Are you stuck in a mental loop?

Do you feel out of touch with your body?

Try Yoga and Meditation for Grounding

If you’ve been to our yoga retreat in Cambodia, you surely heard us mentioning the importance of grounding. Grounding is an important aspect of our lives that is crucial for relaxation and to our mental health. 

There is so much going on in the world right now. And that is in addition to the normal challenges of life, work deadlines, relationship issues, or the need to do laundry.

 It is easy to be overwhelmed and get stuck in your own thoughts, perhaps you find yourself disconnected or working on autopilot, feeling anxious or stressed out. Many people find themselves getting spaced out, distracted, and experiencing emotional up and downs.

When you feel out of sorts, off-balance, or out-of-tune with your body, doing yoga or meditation can help you bring yourself “back to Earth” and can help with the stress response and mental merry-go-round.

The idea of feeling grounded isn’t a new topic, if you had the chance to attend a yoga retreat you surely heard about grounding and relaxation techniques.  Many mental health professionals recommend these techniques, as well as they, recognize the great benefits of the practices. 

The feeling of being grounded often brings up the imagery of a strong tree with deep, strong roots. A tree that can standstill in the face of any storm, that can flow with changes while still staying stable and supported by growing roots deep inside the earth. This kind of tree has the ability to live for hundreds of years while sending its branches to the sky.

This is the effect you want to create for yourself when doing yoga or meditation practices. You want to build a strong foundation within your body and soul like the deep roots of a tree. This strong foundation will make you stable, healthy, focused, and blanched. It will help you handle any life challenge or any difficulty coming your way from a place of relaxation, clarity, and power.

It helps to deal with traumatic or stressful situations and crises. Grounding also maintains your awareness of the present moment and facilitates a shift in consciousness, promoting spiritual growth.

On a physical level, grounding involves practicing yoga poses that facilitate this connection to the ground, including proper techniques to ensure a solid base – for example, making sure to spread the toes and that all points of the feet are connected to the earth. Even when sitting in meditation we ground our sit bones into the earth, to help us with a better posture that will support our concentration. 

On a spiritual level, it means tapping into the healing energy of the earth which has a big effect on our mental and emotional health.

Spiritual grounding can be achieved through asana practice and other yoga techniques such as meditation, chanting mantras, and pranayama breathing exercises. Balancing the Muladhara (root) chakra or working with your Hara (an energetic point in the lower belly, 3 fingers under the navel) also facilitates grounding and offers a sense of security and safety.

Everyone spends a large amount of mental energy thinking, planning, and worrying, grounding refocuses our energy down the body allowing you to relax and give you balance, focus and strength. There are many techniques for grounding and relaxation, including many yoga poses and guided meditations. 

Here are a few options:

1. The Famous Yoga Breathing Exercise: Alternate Nostril Breathing or Nadi Shodhana Pranayama

• Sit in a comfortable seated position. Ensure that your spine is straight and roll your shoulders down your back
• Rest your left hand on your left knee or lap
• Place your thumb gently on your right nostril and your ring and pinky fingers onto your left nostril (fold the rest of your figures into your palm or place them on the bridge of your nose)
• Begin with an exhale out of both nostrils
• Close your right nostril with your thumb. Inhale through your left nostril. Pause for a moment
• Close your left nostril with your ring and pinky fingers
• Release the right nostril and exhale through it. Pause for a moment
• Inhale through the right nostril. Close the right nostril with your thumb. Pause
• Release your left nostril and exhale through it

 This completes one round of Nadi Shodhana. Repeat this pattern for 5 minutes or more.

2. Grounding Meditation

Meditation can be a very powerful grounding technique. Any time you are lost in thought or struggling with powerful emotions, you can use a meditation practice to bring you back to the here and now. Check out this video, where Pazit, Vagabond Temple’s founder guides you on a beautiful 10-minute meditation to help you get your feet firmly on the ground.

3. Yoga Asana

Use these poses in the morning to start your day centered and tuned with yourself. You can also do a few poses during your work breaks to find balance in the day.