Maybe you can’t relax even if you have time. Maybe you feel the need to do everything but can’t focus on anything. You may find yourself rushing to get everything done all the time, but you never actually get much done. You might even feel edgy, defensive, or just out of place.
you are not alone. There is plenty of science to show that the human brain was not designed to deal with the contemporary world and its endless decisions, myriad priorities, and non-stop multitasking. Nor does it feel natural to have to live with the chronic tension of everything that’s going on in the world.
However, research also supports the profound effects of bringing your awareness back to the breath. It doesn’t matter whether you consider this an ancient technique or prefer to think of it as regulating your nervous system. Good things happen when you slow down and extend your breath.
This means that at any time you can tap into your body’s innate ability to tune your nervous system by quietly noticing how you are feeling in that moment. Do less, feel more.
In the yoga tradition, poses that bring you to the ground or allow you to fold forward and block out other distractions are the poses that are easiest to center and calm us. When this becomes your goal, your yoga practice doesn’t work so quickly, bringing you back to life and depleting yourself again before getting back to yoga. Instead, it can be more of a strategy that you bring back to those difficult, unbalanced, and ungrounded moments in your life, of which there are so many so that you don’t lose yourself too often. And, when you do, you can more easily return to your usual self.
20-Minute Yoga Practice to Ground Yourself
Supta Matsyendrasana (reclining twist)
Come on your back. Slowly draw your knees toward your chest and place your hands on your calves or the back of your thighs. Gently rock from side to side or rotate slowly to massage the lower back. Gently curl the pubic bone to the navel, then curl the mat down to release and lengthen the lower back.
Keep your knees stretched into your chest. Extend arms straight out to the sides in a T shape, palms up or down. Release both shoulder blades into the mat as you inhale deeply. As you exhale, drop your knees to the left, stacking them together. Stay here for 4-5 breaths. Repeat on the other side.
Marjaryasana (cat ) and Bitilasana (cow)
Slowly come to your hands and knees, bringing your shoulders to your wrists and your hips to your knees. As you exhale, around your spine, use your hands to push the floor away and gently lift your navel toward your spine.
As you inhale, arch your spine and move your heart forward and up, letting your gaze follow. Repeat 4-5 times or more if you wish.
Stay here, or get on all fours, and gently lift your navel toward your spine to engage your abdominal muscles. Inhale and extend your right arm forward, left leg straight behind you, keeping your left inner thigh rolling toward the sky. Exhale, bringing the right elbow and left knee toward each other, rounding the spine, and bringing the chin toward the chest. Inhale, stretch your right arm forward and your left leg back. Do this 4-5 times on each side.
Balasana (Child’s Pose)
On a tabletop, bring your big toes to the touch, slide your knees a little wider than your hips, and relax your hips onto your heels with your arms extended. Give yourself more room by resting your forehead on a mat, or placing a block or blanket under your head. Close your eyes and stay here for 16-20 breaths.
Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Dog Pose)
From the child’s pose, inhale and bring yourself up to the tabletop. As you exhale, tuck your toes under your toes, lift your hips, and return to downward dog. Bend your knees deeply and try to keep your hips lifted while pushing evenly off the floor with your hands. Finally found silence. Draw your shoulder blades toward your hips and relax your neck. Let your heels drop toward the mat. Begin to straighten your knees slightly if you can. Breathe deeply while holding 5-10 breaths.
Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend)
Walk to the top of the mat one foot at a time, with feet hip-width apart. Bend the knees, hinge forward from the hips, and grab the opposite elbow or let your hands rest on the mat or block. Take 4-5 deep breaths. If you like, you can reach behind your back and intertwine your fingers and clasp your palms together. Release your head toward the mat while taking 4-5 deep breaths.
Tadasana (Mountain Pose)
With feet together or hip-width apart, inhale and slowly extend arms toward the sky. As you exhale, bring your palms to your chest and relax in a heart mudra or with your body. Stand here with your shoulders relaxed and take 4-5 deep breaths, or until you feel grounded and centered.
Ute Katasana (President Pose)
From the mountain pose, with feet parallel and toes pointing forward, bend your knees deeply and reach the back of the seat as if you were about to sit in a chair. Take a block between your thighs and squeeze if you want. Keep squeezing the blocks. Take 5 to 10 deep breaths, then straighten your legs and stand in a mountain pose. Repeat 1-2 more times.
Prasarita padottanasana (wide-leg standing forward bend)
From Mountain Pose, turn to face the long side of the mat with feet wide apart and the outer edges of the feet parallel to the short side of the mat. Put your hands on your hips. Inhale and lift chest; as you exhale, hinge from hips and fold forward, placing hands on the floor or block under shoulders. Take 5 to 10 deep breaths.
Exhale and place hands on hips. Inhale and slowly stand up facing the long side of the mat
Savasana
Find a comfortable position on your back, drop your feet out to the side, and lean your arms into your body. Relax as you exhale slowly. Stay here for at least 2 minutes.
Suhasana (simple seat)
From Savasana, slowly draw your knees into your chest and roll out to the side. Take your time as you step up to a cross-legged seat with your hips supported on a blanket or block, if that feels most comfortable. Rest your eyes and find your breath. Stay here until you start to feel your breath relax. Remember that feeling and know that you can come back to it when you need to.