5 Grounding Yoga Poses to Connect Yourself to the Earth

What better way to begin a grounding yoga practice than Sukhasana, also known as easy pose? By physically lowering yourself down onto the ground, Pranayama explains that you connect with the earth beneath you and create space to become present with your breath.

While on your yoga mat, with your legs crossed and your spine elongated, you’re invited to embrace the beauty of silence as you enter a meditative state. Easy pose presents a grounding posture that encourages the dance between the breath and the body. When exploring the mind-body connection, you can allow the breath to guide you leading you to activate the parasympathetic nervous system to lower cortisol and reduce stress, according to research in Stress Health.

So take a moment to relax into this pose and focus on deep belly breathing to ground the mind and body as you enter a state of relaxation.

As the basis of all yoga practices, Tadasana invites you to become centered as you move through your yoga flow, according to Tint Yoga. Feet rooted deeply to the ground beneath your body can naturally stand tall as your head holds high. Raise your arms up for a deep inhale before allowing them to drop down by each side, palms open. As you stand here, practice releasing any areas where you may be holding tension and allow yourself to be as you are.

When you take the time to conscious ground, you’re doing your body a favor as this practice can decrease pain, change the number of circulating neutrophils and lymphocytes, and affect inflammation-related circulating chemical factors, according to the Journal of Inflammation research.

A rare combination, Warriors 2 strengthens, grounds, widens, and lengthens simultaneously, as Yoga Journal explains, a beautiful addition to any yoga practice.

To enter Virabhadrasana II, step the left foot back with your left toes pointing toward the edge of the mat and the right foot forward, right toes pointing forwards toward the top of the mat. As you draw your energy up from the feet, through the center of the body, slowly sink into the right leg, and you settle into Warrior 2, feet grounded onto your mat beneath you. Allow your arms to follow by reaching them up horizontally, aligned with your body and palms facing down. 

From this place, you can shut down your mind and embrace the stability of the ground beneath you.

Upward Facing Dog can be highly beneficial for those who sit at a desk all day or inside an office as it invites you to come away from your daily posture and realign the body, as Verywell Fit explains. 

You’ll need to come fully down onto your mat for this pose. As you lay flat on your stomach, place your arms on either side of your chest and use your strength to lift the upper body slightly off the mat. As you push through your mat, you are grounding through each finger and opening up the heart center to ignite loving energy, according to The House of Yoga.

You can stay here for a few breaths before gently lowering back down to your mat to rest and repeat.

Pigeon pose is not only grounding due to its physical benefits from connecting with the ground but also its emotional grounding aspects, according to The Studio website.

First, come onto all fours with your hands on the mat. From here, you can take your right knee to align with your wrist and have your left leg extended behind you. As you lift your upper body tall, your lower body stays connected with the mat as you use this for support.

Everyone stores emotions in their hips, and as the king of hip-openers, Pigeon invites you to release anything you are holding onto that no longer serves you as you let go of any stagnant energy.