Grounding Yoga Poses to Reduce Stress and Keep You Present

People do yoga for different reasons. Some practitioners want to get more fit, reduce their stress, or grow spiritually (though, yoga doesn’t need to be a spiritual practice). Others use it to increase their flexibility or reduce muscle tightness. If none of these are reason enough to develop your own yoga practice, there is one more. It’s called grounding.

What Is Grounding?

Grounding involves being connected with Mother Earth physically and spiritually. A physical connection is achieved by holding certain parts of the body against the ground or floor, such as the bottom of the feet when standing. A spiritual connection is achieved by tapping into the earth’s energy. 

A tree is a good example of something that’s grounded. It not only rests against the earth, but its roots extend into it. It also pulls energy or food from the earth’s soil, giving the tree the fuel it needs to grow big and strong.

When a person is grounded, they feel strong, stable, and secure. They have a sense of balance in their life and are a higher level of confidence. Someone who is grounded is also resilient and better able to withstand whatever comes their way.

Connection Between Yoga and Grounding

Yoga assists with grounding in part through its postures that involve various parts of the body touching the earth (or yoga mat). These yoga poses help create the physical connection necessary for feeling grounded. They may involve doing a pose with the right foot or left foot resting firmly on the mat. Maybe it’s just the right knee or left knee, or right hand or left hand. The physical connection can occur with any body part.

There’s also often a spiritual aspect of yoga, which also aids in grounding. Many people find that doing yoga helps them feel more connected to a higher power. Through regular practice, they develop a stronger attachment to (and with) a force that is bigger than themselves.

Yoga can even promote grounding through opening blocked chakras. The body has seven chakras. The first is the root chakra, also known as the Muladhara chakra. It is at the bottom of the spine and associated with feelings of security, stability, balance—and grounding. Certain yoga poses can help unblock the root chakra. 

Benefits of Grounding Yoga Poses

Doing yoga, in general, offers many benefits. It builds strength, boosts flexibility, and induces relaxation. One survey found that one in three people use this type of practice to manage a medical issue, like doing yoga for hypertension. (1) But there are also certain benefits of grounding yoga poses specifically. 

Research published in February 2023 shares that grounding “puts the body into a healing state.” (2) It involves using the universe’s energy flows for optimal physical and mental function. The better we function, the better our health. Our internal organ systems run effectively and efficiently, and we feel better as a result.

Grounding also helps us better deal with stress. Not only do we feel strong enough to overcome our challenges when we’re grounded, but we also have a higher level of resilience. We’re able to cope when things don’t go our way and stress is kept at bay.

Doing grounding yoga poses can help lower anxiety. Anxiety disorders are some of the most common mental health disorders today. One study found that yoga “significantly decreases anxiety symptoms.” And one of the reasons cited for this effect was that the participants felt more grounded. (3)

Grounding yoga even improves mindfulness. It keeps you in the present moment, enabling you to let go of yesterday and not worry about tomorrow.

How Do You Know If You Might Need Grounding?

Depending on your level of self-awareness, you may know emphatically that you don’t feel stable, secure, or balanced. In this case, it’s easy to tell that you could benefit from grounding through yoga (or any other means). But for some people, they’re not quite so sure. 

Signs you may need grounding include:

• Feeling scattered

• Having trouble concentrating or focusing

• Finding it difficult to complete tasks

• Feeling overwhelmed

• Having a hard time being indoors

If this sounds like you in any way, don't worry. There are several yoga poses that can help create the security and balance you desire.

Yoga Poses to Help You Feel Grounded

Whether trying to feel more grounded yourself or you want to develop a grounding yoga class for your students, here are several poses to consider including:

• Bridge pose. This yoga pose involves lying on your back with your knees bent. The hips are lifted toward the ceiling with fingers interlaced beneath you. Press the forearms into the mat.

• Chair pose. This pose can be harder than it looks, but it’s also great for grounding. It involves pushing the hips back and down as if sitting in an imaginary chair. The abs are pulled in and the tailbone is down.

• Corpse pose. Often used as a final resting pose, this one is grounding combined with a bit of surrender. You lie on your back with your shoulder blades tucked back and breathe in and out. There’s just a little distance between your arms and torso.

• Easy pose. This is one pose that is traditionally associated with yoga. It involves sitting cross-legged on the floor with the back straight and head up. During Easy pose, push the “sit bones” into the yoga mat.

• Mountain pose. In this yoga asana, the bottom of the feet are grounded against the floor. The chest is lifted, and the shoulders are back and down. Palms are facing forward.

• Plank pose. Both the hands and balls of the feet are grounded during Plank pose. Elongate the body while pulling the head’s crown forward and tucking the tailbone back. 

• Seated Forward Bend. This pose involves having the entire backside of the legs against the mat, offering more physical grounding. While sitting, you lean forward at the hips. The head and neck are relaxed.

• Tree pose. Although only one foot is on the floor, this is still a grounding pose. Balancing on one leg with the lifted foot resting against the inner thigh of the opposite leg promotes stability, both literally and figuratively.

• Warrior II pose. This standing pose is also grounding. There’s something powerful about having your feet in a wide stance and arms extended in both directions. (Maybe that’s how Virabhadra felt, the fierce warrior that all the Warrior poses are named after.)

Stay in each of these grounding yoga poses for several breaths. If you’re new to yoga, aim for three to five breaths each. If you’re more experienced, try to hold a pose for up to 10 breaths.

Developing a Grounding Yoga Practice

Doing grounding yoga poses can be especially helpful for making it through stressful times. This includes busy holidays or when there doesn’t seem like enough hours in the day to get all your work done. In situations such as these, you may be tempted to let your yoga practice slide. However, this is when you need grounding the most. So, make these poses a priority, no matter how busy you are. 

Taking a yoga class can help with this. You may be more inclined to not miss a grounding yoga session if you know that others are expecting you to be there. Other practitioners can also offer motivation and inspiration, helping you feel even better.

Another option is to develop your own yoga sequence. This enables you to include the yoga poses that help you feel the most grounded while skipping the ones that don’t. It gives you complete control over your practice.

You can also help others develop a grounding yoga practice as a yoga teacher. If you’re not yet certified, ISSA Yoga & Wellness Academy offers an online 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training Course. This self-paced course includes Live weekly virtual study sessions, an asana guidebook, and more.

References

1. The global yoga survey 2021: How and why people practice yoga. DoYou. (2022, April 12). https://www.doyou.com/yoga-survey/ 

2. Koniver, L. (2023). Practical applications of grounding to support health. Biomedical Journal, 46(1), 41–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bj.2022.12.001 

3. Zoogman, S., Goldberg, S. B., Vousoura, E., Diamond, M. C., & Miller, L. (2019). Effect of yoga-based interventions for anxiety symptoms: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Spirituality in Clinical Practice, 6(4), 256–278. https://doi.org/10.1037/scp0000202