Short Grounding Yoga Flow | Beginner-Friendly

Join Crystal Gray in this 23-minute slow vinyasa flow where we'll focus on grounding. This is a great practice to do at the beginning of your day or after work when you're ready to switch into family time or relax mode. No props are necessary though blocks are always welcome. All levels are suitable for this class but since it's audio, a couple of months of experience at least will come in handy!

Transcript

Come onto your hands and knees.

Bring your knees as wide as your mat.

Big toes can touch.

Bring your hips back towards your heels.

Reaching the arms out,

Forehead to the mat if possible.

If the forehead doesn't touch comfortably,

You can stack the fist and place the forehead onto the top fist.

Coming into modified child's pose.

Using this pose to center and ground.

Taking some deep breaths here.

In through the nose and out through the nose.

Or in through the nose and out through the mouth.

Focus on expanding the ribcage as you inhale.

And then softening,

Letting go,

Getting a little bit heavier into the ground as you exhale.

I am grounded.

The affirmation for this practice.

I am grounded.

Breathing in to the count of four.

And out to the count of four.

Again.

And out.

Very good.

Take a cleansing breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.

Letting go of anything you brought onto your mat with you today.

And then slowly make your way up to your hands and knees.

Bring your knees back to center.

Ground your knuckles down into the mat.

Pointer fingers pointing forward.

Walk your knees back a couple of inches.

Curl the toes under.

Lift the knees up.

Bend the knees and push into your hands.

Sending your hips up and back.

Letting your head hang loose here so that your ears are in line with your upper arms.

Roll the shoulders away from each other like you're trying to close the armpits.

Forearms roll in.

Knuckles heavy,

Heavy,

Heavy.

Start to walk the dog,

Pedaling the feet.

One way we can work on bringing more grounding energy into our bodies,

Mind,

Spirits,

Is to focus on the root chakra.

And a good way to do that is to stretch the backs of the legs especially because when the hamstrings are tight,

It's like we're always ready to run.

We're always in fight or flight.

So by lengthening and relaxing the hamstrings,

It's like we're more comfortable with where we're at,

Right?

So from here,

Start to walk your feet forward towards your hands and bring your feet as wide as the mat.

Turn the toes in slightly so the outside edges of the feet are parallel to each other.

Hands to your shins.

Inhale,

Come up halfway.

Grab your opposite elbows.

Bend your knees as you exhale.

Fold forward.

If you feel any pain,

Strain,

Or pulling in the hamstrings,

Bend the knees a little bit more deeply.

Letting the spine feel as if it's pouring out from the pelvis,

From the hips.

Just really lengthening.

Taking cleansing breaths anytime that would feel good.

Just really letting go of anything that's been on your mind,

Anything that's been causing stress or tension.

And you don't have to bring those things to mind,

Not right now.

Just let them go with intention.

Letting,

Setting the intention to let go of anything that's keeping you from being grounded.

Release your arms and bring your hands to your shins.

Inhale,

Come up halfway.

Exhale,

Bring your hands to your hips.

Bend the knees.

Inhale,

Slowly come up with a flat back.

And exhale,

Circle your hands together in front of your heart into prayer,

Anjali Mudra.

Taking some deep breaths here.

As you inhale,

Expanding your ribs in every direction.

And as you exhale,

Let your outer body soften and ground down into all four corners of the feet.

Really focusing on everything that's touching the earth today and moving with intention.

Alright,

So if you're not up at the front of the mat,

Make your way to the front of the mat coming into your standing mountain pose.

Big toes touching your feet up to one or two inches apart.

Lift the toes,

Spread them apart,

Grip them down and really push down into all four corners of the feet.

Bring your pelvis back so that your hips are above the ankles.

Squeeze the quads so you're not hyper extending and the energy can move freely through the legs.

Lengthen the spine.

Reach the crown of the head up towards the sky.

Breathe here.

In for four.

And out for four.

I am grounded.

Move through two slow intentional sun salutations.

Inhale,

Reach up.

Exhale,

Fold arms out to the sides.

You can bend your knees,

Let your arms and head hang.

Inhale,

Come halfway up to your monkey pose.

Reach the heart forward.

Exhale,

Bend the knees,

Plant the hands,

Step back,

Lift the arms up.

Inhale,

Slowly push forward.

Exhale,

Lower with or without the knees,

Elbows in.

Uncurl the toes,

Push into the hands.

Inhale,

Arch the back.

Back bend.

Cobra.

Exhale,

Lower down.

Curl the toes under,

Making every movement last four counts.

Inhale,

Lift the arms up.

Inhale,

Push forward.

Exhale,

Lift the arms up.

Inhale,

Push up.

Exhale,

Hips up and back.

Why?

Because that is vinyasa,

That's the meaning of vinyasa,

Linking the movement to the breath.

So we're not linking the breath to the movement,

We're linking the movement to the breath,

Meaning that if we're breathing into four and out to four,

Which is a nice deep full breath,

Then the movement should last.

From here,

Let's just walk forward today.

Again,

Staying more grounded,

Closer to the ground,

Coming into your mountain pose feet.

Inhale,

Halfway up,

Monkey pose.

Exhale,

Fold over the legs,

Push into the feet,

Look out in front of you,

Lead with the back of the head as you inhale,

Rise up,

Palms touch overhead.

Exhale,

Let the arms float down by the side.

Hold here and breathe.

And let's do mushti mudra.

So thumbs inside,

Wrap the fingers around,

Really good for the root chakra and grounding.

Just a loose grip.

Little smile.

Good.

One more sun salutation,

You can release your hands,

You can do the same thing.

Inhale,

Arms up,

Palms can touch overhead.

Exhale,

Fold.

Inhale,

Come halfway up,

Monkey pose.

Exhale,

Bend your knees,

Plant your hands,

Step back to plank.

Inhale,

Push forward.

Knees can come down or stay up.

Exhale,

Lower,

Chest lands first,

Uncurl the toes.

Inhale,

Chest forward and up.

Exhale,

Lower down,

Curl the toes under.

Inhale,

Push up.

Exhale,

Push up.

Exhale,

Lower down,

Curl the toes under.

Inhale,

Push up.

Exhale,

Push back,

Downward facing dog.

Breathe.

Push into the knuckles,

Roll the shoulders away from each other,

Roll the forearms in.

Heels are leading down towards the ground,

They don't have to touch but they're leading that way.

I am grounded.

Good.

Start to slowly walk your feet forward towards your hands back into your mountain pose feet.

Inhale,

Reach the heart forward,

Monkey.

Exhale,

Fold.

Push into the feet,

Look out in front of you.

Inhale,

Rise up,

Arms out to the sides,

Palms touch overhead.

Exhale,

Arms float down by the sides.

I am grounded.

Mushti mudra.

Go back through your alignment in your mountain pose.

Deep breaths into four and out to four.

Some of our tea breathing equal inhale and exhale.

Great.

Now from here,

We're going to do some balancing poses.

While they may make you feel a little bit ungrounded,

They're also good to help you practice feeling grounded,

Especially whenever things around us maybe are going kind of crazy,

Right?

It'll help us to find that groundedness within the challenging situation.

Alright,

So bring your hands to your hips.

We're going to go from warrior three into figure four chair.

If you'd like to move by a wall for balance or grab a chair for balance,

That's fine.

Let's bring the right foot behind first.

Have a strong base in the left foot.

Make sure you're squeezing the quads so you're not hyper extending.

Now you can have the toes on the ground,

That's fine.

This could be your warrior three,

Right?

Otherwise,

You can start leaning forward.

Now you don't want to arch the back.

You want to be in a straight line from the heel to the crown of the head.

You can bring your hands to your heart or reach them overhead.

Whatever's going to help you feel more grounded today.

Naval towards the spine and breathe.

Coming anywhere to,

You know,

Up to the point of being parallel to the ground.

With control,

Find your gazing points,

Slowly rise up.

Then we're going to cross the right leg over the left.

Start to bend the knee and sit back into a chair,

Figure four chair.

Keeping this right foot active,

Meaning pushing through the heel and the ball of the foot so that we're protecting the knee.

Hinging forward at the hips so you're feeling the stretch in the right hip.

Now with as much control as you can muster,

We're going to rise up,

Place the foot down,

Little smile and release.

Walk it out.

Okay,

Other side.

So hands can be on the hips,

Strong base in the right foot.

Bring the left foot behind,

Naval towards the spine,

Low ribs and hips towards each other.

You can stay here or start to lift the foot.

Back toes are pointing down,

Hands can be to the heart or overhead.

Breathe.

I am grounded.

From here,

Slowly rise up and cross the left leg over the right knee.

Start to sit back like you're sitting into a chair,

Tipping the pelvis forward.

So bend the standing knee.

Left foot is active and the knee is pushing down towards the ground,

But try not to shift the hips.

Keep the hips level and centered so both sides of the torso are level and equal in length.

With control,

Rise up and release.

Walk it out.

Very good.

Make your way back up towards the front of the mat,

Back into your mountain pose,

Mushti mudra.

I am grounded.

Beautiful.

Inhale,

Reach your arms up,

Palms can touch.

Exhale,

Fold.

Inhale,

Halfway up to your monkey pose.

Exhale,

Step back to your downward facing dog.

Big toes touch.

Inhale,

Right leg up and back nice and slow.

Exhale,

Coming into pigeon.

So bring your right knee to the outside of the right wrist,

Foot swings to the left,

Bringing your back knee down.

Now instead of grabbing the foot and yanking it forward,

Trying to make the shin parallel to the front of the mat,

Which you do not need to do,

If you need to feel more of a stretch in the right hip,

Curl the back toes under and walk it back.

Once you get to where it feels good,

You can uncurl the toes if you like.

Back legs parallel to the back of the mat,

Hips are square,

So you're not dumping off to the right side.

Stay here if that feels good.

Bring your forearms onto blocks if you have them or onto the forearms,

All the way down to the mat or lay all the way down.

I personally like to stack my fists and then place the forehead onto the top fist.

Now in this pose,

We'll start to move into V Samavarthi breathing,

Unequal breathing because we're done flowing now.

So you can see how far you can inhale too comfortably without causing strain,

Maybe it's four,

Five or six,

And let the exhales be three counts longer than the inhales if you can.

So if you're inhaling to four,

See if you can exhale to seven.

Find your rhythm now.

This is a nice grounding breath.

Relax the forehead and the jaw.

Unclench the hips and the glutes.

Let everything go.

Good.

From here,

Very slowly make your way back to your downward facing dog with intention.

You can walk it out or lift the leg up and move it around in circles,

Whatever you'd like to do.

Okay,

Then big toes touch.

Inhale,

Left leg up and back.

Exhale,

Bring the left knee to the outside of the right wrist,

Foot swings over to the right.

Again,

You can curl the back toes under and walk it back.

Back legs parallel to the long edge of the mat.

I like to uncurl the back foot.

If you want to do that,

You can.

You can stay lifted or come down onto the forearms or blocks.

If you're stacking the fist,

Place your opposite hand on top.

Come back to your V Samravritti breath,

Your unequal breathing.

Let everything soften.

Let go.

Good.

Slowly,

Again with intention,

Make your way back to your downward facing dog,

Last one.

You can walk it out or lift the leg up and move it around.

Yogi's choice.

That's you,

Your choice.

Good.

From there,

Come down to the hands and knees.

Bring your knees as wide as your mat,

Hips back coming into another child's pose.

Noticing here how you're feeling a little bit different than when you started your practice here in child's pose.

Deep breaths.

From here,

Come to your hands and knees and then slowly lower down onto the belly.

Coming into another really lovely grounding pose that I like,

Crocodile pose.

So your forearms are parallel to the front of the mat,

Your hands are stacked.

Place your forehead onto your top hand and breathe here.

Deep breaths.

V Samravritti breathing.

Good.

And then I'm just going to have you roll all the way on to your back.

So just roll over.

Bend your knees,

Feet on the floor.

Bring your feet as actually a little bit wider than the mat.

Your eyes could be closed if that resonates with you.

And just let both knees gently fall over to the left.

So a controlled fall.

Just a very gentle twist for the spine.

Hands can be,

One can be on the belly,

One can be on the ribs.

Come back to center.

Knees over to the right.

You can switch the hands.

Other hand on top.

Come back to center.

Bring your knees in towards your chest.

Rock a little bit from side to side,

Holding onto the knees or the shins.

Good.

And then feet down to the mat and extend the legs straight out in front of you,

Coming into Shavasana.

Feet as wide as the mat.

Let them fall out or in wherever they naturally go.

Arms by the sides,

Hands can face up and be a little bit wider than the mat.

Roll the shoulders under the back,

Soften the chest,

Neck is neutral.

Close your eyes.

Just let yourself drift off here to that place right before you fall asleep,

Letting the back of the body get heavier and heavier with every exhale.

Let the back and the front of the body get lighter and lighter with every inhale,

Decompressing the center of the body,

Creating space.

Just let go if your mind wanders.

It's okay.

Just bring it back.

Let it go.

Enjoy these last few moments here of Shavasana.

Good.

Good.

Good.

Good.

Take a cleansing breath in through the nose,

Out through the mouth,

Letting go of anything you worked up to the surface today.

And bring some movement into the fingers and toes,

The wrists and ankles.

If it would feel good,

Do a full body stretch,

Reaching your arms overhead and your heels in the opposite direction.

You can arch your back a little bit.

And then bend your knees and roll onto your right hand side,

Using your right arm for a pillow.

Take a couple breaths here.

With the strength of your arms,

Let your head be the last thing to come up.

Slowly push yourself up to whatever cross-legged pose would feel good for you.

Pull the flesh away from the sitting bones so the pelvis is neutral length in the spine,

Palms down on the knees.

A little bit more grounding here before we end.

Notice how you're feeling.

Notice how you're feeling energetically.

Do you feel a little bit more grounded,

More connected?

Circle your hands together in front of your heart,

Bringing your palms together to touch.

Let your lips form a slight smile.

Thank yourself for doing this practice today,

For taking this time out for you to get re-centered and grounded.

Let's close our time together and show gratitude for our practice with one om.

Take a deep breath in.

Ahhhhhh.

.

.

Beautiful.

Bow down to where it feels good for you.

Bring your thumbs from your heart center up to your third eye,

Sealing in your practice.

The energy within me acknowledges the energy within you and I thank you so very much for letting me guide you through this practice today.

Thank you for everything you do out in the world and for making it a better place.

Namaste.

Reviews

Easy to follow without the visual. Quick and effective after a big day.

Hello beautiful 🌺🎈🌺🎈🌺Thank you so much for the wonderfully yoga session 🎈🌺it gives amazing calm energy and smiles 🗺️have a blessed day 🕉️Namaste