Living your Yoga with Dr Melissa West

Dr. Melissa West
  • 4.3 (11)
  • FITNESS
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Audio Podcast from Dr Melissa West – Real Yoga for Real People – Includes my weekly Yoga show and short podcasts discussing all things yoga.

  1. MAR 13

    Yin Yoga for Stress, Headaches & PMS | Spring Liver & Gallbladder Meridian Practice | YWM 758

    Get my Yin Yoga Book 🙏👉https://melissawest.com/book/  💕Join Our Membership Community 💕http://bit.ly/ywmmembership  Spring invites energy in the body to rise and move again after the quiet stillness of winter. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, this upward movement is governed by the Wood element and the Liver and Gallbladder meridians. When this energy flows smoothly we experience clarity, creativity, and inspired action. When it becomes constrained, it can show up as stress, headaches, irritability, migraines, neck tension, or PMS. This Spring Yin Yoga practice for the Liver and Gallbladder meridians gently opens the inner legs, hips, and side body where these pathways run. As you settle into longer held poses, the nervous system begins to downshift and space is created for qi to circulate more freely. Many students notice that pressure in the head softens, emotional tension settles, and the body feels lighter and more spacious. This class was taken directly from my book Five Element Yin Yoga and offers a seasonal practice designed to help you move with the natural rhythms of spring rather than pushing against them. You will experience: Release of tension along the side body and inner legs • Reduced pressure in the head, neck, and shoulders • Support for hormonal balance during spring • A calmer, more spacious nervous system • A sense of clarity and forward movement When we practice in harmony with the season, the rising energy of spring becomes supportive rather than overwhelming. Props Needed: Yoga Strap, blanket, bolster, Poem: Instructions on Not Giving Up - Ada Limón Continue the Practice This class is part of a complete 6 week Wood Element Yin Yoga course inside my membership where we explore the Liver and Gallbladder meridians in depth. 🌿 Wood Element Yin Yoga Course: https://www.members.melissawest.com/wood-element-course/ 💕 Join Our Membership Community: http://bit.ly/ywmmembership   My Book: This practice comes directly from my book. Get Five Element Yin Yoga here 🙏 https://melissawest.com/book/

    48 min

  2. MAR 6

    Calming Vagus Nerve Yoga Nidra for Tired & Wired Nervous System | YWM 757

    Calming Vagus Nerve Yoga Nidra for Tired & Wired Nervous System | YWM 757 Get my Yin Yoga Book 🙏👉https://melissawest.com/book/  💕Join Our Membership Community 💕http://bit.ly/ywmmembership If you feel exhausted but unable to settle… If your body is tired but your mind is still scanning… If you feel wired, tense, or overstimulated… This Yoga Nidra is designed to help your nervous system to downshift into regulation. This yoga nidra practice supports: Improved vagal tone • Activation of the parasympathetic nervous system • Relief from stress and anxiety • Enhanced mind-body awareness • Deeper rest and recovery • Reduced hypervigilance • Greater ease falling asleep • A more regulated nervous system baseline Through this yoga nidra you will train your nervous system to settle. Even a small shift matters. With repetition, this practice strengthens your capacity to move from wired and braced to steady and supported. Practice regularly to help your body learn how to return to regulation more quickly and with less effort. If you’d like deeper, progressive nervous system training, join us inside the membership community: https://melissawest.com/membership

    37 min

  3. FEB 27

    Vagus Nerve Restorative Yoga for Brain Fog & Deep Nervous System Reset | YWM 756 | 30 mins

    Vagus Nerve Restorative Yoga for Brain Fog & Deep Nervous System Reset | YWM 756 | 30 mins Get my Yin Yoga Book 🙏👉https://melissawest.com/book/  💕Join Our Membership Community 💕http://bit.ly/ywmmembership If you are feeling foggy, mentally tired, or like your thoughts are moving through mud, this restorative yoga practice gives your nervous system the conditions it needs to reset. In this vagus nerve restorative yoga, we rest into fully supported postures to reduce background stress load and settle your mind. Many people notice that when your body is deeply supported, attention naturally becomes more clear. This is a slow practice designed to help you feel mentally clearer.  In this class you will: Settle your nervous system through supported restorative poses • Ease mental fatigue and reduce overwhelm • Support clearer attention and steadier energy • Create space for your mind to feel more open and focused This practice is especially helpful if you are experiencing: Brain fog or mental fatigue • Stress or cognitive overload • Feeling wired and tired • Difficulty focusing • A need for deep rest If you would like to go deeper, you are warmly invited to join my membership where we explore nervous system stabilization, restorative yoga, somatic movement education, and practices to build real capacity over time: 💕 Join here: http://bit.ly/ywmmembership Let me know in the comments how you feel after the practice. Your experience helps others know they are not alone. Members Link to Glymphatic Self Massage: https://www.members.melissawest.com/courses/yoga-for-cleansing-detox/glymphatic-self-massage-25-mins/

    31 min

  4. FEB 13

    MORNING Yoga for VAGUS NERVE Regulation | Yoga with Melissa 755

    MORNING Yoga for VAGUS NERVE Regulation | Yoga with Melissa 755  Get my Yin Yoga Book 🙏👉https://melissawest.com/book/  💕Join Our Membership Community 💕http://bit.ly/ywmmembership  Start your day with this 30 minute morning yoga practice focused on vagus nerve regulation and nervous system flexibility. In this vagus nerve yoga class, you will explore how breathing and movement support the vagal brake, the mechanism that helps regulate heart rate, breathing rhythm, digestion, and your ability to shift between activation and ease. As you move through this practice, you will experience how the nervous system can mobilize for action and then return to steadiness and calm. This flexibility helps daily challenges feel more manageable and supports sustainable energy throughout the day. This morning yoga class includes gentle vagus nerve stimulation through breath awareness, and mindful movement. The sequence focuses on releasing and strengthening the inner thighs, hip flexors, and pelvis while exploring variations of Warrior I and Goddess pose to build both stability and adaptability in your body and nervous system. This class is suitable if you are looking to reset your nervous system, support vagus nerve activation, and begin your day feeling grounded.  In this class you will explore: • Vagus nerve breathing exercises • Gentle vagus nerve stimulation through movement • Warrior I variations to build strength and regulation • Goddess pose and hip opening to release stored tension • Nervous system reset through slow, intentional yoga This Yoga with Melissa morning yoga practice supports nervous system awareness in a practical and embodied way, helping you carry steadiness and responsiveness into the rest of your day. Poem: A Great Shining by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

    38 min

  5. JAN 23

    30min Yoga Nidra for Deep Rest | Yoga with Melissa 754

    30 min Yoga Nidra for Deep Rest | Yoga with Melissa 754 AD-FREE Yoga Nidra Audios in our membership library:  https://melissawest.com/membership  This Yoga Nidra for Deep Rest is an invitation to step out of effort and allow your system to settle on its own. The practice is not demanding, guiding you into a state where thinking naturally quiets, your body softens, and vigilance eases without needing to focus, analyze, or try to relax. You may notice a sense of being held, supported, or gently organized from within, whether you remain awake, drift, or fall asleep. Nothing needs to happen for the practice to be effective. Over time, this kind of deep rest supports your nervous system in remembering how to stand down from constant readiness. You may  return to this Yoga Nidra when you feel tired but wired, emotionally full, physically depleted, or simply in need of a rest. The effects tend to unfold quietly, influencing sleep, energy, and how you move through your day, without needing to track or manage the outcome. AD-FREE Yoga Nidra Audios in our membership library: https://melissawest.com/membership

    32 min

  6. JAN 16

    Yin Yoga for Tight Hips & Low Back | Slow Release for Tension | YWM 753

    Yin Yoga for Tight Hips & Low Back | Slow Release for Tension | YWM 753 Over 1, 000 videos in our membership library https://melissawest.com/membership  This yin yoga class is designed to gently ease tight hips and lower back through long, supported poses that allow your body to soften rather than brace. We will gradually open the hips from multiple angles and release common holding patterns around the pelvis and spine. Instead of pushing for flexibility, you will give your joints, muscles, and connective tissue time to relax, which helps reduce stiffness, gripping, and that familiar sense of compression in the low back. Over the course of the class, many students notice less pulling in the hips, more ease when standing or walking, and a quieter, more settled feeling in the lower back. This yin yoga for hips and lower back supports long-term comfort, not just a short stretch. The practice helps your body stop compensating through the spine when the hips are tight, which can ease ongoing lower back pain and tension. If you are looking for yin yoga that feels slow, grounded, and genuinely supportive, this class offers a calm, steady way to restore ease and mobility in your hips and low back. Poem: I Thought This Was a Poem about a Lemon by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer Over 1, 000 videos in our membership library https://melissawest.com/membership

    59 min

  7. JAN 9

    Restorative Yoga for a CALM NERVOUS SYSTEM | Yoga with Melissa 752

    Restorative Yoga for a CALM NERVOUS SYSTEM | Yoga with Melissa 752 For more nervous system healing: Link to sign up: https://melissawest.com/membership This 60-minute restorative yoga class is designed to calm your nervous system. Through restorative yoga with props we will move your nervous system from sympathetic activation, stress and anxiety to a state of calm. This is restorative yoga for the nervous system, oriented toward parasympathetic settling. This restorative yoga is designed to calm you down. This is a full restorative yoga 1 hour practice designed for nervous system regulation and healing.  This class sits inside a larger framework I teach in my membership through the 1 month Settle Your Nervous System program. That program looks at how activation shows up across the body, thoughts, speech, and daily actions, and how regulation is rebuilt slowly over time. If this restorative yoga class resonates, the program offers a way to work with nervous system healing.  Link for members: https://www.members.melissawest.com/roadmap/nervous-system-stabilization-settle-your-nervous-system/ Link to sign up: https://melissawest.com/membership

    57 min

  8. 12/29/2025

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

    Transitioning into Winter’s Deep Rest Yoga Nidra | Yoga with Melissa 751 💕Join Our Membership Community 💕http://bit.ly/ywmmembership  Receive emails from me: https://bit.ly/melissamail 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/

    30 min
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4.3
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Audio Podcast from Dr Melissa West – Real Yoga for Real People – Includes my weekly Yoga show and short podcasts discussing all things yoga.

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