Yoga for Grounding in Just 20 Minutes

For a long time, I thought accepting something meant giving up. Each time I accepted something difficult that was happening in my life, it seemed as though I was saying that I agreed with it, that I liked it, that I had stopped working toward and hoping for something different.

Yoga taught me otherwise.

There have been many moments when I desperately wanted my reality to be different. Acceptance of my circumstances did not arrive as a single moment when everything suddenly made sense and my resistance instantly dissipated. It came slowly, through learning to meet myself exactly where I was.

Yoga asks us to practice this each time we arrive on the mat. We carry expectations about what our bodies should do, we compare today’s practice with yesterday’s, or we hold an image of what a yoga pose is supposed to look like. But the practice instead gently asks, what is here now? The answer is always this body. This breath. This moment.

Yoga has never made me feel endlessly peaceful, and I don’t think that is the point. The practice simply keeps inviting me back—back to the body, to the breath, to what is actually here now—so that I can respond to life from presence rather than resistance.

This approach is also the essence of teaching and practicing accessible yoga. Accessibility is not about forcing every body toward the same expression of a pose. It is about becoming curious enough to meet the person who is in front of us or who is us. Instead of asking, “How can I make this person do the pose?” we ask, “What is the intention of the practice, and how can we explore it together?”

This is the beautiful paradox of life that we continue to discover. When we stop spending all our energy fighting where we are, we have more energy to explore where we can go. Acceptance does not take hope away. It gives hope somewhere to stand. Acceptance is not resignation, and it doesn’t mean that we stop growing, changing, or dreaming. It means we become rooted in reality without becoming imprisoned by it.

Perhaps acceptance begins with something as simple as understanding that this is where I am today. Not where I thought I would be. Not necessarily where I will always be. But here. And here is enough to begin.

20-Minute Yoga for Grounding

As we’re talking about being rooted in acceptance, we’re going to root ourselves in Tree Pose. We’re also going to break down Tree Pose into 3 elements: 1. As your feet are on the ground, you are grounding yourself in presence. 2. As you raise your arms any amount, there is strength and presence there as well. 3. As you lift one leg and bring it against the other, there Is the element of balance. So we have grounding, strengthening, and balancing. We’re going to dissect the pose and try to build them separately.

In this practice, we’re going to use two blocks and a sturdy chair as we work with grounding ourselves in acceptance—acceptance of how we feel and acceptance of others.

Mountain Pose

When you are ready, sit up straight and tall in Mountain Pose or Tadasana. Raise your head a tiny bit more and notice how you extend your spine when you do that. Soften your shoulders and release any tension in your body. Close your eyes if it feels comfortable for you or you can find a soft gaze on the floor. Imagine that there are roots coming out of your sitting bones and  your feet, and that you are becoming stronger and more peaceful.

Let’s take 3 breaths here. Start with a deep inhalation through the nose. Exhale a little longer and softer through the mouth. Inhale through the nose. Exhale with a little sigh. One more time. Inhale. Beautiful. Exhale. Release.

Neck Rolls

Come back to center. Now we are going to work in a horizontal plane and repeat the neck rolls drawing the infinity sign, playing with a range of size and motions here. Draw it 3 times in each direction and release. Beautiful.

Elbow Circles

Reposition yourself in the chair and sit up straight and tall as you inhale and raise your arms any amount. Exhale long and soft as you lower your arms, palms facing down, like a little kiss on your shoulders with your hands. Let’s draw a circle here with our elbows, going 3 times in each direction. Again, you want to be curious about what feels comfortable and how far you can go. Then do your circles backward. Don’t forget to breathe. Beautiful.

As you release, give your arms a little shake.

Tree Pose

So take your left leg and cross it over your right one. I would love for us to ground ourselves through the right foot touching the ground. Place one hand on your belly, the other hand on your heart center. Grow taller here and breathe as you feel grounded.

Add a little strength now. Inhale as you raise your arms any amount and hold your palms together. Beautiful. Raise them until it feels comfortable for you and hold it here. To spice things up, keep your palms against each other. Inhale as you grow taller. Exhale and release your arms.

Tree Pose Twist

Exhale as you take your right hand to your left knee and gaze toward the left. Inhale and exhale here. Inhale and exhale back to center as you release. Reposition yourself in your chair and do the same thing on the other side. Then bring both legs back to sitting.

Tree Pose With Balancing Challenge

Maybe you raise your branches, or arms, until it’s comfortable for you. Maybe your branches are moving. Whoa, the leaves as well with your fingers moving, rocking from side to side with a block in your head. This is a lot of balancing work here. Then let yourself release.

Tree Pose With Balancing & Strengthening

Now take the second block and place one block on each palm. Ground yourself through your sitting bones, and raise your arms, or branches, however much is comfortable for you. It is okay to sway.

Notice how you feel here. Press your feet down against the ground and stay rooted as you explore your balance a little. Then release.

Tree Pose With Side Stretching

Place a block on the floor on each side of your chair on the tallest level. If you want it higher, then you can stack the blocks on one side. Then reach your right hand for the block or, if that’s not available, you can hold onto your right side chair frame. Then reach your left arm overhead toward the right, searching for the sun, in a side stretch. Ground yourself here and press the block against the floor as reach through your left arm. Feel the stretch. Let’s take a breath here.

Then switch sides and notice how you feel here. Inhale. Exhale. Then come back to center. Take a moment here to notice how you feel.

Seated Cat & Cow

You’re going to do a quick seated variation of Cat and Cow. Place your hands on your knees. Ground your sitting bones. Exhale as you round your spine in Cat.

Inhale as you arch your back, broaden your chest, and bring your shoulder blades against each other in Cow. Exhale back to Cat. Inhale Cow. Do that one last time. Then release. We have finished opening the spine in all six directions.

Palm Tree

We are going to try a palm tree variation. Reach your arms in front of you and interlace your fingers or place one hand on top of the other, whatever feels comfortable for you. Ground yourself here. Inhale as you raise your arms and feel the stretch along both sides and hold here. Then exhale as you bring your arms back to center. To spice things up, flip the palms of your hands away from you. Inhale as you stretch your arms overhead and hold it there. Then exhale as you release and give your arms a little shake.   

Centering

Let’s come back to that place in your chair where you feel grounded and safe. Take a soft gaze to the floor in front of you or close your eyes. Release your shoulders, your temples, your eyes. I like to think about the Ram Dass quote that he likes to think of people as trees because you never go around in the forest judging trees the same way as we judge people. We are each unique. We are beautiful. Think about the people in your life as trees in your forest and how each brings strength and beauty. Then send thoughts of acceptance to yourself and everyone you know, everyone around you, and may they be grounded in peace. May we find our roots and sway with grace.