workout stuff or like, you know, have your journal for your morning routine, taking just a second to set yourself up for the next day. Can, can feel like a little bit more planful, more intentional. Like you're, you're efficient with your time. This one, I hear from a lot of you that you do this. It's to indulge in just like an evening skincare routine. So maybe some facial massage using your skincare products and making it part of the routine, right? Hopefully we're washing our face at the end of the day, make that part of the routine. Take just an extra 30 seconds to do a gentle massage, to honor the body, to give gratitude to your body for all that it does for us. Tidy up your spaces. Maybe it's your bathroom. Maybe it's your bedroom. That's another thing to do really, you know, easefully. There are some ASMR TikToks and Instagram people out there, friends that they like, that's their thing is that they tidy up their spaces in their rooms for sleep or for whatever. And like, it's my new obsession. I love it so much. Like seeing people clean up their spaces. Oh, yummy. So that can feel good for you. They're all ideas. You do not have to do them all. It will take forever. Next, this one is kind of wild, kind of fun. Plan out your dreams. So think about something that you're manifesting, something you're working on right now or hoping that it will happen. And think about that before you fall asleep. Just do a little visualization of what you are working towards, you know, see yourself in that state of accomplishment and see if your dreams start to be impacted. If you wake up thinking about that same thing again and know that like, okay, I've spent some time and energy. I'm in the subconscious working on this. I would love to say that I do this all the time. I don't, I feel like it, I actually probably be pretty good at it. I honestly just forget a lot. If you do do this, let me know. But really there's a lot of, um, you know, as you're tapping into your subconscious, that's where we manifest from, right? So it makes sense that if you set yourself up your dreams, you know, you can start to manifest these things and they become part of your life. A little bit, a little bit of a, an out there one, but something to fun to try on. Another one is to pray before bed, you know, set simple prayer, that spiritual moment, gratitude, connecting with your higher self, with God, whatever it is so helpful in your evening routine. And then two more snuggle with your, your loved ones, your puppies, your partners, your kiddos, get that oxytocin in the body. And then finally some soothing music. I think we talked about that earlier or even relaxing frequencies. So I like to use frequencies in the morning to kind of keep things calm when they're a little bit chaotic. That's another great thing to do in the evening. Spotify has like, if you look up, um, relaxing frequencies or like love frequencies, maybe you do that during your evening meditation. So there's a ton of ideas, sleep hygiene, evening routine ideas. Maybe you stack these, maybe you try one or two, three things on whatever works for you. There are no shoulds in any of this, just ideas to use, to get more restful sleep. If this is helpful to you, friends, let me know. I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to hear what's working for you. Maybe you do something that is outside of this list and we can share it with as well. Sleep is really, really personal. And it's something that does, I think, take a little bit of work and a little bit of intentionality for a lot of us. So I hope these are helpful. Thank you as always for coming to the show. Thanks for your patience with my lateness. I'm hoping now that I am done with my test, I'm able to be a little bit more punctual on these episodes, but you know what? Life is lifing. It's all good. I'll be here sometime. It might be a little bit late, but thank you for listening. Thanks for being a part of the Yoga Magic community. If you want to learn more, follow us along on Instagram at Yogamagicpodcast. Hop on our newsletter with info in the show notes. And as always, I'll be back next week. Thank you so much, everybody.