Calm Your Anxiety With This Grounding Yoga Routine

Reconnect with yourself and the earth with this 20-minute grounding yoga routine.

“Grounding” is an essential concept that helps us to slow down, calming our overtaxed nerves and stressed-out minds.

In essence, “grounding” refers to focusing on the body by reconnecting with the earth. Research shows that when the human body contacts the surface of the earth, it has a profound effect on your physiology and overall health. Benefits of grounding include decreased stress and inflammation, increased immune responses, better sleep, and even the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. (1)

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Go ahead and take 20 minutes out of your crazy day to practice this grounding yoga routine. You’ll calm your nerves, relieve stress to feel balanced and centered. You can even take it up a notch and practice these grounding yoga poses outside on the bare ground!

Easy Pose with Wave Breath | 2 min

Begin with this soothing pose to calm your nerves and begin your reconnection.

1. Find a comfortable crossed-legged position on the floor or on a yoga block. Place one palm over your belly and the other over your heart. Close your eyes.
2. Inhale slowly, first filling up your belly, then your ribs, and then finally into your chest. Pause at the top of your inhale.
3. Then, exhale from the chest, then the ribs, and then finally out of the belly. Allow the belly to soften and pause at the bottom of your exhale.
4. Repeat that slow wave breath for two minutes.

Cat Cows | 8 breaths

Reconnect your breath to your body as you ground through your hands.

1. Start in a tabletop position and spread your fingers wide. Press down through all of your knuckles and grip the mat with your fingerprints. Pretend that your hands are suction cups as you lift your palm slightly.
2. Engage your abs and inhale to lower your belly towards the floor as you lift your chest to come into cow pose.
3. Then, exhale to cat pose by rounding your spine, tilting your tailbone down, and bringing your chin towards your chest.
4. Alternate between cow and cat poses for eight rounds of breath.

Child’s Pose | 8 breaths

Ground your body to the earth with this calming pose that brings your body into the rest-and-digest state.

1. Remain in a tabletop position. Separate your knees out wide towards the edges of your mat and bring your big toes to touch.
2. Sit your hips back on your heels, then walk your hands forward and rest your forehead down. You should feel a nice stretch through the shoulders and the sides of your body.
3. Close your eyes and take eight slow breaths through your nose.

Mountain Pose | 8 breaths

Connect your feet to the earth in this grounding yoga pose that sheds anxiety.

1. Stand on your mat with your feet hip-width distance apart. Reach your arms down by your sides and spread your fingers wide.
2. Spread your toes apart as much as you can. As you do this, feel the arches of your feet lift up as your big and pinky toes press into the ground.
3. Keep that sensation of your arches lifting. Look straight ahead and engage your belly and thighs. Stand here for eight breaths.

Downward Facing Dog | 8 breaths

This grounding yoga pose reverses the flow of blood towards your brain and helps you to feel the effects of gravity.

1. Start in a high plank position with your shoulders stacked over your wrists and your fingers spread wide.
2. Exhale to pike your hips up towards the sky to come into your downward facing dog. Engage your abs and lift up through your hips to feel a lengthening through the sides of your body. Make sure that your spine is straight, bending your knees if needed.
3. Let your head hang heavy here for eight full breaths.

Warrior 1 to Warrior 2 | 8 breaths each

The warrior poses help you to ground through your feet, leaving you feeling calm, strong, and connected to the earth. Start by grounding in with Warrior 1, then transition right into Warrior 2, which helps you release fear.

1. Stand on your mat with your right foot forward and your left back foot a few steps back. Place your hands on your hips and keep them square to the front.
2. Engage your core as you bend into your right knee and reach your arms up overhead. Rotate your pinky fingers slightly inwards and relax your shoulders away from your ears.
3. Hold here for eight slow breaths through your nose.
4. On an exhale, move into Warrior 2 by rotating your body to the left and extending your arms out to the sides. Step your left foot back a couple of inches and point the toes towards the left side of your mat. Reach through your fingertips.
5. Hold for eight steady breaths, then do Warrior 1 and 2 on the other side.

Tree Pose | 8 breaths per side

Ground through one foot at a time as you challenge your sense of balance.

1. Stand with your feet together and spread your toes wide. Bring your palms to heart center and engage your abs.
2. Pick a gaze point a few feet in front of you and breathe steadily in and out of your nose.
3. Shift your weight into your right foot and pick your left foot up off the floor. Rest the sole of your foot on your inner right calf or thigh, opening the knee outward.
4. Mentally pull the energy up from the ground, up your legs and body towards the crown of your head. Hold for eight breaths, then switch legs.

Embryos Pose | 8 breaths

Calm your fears and push anxiety away with this gentle pose.

1. Begin in a tabletop position on your hands and knees. Bring your legs together and sit your hips back on your heels.
2. Fold your torso over your thighs and rest your forehead on the mat or a block.
3. Reach your hands back towards your heels and rest your arms down on the floor. Close your eyes and breathe slowly for eight breaths.

Grounding Savasana | 2 min

Finish with the ultimate relaxation pose to help you soak in the grounding effects of your practice.

1. Lie on your back and extend your legs straight down the mat.
2. Rest your arms by your sides and place your palms face down on your hip bones.
3. Close your eyes and completely relax and surrender here for at least two minutes.

Keep the relaxation coming with these calming yoga poses that battle autoimmunity, or move into these essential yin poses for stress relief.