5 Easy Grounding Yoga Exercises That Will Help Calm Your Anxiety

If you are looking for yoga exercises that can calm you, you have come to the right place. In this article, we will discuss a few excellent exercises you can do to de-stress and relieve anxiety.

"Grounded" isn't just a word used by yoga teachers. It's a very important idea for our health and well-being as a whole. People spend a lot of time in their heads. We focus our energy upwards by thinking, stressing, worrying, wondering, and making up stories. To be grounded, we need to re-direct our energy downwards.

Grounding is also a method mental health professionals often recommend. Although not everyone can use the same grounding techniques or yoga poses, it's important to find a few go-to skills that can keep you from getting burned out.

Grounding Yoga Exercises to Calm Anxiety

Here's a look at five grounding yoga exercises you can do to calm your anxiety:

1) Sufi Grind

On a physical level, anxiety can feel like energy in the gut or upper abdomen for a lot of people. This gentle movement from kundalini yoga can help move the restless energy in your belly so that you can feel calm and centred again.

Here's how you do this exercise:

Sit comfortably with your legs crossed. Your hands should be on your knees.
Keep your head up and chin parallel to the ground as you push your heart forward and start to rotate your ribcage to the right, making a big circle.
When you turn forward, breathe in, and when you turn back, breathe out.
Keep your sitting bones rooted to the floor and connected to it. Think of your body as a mortar and pestle that's grinding into the ground.
Keep going for one minute, and turn around to the left.

2) Frog

When you are anxious or scared, this exercise is a powerful way to get out of your head. This pose can help you feel more grounded, as it balances your root chakra, helping relieves anxiety.

The adrenal glands are in charge of making hormones that affect the autonomic nervous system and help get out of a "fight or flight" response. This pose also helps you balance your adrenal glands.

Here's how you do this exercise:

Sit in a squat with your feet apart and heels touching. Balance on your toes (when you look down at your feet, they should make an elevated 'V' shape.)
Spread your knees apart, and touch the floor with your fingertips to help you stay balanced.
As you breathe in, keep your heels up; lift your hips up, and stretch your legs.
Do your best to straighten your legs, but don't worry if they are slightly bent.
Try to touch your nose to your knees while keeping your hands on the floor for balance.
As you let out your breath, look up as you lower your hips back down to your heels to get back to where you started. This is equal to one 'frog'.
Keep doing this for 26 times. Move as fast as you can, and keep your breath in sync with your movements.
After you've done a total of 26 rounds, sit in Sukhasana (with your legs folded), and watch your breath while you take a break.

3) Paschimottanasana

This pose makes the spine longer, fully stretches the back, and calms the nervous syste. It's a great way to calm down your anxiety, as it cools the body and the mind.

Here's how you do this exercise:

From Sukhasana, sit up straight, and put both legs out in front of you.
Make your toes point up towards the ceiling by bending your feet.
Take a deep breath in as you straighten your arms up over your head.
Exhale as you fold forward from the hips, and reach for your toes, ankles, or shins.
Let your head and neck relax, and let your body fall over your legs. Take long, deep breaths.
Stay here for a minute, and slowly roll back up to a sitting position.

4) Malasana

This is an excellent restorative, calming, and grounding yoga pose that can help you relieve anxiety.

Here's how you do this exercise:

Stand at a wider than hip-width distance and your feet opened outwards.
Start bending your knees as if trying to sit back on your knees. Lower your hips towards the ground, and sit back with your legs open.
Bring your hands into Anjali mudra, and try to open your legs further by pressing your knees with your elbows. Do that only as far as it feels comfortable.

5) Legs-Up-The-Wall

This pose helps relieve anxiety and brings the body into a deep state of relaxation in a gentle way. This is one of the best ways to end your yoga practice, as it makes you feel calm, refreshed, and re-energized.

Here's how you do this exercise:

Sit with your back against an open wall, and slowly lower your torso to the ground while lifting your legs up against the wall.
If your hamstrings are tight, you can raise your hips by putting a pillow or blanket under them.
Move your hips closer or farther away from that wall so that your legs are straight and resting comfortably.
Once you find a comfortable position, rest your head on the floor, and put your arms out to the sides.
Pay attention to your breathing, taking in air through your nose and letting it out through your mouth. Deep breaths. Spend 5-10 minutes here.

Takeaway

Perform the aforementioned five grounding yoga exercises to relieve anxiety and feel refreshed.