Grounding Vata Balancing Practice

A gentle, grounding practice designed to balance Vata energy through slow, breath-centered movement and longer-held postures. This sequence cultivates stability, warmth, and relaxation, helping to soothe an overactive nervous system and support a more centered state. Especially supportive when Vata is high or during Vata times of day.

Props needed:
-2 yoga blocks
- 1 blanket

Please note:
This practice is offered for educational purposes to support your understanding of Yoga and Ayurveda and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please consult a qualified healthcare provider to determine what is appropriate for your individual needs, and seek professional medical care for any health concerns.

Transcript

When we're looking to pacify vata energy, We really want to ground because remember that vata energy is ether and air, There is just nothing material to it. So we're looking to stay close to the ground to ground the energy and to also provide a container for that air to move and that space to be contained. And so there's this idea of repetitiveness of slow and steady movement. So that's what we're going for today. Go ahead and meet me on all fours, Please. And so what we'll do throughout movements in this practice is link breath with movement in a little bit of a different way. I'll count to four, Both the inhale and the exhale, And I would love for you to start the movement at one and to make sure you use the whole four counts to get to the extreme of the movement. So for example, Before we start, As we get to downward facing dog, You want to go really slow and use the four count of the movement to get to your downward facing dog. Let's do a few rounds together. So come to all fours and then we'll inhale to cow pose, So to four, Dropping the belly four, Three, Two, One, And then exhale to child's pose four, Three, Two, One. Inhale to all fours and cow pose four, Three, Two, One. Downward facing dog to a count of four, Four, Three, Two, One. Come back to all fours slowly, Four, Three, Two, One. Child's pose four, Three, Two, One. All fours cow, Four, Three, Drop the belly, Two, One. Exhale to down dog, Slowly tuck toes, Four, Lift the hips, Three, Two, One. Back to all fours, Four, Three, Two, One. Exhale child's pose, Four, Three, Two, One. All fours to cow, Four, Three, Two, One. Down dog slowly, Four, Three, Two, One. A few more like this, All fours, Four, Three, Hover the knees, Two, One. Child's pose four, Untuck the toes, Three, Two, One. All fours drop the belly, Four, Three, Open the throat, Two, One. Tuck toes, Down dog, Four, Three, Two, One. Last one, Come to all fours, Four, Three, Two, One. Last round, Child's pose, Four, Three, Two, One. Come back to all fours, Four, Three, Two, One. And finally downward facing dog, We'll stay there, Four, Three, Two, One. And then find downward facing dog and notice how your energy feels right now, How things have shifted by just regulating the breath and regulating the body as we regulate the breath. Take a breath in a downward facing dog and then a breath out. And then go ahead and step your right foot forward in between your hands, Drop your left knee and find Anjaneyasana, A low lunge reaching the arms up, Big inhale. So we're staying pretty low to the ground right now. Beautiful. Then bring your hands down and bring your hands inside of your right foot so you can move your right foot to the right into the long edge of your mat. And you can start to feel that opening on the front of the hip flexor, On the groin too, There's a little bit of pressure right now on that space between my right thigh and my right hip. And then if you'd like, You can come to the outer edge of that right foot and open the right knee to the right side and you could absolutely have your blocks under your hands, You have your blocks so use them. And then from here, Place your right foot back onto the mat and lengthen your right leg for runner's lunge, Pick up the toes. And notice the hands are always on the ground, We're really keeping them down and we're grounding energy to the earth. We bend the right knee, Right foot onto the mat, Plant your hands and step your right foot back to downward facing dog. Take a breath in and downward facing dog and a breath out as you step your left foot forward, Drop your right knee down, Amjani Asana, Reach your arms up and then right away place your right, Your hands, Both of your hands to the ground. Anchor that right foot down so you feel anchoring through the right foot too. Walk your left foot a little bit to the left to the long edge of your mat and then find the ground here, Again maybe your hands are on blocks and take a moment so there's no rush when we want to pacify Vata, We really are stabilizing energy. And if that feels appropriate for you, Go ahead and come to the outer edge of the left foot, Open the knee, Keep that left foot flexed and you can move from side to side or you can find stillness. Place the left foot down, Lengthen the left leg, Pick up the toes for runner's lunge. Keep your hands down to your fingertips or to blocks, Big breath in, Big breath out, Re-bend the left knee, Plant your hands and step your left foot back, Downward facing dog. Inhale and downward facing dog, Exhale, Step your right foot forward, Drop your left knee down, We're going to do this time a twist, Plant your left hand down and then reach your right arm up. See if you can start to stack your shoulders, There's a long line of energy from your anchored from your left wrist all the way to your right fingertips. The rest of your body stays really low and anchored. And then bring your right hand inside of your right foot, Move your right foot to the left, Same thing we did, Open the chest, Come to the outer edge of that right foot, Open the hip, Beautiful, And then runner's lunge, Lengthen the right leg, Open the hamstring and the back of the right thigh, Re-bend the right knee, Plant your hands, Step your right foot back, Adho Mukha Svanasana, Downward facing dog, Deep breath in, Deep breath out as you bring your left foot forward into a lunge and drop your right knee down. And then keep your right hand down, Peel the left arm open for a twist. And see if you can find again that line of energy from your right wrist traveling through your right arm, Right shoulder, Left shoulder, All the way through the left arm and to the left fingertips. And continue to anchor that right foot down, That right leg down, Feel your left foot down, Feel everything that's touching the ground right now. And when you're ready, Your left hand will come down inside of your left foot, Move your left foot to the left and pause, Inhale. And exhale, Open, Left knee to the left by coming to the long edge of your, To the edge, The outer edge, Not the long edge, Long edge of your left foot, Big breath in, And then re-bend, Replace the left foot onto the mat, Lengthen the left leg and pick up the toes, Runners, Lunge, Big breath in, And big breath out. Bend the left knee, Foot down, Plant your hands, Downward facing dog, Exhale, Inhale, Exhale, Step your right foot forward into a lunge, Drop the left knee down, This time reach your arms up for a full lunge, Anjani Asana, Big breath in. And this is where this element of strength comes up for Vata, Vata isn't super strong, It's very flighty and airy, But it needs that stability, So we're gonna build that. Bring your hands to your hips, Tuck your left toes under, And then go ahead and come to a high lunge with your hands at your hips, Big breath in, Big breath out. Inhale, Press on the right big toe and lengthen the right leg, Exhale, Re-bend the knee. And then we're gonna go to the back leg, Inhale, Bend the left knee, Exhale, Lengthen the left leg. And we'll alternate, Inhale, Lengthen the right leg, That's two, Exhale, Re-bend the knee, Inhale, Bend the left knee, Exhale, Lengthen the leg, Inhale, Lengthen right leg, Exhale, Bend the knee, Inhale, Bend the left knee, And re-lengthen. Four times, Inhale, Lengthen, Exhale, Bend, And the knee, And if that's not hard enough, Go a little slower, You'll see it gets tricky. Last one, Lengthen, Inhale, And bend, Bend the left knee, That piece is usually a little harder, And lengthen the leg, Bring your hands down to frame your right foot, Step your right foot back, Downward facing dog, Take a breath in, Exhale, Step your left foot forward and drop your right knee down, Reach your arms up, Big breath in, And then bring your hands to your hips, Get steady first, Tuck your right toes under, And then come up to a high lunge, Big inhale, Big exhale, Inhale, Lengthen the left leg, Press on the left big toe, Keep your pelvis neutral, Exhale, Bend the knee, Inhale, Bend that right knee, Exhale, Lengthen by reaching the right heel back, Inhale, Lengthen left leg, Exhale, Bend the knee, That's two, Inhale, Bend that right knee, And then lengthen the leg, Squeeze the left glute too, Right glute, Inhale, Lengthen, Exhale, Bend, Inhale, Bend right knee, Exhale, Lengthen, Four, Inhale, Lengthen left leg, Exhale, Bend the knee, Inhale, Bend that left knee, Right knee, Exhale, Lengthen right leg, Inhale, Last one, Lengthen the left leg, Exhale, Bend the knee, Inhale, Bend that right knee, Exhale, Lengthen, Inhale, Hands down, Exhale, Downward facing dog, Big long breath in, Exhale, Step your right foot forward, Last ascending sequence, Inhale, Anjali Asana, Reach your arms up, Exhale, Hands to hips, Tuck your left toes under, Inhale, High lunge, Exhale, Grab your blocks as you lengthen your right leg and bring your left heel down for pyramid pose, And I really would suggest that you have blocks here because we want, Again, We want to touch something, We want that element of grounding for Vata, Inhale, Exhale, You might fall over that right leg, Inhale, Re-lengthen and extend, Exhale, Plant your hands and step back, Downward facing dog, Inhale, Exhale, Step your right foot forward, Drop the right knee down, Anjali Asana, Inhale, Exhale, Hands to hips, Inhale, Come to your high lunge, Find that strength, And then exhale, Pyramid pose, Grab your blocks, Lengthen the left leg, Anchor your right heel down and pause, Breathe in, And breathe out, Inhale, Open the chest, Exhale, Fold, Inhale, Re-lengthen, Exhale, Remove the blocks, Step back, Downward facing dog, Inhale, Come to plank pose, Drop the knees, Exhale, Lower all the way down, Inhale, Open the chest for cobra, Exhale, Tuck toes under, Hips up and back, Downward facing dog, Take a breath in, And then exhale, Drop the knees down and sit back on your heels, And then give yourself a moment to notice your energetic makeup, How you're feeling and how everything is going. Notice, There's a, I mean, There's a deep groundedness in this type of practice, It is slow, It is steady, It's not the most exciting practice, Let's be honest, But energetically, It's perfect for our everyday lives. Go ahead and make your way to your back, Please, And you can have a block near you, We will go to a restorative bridge at some point, Restorative bridge is very soothing for bhakta, But before we get to bridge, We're gonna actually move, We're gonna have an active bridge, Move with the breath, And we'll do the same thing, So a four count, To kind of unravel the whole movement. If you need to watch me once, Go ahead and do that, But it will be pretty self-explanatory. So find yourself onto your mat, With the palms down, The feet down, Your, The back of your head down, And what we'll do is we'll inhale, Arms and hips up to bridge pose, To a count of four, So inhale, Four, Three, Go slow, Two, One, And then exhale, Hips down and knees to chest, Four, Three, Two, One, Legs straight up, Inhale, Four, Three, Two, One, And then feet and hands down, Exhale, Four, Three, Two, One, Hips and arms, Inhale, Four, Three, Two, One, Exhale, Hips down, Knees to chest, Four, Three, Two, One, Inhale, Legs up, Four, Three, Two, Flex the feet, One, Feet down, Exhale, Four, Three, Two, One, A few more like this, Inhale, Four, To bridge, Three, Two, One, Exhale, Knees to chest, Four, Three, Two, One, Inhale, Legs up, Four, Three, Two, One, Feet down, Exhale, Four, Three, Two, One, Let's do two more, Inhale, Bridge, Four, Three, Two, One, Knees to chest, Exhale, Four, Three, Two, One, Inhale, Legs up, Four, Three, Two, One, Feet down, Exhale, Four, Three, Two, One, Last one, Inhale, Bridge, Four, Three, Two, One, Hips down, Knees to chest, Four, Exhale, Three, Two, One, Inhale, Legs up, Four, Three, Two, One, Feet down, Four, Exhale, Three, Two, One, Pause here and take a moment to breathe in and to breathe out. And then again, Notice the energetic shift in your body, In your mind, Maybe. And at this point, I would love for you to grab your block, Lift your hips and place your block right where your sacrum is, So not on your low back, A little below that. And then find that restorative bridge for a moment, Palms of the hands can be up, Arms externally rotated, You might even shimmy your shoulders a little closer together underneath you. And stay with your breath for just a moment. Notice how you're feeling. And feel everything that your body is touching, The floor, Your mat, The block. Notice how supported you are in this moment. Press onto your feet, Lift your hips and then remove the block as you lower down. Roll to one side and then lift yourself back up. Beautiful, Everybody. And we'll close with a few forward folds. Forward folds are extraordinarily beneficial for Vata Dosha to pacify Vata. So I'm going to encourage you to sit on a blanket, To sit just on something a little bit elevated. And then lengthen your legs in front of you. We'll start with Dandasana. And Dandasana looks like Paschimottanasana, But the hands are down. So you're going to extend your legs in front of you. And it requires some softening the shoulders, So your hands might not reach the ground, But they might. There's a little bit of a contraction in the belly here, The spine isn't super tall, But there's space. Because I'm on the blanket, I'm not exactly touching the ground. It's also going to depend on the proportion of your body. Breathe in and breathe out. One more. Breathe in and breathe out. From here, Go ahead and bend both knees and bring your feet to the mat. Give yourself a little hug. Squeeze and lift the chest. And then open your knees out to the sides for Baddha Konasana. Your feet could be a little further away, More in Tarasana, Or they could be really close to you. And I like to wiggle a little bit so that I'm really sitting on the front of my sit bones and I have space. Take a deep breath in. And naturally, I'm going to encourage you to have some props under you so that again, We're bringing the ground to us. So that could just be leaning onto your blocks. It could be you're folding completely. That doesn't matter so much. What matters is that we're not just hovering, Right? There is the ground coming to us. And that energetically is very pacifying for Baddha. Take a deep breath in. And a deep breath out. Two more like this. Deep breath in. And deep breath out. Last one. Deep breath in. And deep breath out. From here, Use your hands, Like use yourself. Use the ground to lift yourself up. And use your hands to close your knees. Again, We're after touch. Relengthen your legs for Paschimottanasana. And I'm going to encourage you to have your blocks with you as you flex the feet, Lengthen through the legs, And find a forward fold and think belly on the thighs rather than too far forward. And then from here, Your blocks can adjust again so that your head is not hovering in space, But it's actually on something. And you could use pillows, You could use cushions at home if that's what is available to you. If you want a little more coziness, You could do that too. And as you land in Paschimottanasana, Connect to your breath. Again, Feel the entire surface of your body that is touching something right now. Legs, Sit bones, Hands, Head, Part of the belly. When you feel ready, Go ahead and lift yourself up. And Vata benefits from a really nice Shavasana. So we're actually going to lay down in Shavasana and then we'll come back up for breath work to close with. What I'm going to encourage you to do is cover your feet in Shavasana, Again, For that element of grounding and for that element of support. So go ahead and lay down. We won't be here very long, But it's just so nice to lay down and to feel the ground under the entire body for just a moment. So make your way to your back. Take a few breaths here. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Inhale. And let yourself completely soften and relax. Surrender onto the ground for just a few more minutes. If you can, Get really, Really, Really still. See if you can limit any fidgeting and moving. And then with subtle movements as much as possible, Go ahead and place your feet down, Bend your knees, Roll to one side, And then lift yourself up to a seat. And I'm going to encourage you to grab something to sit on so that your spine is long, Especially for breath work. Brahmari is the most supportive breath work for Vata. It is the most pacifying, The most grounded grounding. It is very soothing and pacifying for the nervous system. It is buzzing B, So there's going to be a humming sound that is going to resonate throughout the entire body and really pacify the nervous system as we do it. The inhale is a normal inhale. The exhale is with mouth closed and just this mmm sound. Try to lengthen the exhale if you can. And what's going to help is a nice spacious inhale. You could cover your eyes and you could plug your ears if you wanted to. You're not going to hear me, But you could do that especially if you do it on your own. So find your seat. Take a breath in and then a breath out. And then we'll start with an inhale and then buzzing on the exhale. And then we'll start with an exhale. And when you're done, You can inhale. You might be at a different pace than me. That's okay. Let's do five more. Give yourself a moment to land. Don't rush into the next thing. Notice how your energy feels. And when you're ready, Bring your hands together by your head, Finding a moment of gratitude for the wisdom of Ayurveda and yoga and how it can support us in our daily lives. Thank you so much for your practice today.