Brief Grounding Yoga Sequence

The following yoga practice is standing sequence to ground down into the earth and come back into focus with the self. There is a brief guided meditation at closing. This practice is suitable either by standing or sitting in a chair.

Transcript

Hello,

My greetings to you as you enter into this practice today.

The following practice is a short sequence to facilitate stress relief by grounding both into the earth and into the self.

This practice is suitable for those standing or by sitting in a chair,

And to individuals either new or familiar with yoga.

We'll begin this practice by grounding into Tadasana or Mountain Pose.

To begin,

Make our way either into a standing posture,

Standing with both feet on the earth,

Hip width distance apart,

Or if you would like to practice this from a chair,

Sit tall and move the sit bones closer to the edge of the seat,

So that we are sitting only from the center half of the chair.

Once we have found our starting point of either standing or sitting,

Begin to ground all four corners of the feet into the earth,

Pressing evenly down on all four points.

Draw the crown of our head and spine towards the sky,

Elongating the spine,

Rolling the shoulders down and away from our ears,

And draw the navel in towards the back,

Arms drawn down on either side of our body,

And turning our palms open to face in front of us.

Next,

Turning the awareness to the stability of this pose,

Strong in its steady foundation.

As we hold this pose,

Breathing gently,

I'd like to ask that we become fully present in this practice,

Acknowledging that when we take time for ourselves to allow ourselves to nourish our body and mind with attention,

We are better able to serve others with our presence.

Continuing to breathe gently in Mountain Pose,

I would like to invite another layer to our practice by calling in a pranayama,

Or breathing technique,

To further facilitate grounding.

Before we begin,

This breathing practice is contraindicated for anyone with a hypo or low condition,

Such as hypotension or low blood pressure,

Or even depression.

If this applies to you,

Or if you notice that any time that this breath causes discomfort or dizziness,

Release this breathing practice and breathe as normal,

Keeping the focus of your attention on the inhalation and the exhalation.

To begin practicing this pranayama,

Taking the next inhale breath in through the nose,

And with an exhale breath,

Release the breath by gently blowing the exhale out of the mouth through a small beak-like formation with our lips,

Almost as if we are blowing the air out through a straw.

Inhale gently back in through the nose,

And again with the exhale,

Breathe out through that straw-like formation with our lips.

And continue to breathe with this technique throughout our practice today,

Giving ourselves permission to not feel rushed or force that exhale breath out quickly,

But allow the formation of our lips to simply slow the exhale breath down.

Continuing to practice this pranayama by taking an inhale in through the nose and exhale out through that straw-like formation.

With every exhale breath,

Sense our energy being shifted down to the earth,

And feel as if we are settling just a little bit deeper into the permanence of the earth beneath us.

With every exhale breath,

Releasing any tension that is being held in the body or the mind.

And bringing some movement into the practice,

With our next exhale breath,

Draw our right ear down to our right shoulder,

Stretching the left lateral side neck.

Inhale slowly return to center,

And exhale,

Drawing our left ear down to our left shoulder.

With the next inhale,

Allow the movement to be as slow as the inhale breath as we return to center.

Exhale moving with the speed of the breath,

Drawing our right ear down to the right shoulder,

And with an inhale returning to center.

Exhale tipping our left ear to our left shoulder,

And inhale return to center.

Continue this movement for two more times on each side while still continuing with that pranayama or breathing practice by exhaling out that beak-like formation of our mouth.

Allowing the breath to guide the movement,

Allowing the movement to be as slow as each inhalation and exhalation.

Once we have completed our final repetition and we have returned to center,

Take a moment to check back in with our feet,

Ensuring that our feet are grounded,

Still rooting down through all four corners.

We'll begin to open up our neck space a little more.

With an exhale breath,

Dip our chin down to our chest,

And inhale rolling our head over to our right shoulder.

Exhale rolling our chin back down to the center of our chest,

And inhale rolling to the opposite left shoulder.

Continuing with this half circle motion with the breath,

Checking back in with the breath to see if we have allowed that breathing practice to release.

And if we have,

That's okay,

Yet perhaps invite it back in.

Layering movement with breath,

Elongating our exhale to ground further into peace and equanimity within us.

And as thoughts float to the surface of our mind while we are practicing,

Allow that exhale breath to release those thoughts.

Allow yourself to be here in this present moment.

Continuing this rolling motion with one more repetition of the breath.

Once we have returned back to center,

Lifting our head and neck and moving into Ardha Chandrasana,

Inhale our arms up to the sky,

Allow our fingers to clasp,

Index finger extended.

With our exhale breath,

Tip our clasped palms,

Shoulders,

And upper torso to the right,

Creating a lateral bend,

Crescent moon-like shape with our side body.

Inhale returning our spine back to center,

Arms still raised overhead,

And exhale to the left,

Tipping our torso and arms to the left.

Inhale returning back to center,

And exhale tipping back over to the right side.

Inhale return to center,

And continue this motion on either side with our breath,

Checking in with our pranayama or breathing practice,

Checking to see if the movement is still as slow as the breath,

And not allowing the movement to guide or speed up the breath.

Continuing with one more repetition on either side.

Once we have completed the last inhale back to center,

With an exhale breath,

Sending both arms down on either side of our thighs and opening our palms,

Tadasana,

Mountain pose.

Bringing our breath back in with movement,

We'll begin to move into sun breaths.

With our arms at our sides,

With an inhale sweeping our arms out on either side of our torso until they are extended overhead,

Allowing the palms of each hand to meet.

Exhale drawing palms down in front of our torso to meet at heart center in anjali mudra or prayer hands.

Inhale sweeping our arms out to the sides and overhead to allow our palms to meet.

And exhale drawing our palms down in front of our torso to meet at heart center in anjali mudra.

With this next inhale breath,

As we sweep our arms out and overhead,

At the same time begin to lift the heels off the earth and raise up on our toes,

Whether standing or in a chair,

And exhale releasing our heels down to the earth as our palms come back down to heart center.

Inhale as our arms sweep up to the sky,

We raise our heels off the earth,

And exhale heels to the ground,

Hands to heart center.

And continuing this motion for two more repetitions with our breath.

With our next inhale breath,

Sweep our arms again out to the sides and up to the sky,

And with an exhale breath,

Allow our arms to come into a cactus shape,

Dropping level with our shoulders and parallel to the earth as we bend our elbows at 90 degree angles into a cactus-like formation.

Inhale dropping our arms down along our thighs and sweeping them back up to the sky and overhead,

And with an exhale breath,

This time as we cactus our arms,

Lift our heart and collar bones to the sky,

Creating a small back bend in our upper back.

Continuing with this gentle heart opener,

Again inhale as we release our hands down along our thighs and sweep them up to the sky,

And exhale cactus our arms and create a slight back bend,

Lifting our heart up to the sky.

Repeating this motion again with the breath.

And as you do,

Feel the opposing forces in the movement,

Rooting down through the earth as the heart is lifting away and up towards the sky.

Two more repetitions with our breath,

Again allowing any thoughts or feelings that float up to the surface to release with every exhale.

From here,

Entering into Utkatasana or chair pose.

If standing,

Begin by bending at both knees and lowering the hips,

Almost as if sitting on a chair.

Once in this position,

Or if practicing from a chair,

Begin to lift the arms upwards towards the sky.

Begin to elongate our spine,

Drawing the trunk slightly forward so that the arms and torso are at a gentle incline,

One long diagonal line from the sky to the earth.

Hugging the muscles of both thighs around the thigh bones,

Creating strength and stability in this posture,

And taking a moment to ensure that our knees do not extend over our toes.

Steady the breath,

Continuing to breathe with that pranayama practice as we ground down into this posture.

From here,

We'll begin to make our way into a toe balance.

To begin with our next exhale breath,

Fold over the thighs and sweep the arms down and behind us.

With an inhale breath,

Sweeping the arms back out in front and up to the sky as we begin to straighten our torso and our legs upwards,

Either coming into standing or,

If practicing in a chair today,

Keeping our torso straight,

Next lifting our heels off the earth and up onto our toes.

Knees extended up to the sky,

Up on the toes,

Navel drawing towards our spine.

Continuing to take cleansing breaths in this pose.

And with our next exhale,

Begin to shift back into utkatasana,

Chair pose,

By lowering our heels as we bend our knees and sit into our pelvis in that chair-like position,

Tilting forward at a slight incline,

Arms extended at an angle.

Breathing in this pose,

Navel drawing into our spine,

Creating stability.

And with our next exhale breath,

Coming back into that toe stand by folding over our thighs,

Sweeping our arms down to the earth,

Back behind us,

And as we inhale begin to rock forward into a standing position,

Extending our arms up to the sky as we straighten our torso and legs,

Lifting our heels and coming into a toe stand,

If practicing in a chair,

Arms and torso extended to the sky,

Lifting up on our toes.

And continuing to breathe in this pose.

With the next exhale,

Bending our knees,

Coming back into utkatasana,

Chair pose,

As we settle onto our hips,

Arms extended up to the sky.

Creating that nice diagonal line with our spine and our arms.

With the next exhale,

Returning into that toe stand one more time by sweeping our arms behind us,

Folding over our thighs,

And then as we inhale,

Rocking back up onto our toes,

Arms lifted back to the sky,

Or if in a chair,

Arms and torso extended to the sky,

Lifting up on our toes.

Continuing to breathe.

And as we exhale,

Drawing our palms together to touch and with control,

Lowering both our heels to the earth and our palms to our heart center,

Allowing our palms to fall through the heart and peeling open to lie on either side of our thighs,

Palms facing the front as we enter into tadasana,

Mountain pose.

As we are holding tadasana,

Return to that grounding sensation by pressing all four corners of our feet into the earth,

Allowing our shoulders to roll down and away from our ears and drawing our navel towards our spine to both support our spine and strengthen our mid body.

From here,

I invite you to close your eyes,

Or if this is uncomfortable,

Just allow your gaze to soften without strain.

If that pranayama has released,

Perhaps invite it back in by taking that inhale in through the nose and then exhale out those pursed lips,

Almost as if we are breathing air out through a straw,

Allowing that exhale breath to become longer than the inhale without strain.

And as we are resting here,

Allow any tension or holding in our body to be released with that exhale breath by blowing that tension out of the body.

Begin to draw your awareness to our base at the feet,

Sensing that base firm,

Stable,

And supporting our body,

Strong,

Immovable.

And fine tune the awareness just a little deeper to any sensations that we are feeling on our skin,

Noticing the fabric as it lays on our skin,

And trying to tune our awareness to the very movement or lack of movement of air against our skin,

Noticing whether we can sense it touching and moving around our body,

Just as a very wind touches and moves around a mountain.

May we be strong,

Grounded,

And secure as a mountain.

May we know the impenetrable peace of the mountain today and all our days.

Namaste.

Reviews

What a beautiful practice. Thank you.

I love the clear explanations. Thank you 🙏

Hello beautiful 🌼🌈🌼🌈🌼Thank you so much for the wonderful yoga with breathing 🌷🌼🌷I’m feeling wonderfully grounded and relaxed 🗺️have a blessed day 🕉️Namaste

Phantasic! I felt so deeply grounded. Wonderful practice I will come back to