The Bedtime Pause
from Jillian Pransky
author of The Power of The Pause: 90 Seconds to Calm, Reset, & Reconnect
As Featured in REAL SIMPLE
Feeling Tired,
But Wired?
It’s time to stop chasing sleep and start signaling safety. With The Bedtime Pause, Jillian Pransky guides you through simple, evidence-informed somatic practices that help shift your body out of fight-or-flight and into deep rest — in just 10 minutes.
Because when your nervous system feels safe, sleep follows.
The vagus nerve regulates your body’s calming response —
slowing your heart rate, deepening your breath,
and shifting you into rest-and-digest mode.
Over 80% of its signals travel from your body to your brain.
That means:
You can’t think your way into sleep.
You have to feel your way there.
Most sleep advice focuses on routines, supplements, or discipline.
But if your nervous system is still in fight-or-flight, your body won’t fully let go — no matter how tired you are.
When your system feels safe, sleep follows.
You’re not failing at sleep.
Your body is protecting you.
Sleep is NOT a willpower issue
Your body already knows how to calm itself
Through breath.
Through support.
Through conscious relaxation.
The Bedtime Pause helps you access your built-in calm response in just 10 minutes.
Instant access. Better sleep begins tongiht.
A 10-minute step-by-step nervous system ritual
A 90-second progressive release for in-bed us
Simple breath cues that extend the exhale
Gentle prompts to soften accumulated tension
Science-backed insight into why this works
Inside the Bedtime Pause
The Bedtime Pause is Just the Beginning
Sleep is one place we notice how much we’ve been living on high alert.
But it isn’t the only place.
In The Power of the Pause: 90 Seconds to Calm, Reset, and Reconnect, I share the simple practice that supported me through anxiety and became the heart of my teaching.
Over the years, I’ve watched this Pause Practice support people through:
anxiety and overwhelm
grief and illness
difficult conversations
sleepless nights
moments of anger, shame, and uncertaint
Because when we Pause, something shifts.
And that shift ripples outward.
The Pause is a way of creating the conditions for steadiness.
In just ninety seconds, we can begin to soften the body, clear some space in the mind, and return to the part of ourselves that knows how to respond — rather than react.
The Bedtime Pause is one expression of this work.
The book expands on how pausing creates the neurological and hormonal conditions for clearer thinking, deeper listening, and more intentional living — moment by moment.
about jillian Pransky
Jillian Pransky is a senior yoga teacher, yoga therapist, author of The Power of the Pause and Deep Listening, and internationally recognized expert in restorative yoga and somatic practices that support nervous system health. With over 30 years of teaching experience, she blends science-informed practices with mindful presence to help people find more ease, connection, and resilience.
Jillian is featured in
“Slowly and gently, we are going to develop a strong foundation that we can rest on any and every time we meet challenges in life.”
— Jillian Pransky, Deep Listening