Billie Sunday

Most yoga studios allow about 15 minutes for you to come in and ground yourself before your yoga class. Not a lot of students take advantage of this time, but this really can be one of the most essential parts to any class. It’s so important to give yourself the time to settle in and become present. You might even find a very dramatic effect on your yoga practice right from day one.

What Does It Mean to Ground Yourself?

Grounding yourself can mean different things to different people. Today we’re speaking about it in general terms but there’s always tons of room for modifications. Grounding is settling in and becoming one with the present moment. It is about coming back into alignment with yourself and removing yourself from your worries of your past and your future. It’s about tapping into your own mind, body, and spirit while also enjoying the immediate, external world around you.

How to Use Your Breath to Ground Yourself

There are a few ways to go about this, but we’ll stick to the basics because a lot of the time they are the most powerful. Start off with focusing on your breathing. Allow it to become your sole focal point and just enjoy it as it is. You can try this by counting your breaths, watching the rising and lowering of your chest, or even paying close attention to the sensation in your nose as the air rushes back and forth.

How to Use Weight to Ground Yourself

Take a comfortable seated or lying position on your mat. Pay close attention to the pull of gravity holding you down on your mat. Feel the connection between you and each of your clothing articles. You can pay attention to all your clothes or just a single article at a time. Start from the bottom up, focusing on your feet, pants, shirt, and your head. Feel for the textures, warmth, and thickness of each clothing item against your skin. From there, you can focus on the connection between your clothing, your mat, and then further on, to the connection between your mat and the floor. Continue to work your way down as deep as you can to get a very rooted and grounded connection to the earth.

Why You Should Ground Yourself

Taking the time to ground yourself before your yoga class can have some huge benefits to it. It becomes a gentle way to work up towards more intense meditations, which is exciting for a lot of people who feel that meditation is hard on its own. It also has more experiential benefits. For example: it can help you become more aware of your body which will help you with the poses in your class. You could see a benefit in your balance, form, and in your overall flow. Grounding before your yoga class allows you to focus on what you are there to do as you are doing it. A lot of the time, people aren’t getting the most out of their class because they can’t pay attention and are out of touch with themselves as well as with their environment. Grounding helps that.

Don’t just take my word for it, go ahead and try it out for your next class! You might be amazed by how much easier and natural your class feels. Enjoy!