Tis the season to be giving! So this week that’s exactly what we’re doing: Giveaways galore! While it’s not quite the 12 Days of Christmas, nor the 8 days of Hannukah, we will have a few days of merry yogadorking!
May we present the next item up for grabs…a pair of we’ar boot(i) yoga pants! ($96 value) To make it extra special, the winner will be one of the very first to don the new color of the season – tara red! How festive.
Big thanks to we’ar for the beauty boot(i)s. To learn more about eco-conscious we’ar yoga clothes check out their website, or the YD Holiday Gift Guide! (psst.. YDers get 10% off with ‘yogadork’ discount code)
TO ENTER: Because we’re in the spirit of red, which is known to represent the root chakra, as well as holiday festivities, add a comment below about your favorite “grounding” asana, or experience. We could all use a little “coming back to earth” inspiration this time of year!
Enter now! Winner will be chosen at random and announced tomorrow. Good luck!
*Note* Giveaway open to all ‘dorks, though, mind you, these are in ladies sizes. see them here
UPDATE: And the winner is… Shae!
Huge congrats! please send your mailing address to yogadork@gmail.com.
Thanks to everyone who entered!!! We hope you get to read all the comments.
my favorite is happy baby! it makes me so relaxed and opens my sacrum.
The most instantly grounding practice I can do is to leave the building – where ever I am – and go outside. If it’s warm enough, putting my toes in the grass is a beautiful thing. But any variation works – fingers on the earth, on tree bark, in snow. Air in the lungs is also key – breathe!
For basic grounding I love Virabhadrasana II. With right hip alignment and inner thigh strength my legs stack easily over my feet so they are relaxed on the mat as I am able to focus my arms shooting out from my torso.
i love birds of paradise! and we’ar yoga clothes, thanks yogadork!
Tree! A very “tall” tree with hands in prayer at the heart, eyes closed. Yum.
Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose)….grounding those sitsbones and releasing the pelvis…bliss!
Mountain Pose, eyes closed, hands at my sides. Grounds me, energizes and prepares me for more poses. So soothing!
After a hard yoga practice, there’s nothing like savasana to get you close to the earth and far, far away from our hectic lives.
Dolphin – and not just because I get such an up-close view of the mat. 🙂
I love Supta Baddha Konasana (reclining bound ankle pose), also known as the Goddess pose. It always helps me to feel recharged by the Earth, and reconnected with my body.
I’ve always been a big fan of happy baby. Especially during my prenatal days. It made my baby happy. 🙂
Tadasana-the perfect grounding pose in practice and in everyday life. Helps me ground down through my feet, stand up tall and face the world. Love it!
My favorite grounding asana would be child’s pose done outside in the warmth of the sun on bare ground, preferably grass or sand. Precede this with 5 minutes of nadi shodhana and organic sesame oil on the soles of the feet, and wallah, vata tamed.
I love kneeling yoga mudra. With my forehead to the ground and my hands floating I feel so humbled and introspective. Floating up from that pose is an experience I can’t event describe.
grounding for me is found in balasana….there is just something about having the feeling of the earth under my hands, legs and head during child’s pose that really centers me. i HEART these pants 🙂
i like malasana keeps me close to the ground and steady. besides it’s a good prep for a ton of arm balances which is great when you’re ready to fly. 🙂
Definitely Tadasana…especially after a few rounds of Sun Salutations!
I’d like to win these for my wife who through her practice and training helped me walk into Yoga. I’m not very familar with terms and language but I really like supine twist.
I’m one of those who, given yogi’s choice, would rather stay in Adho Mukha Svanasana than vinyasa-through or take child’s pose. There’s something to pushing through your hands and feet into the ground while the rest of your body lifts – it uses every muscle and really connects you to your body. But, it’s calming enough where you can stay there, breathe, and be.
I like Dandasana. Feeling the connection of sitting bones and leg bones to the earth and letting the spine lift up out of all that. The heart can get to feeling so light you float away with it.
I attend a yoga class as much as I can to feel and absorb the calming energy of the teacher. I don’t want to get on the holiday stress bus although it stops by every day. Thank you to the wonderful teachers at the Yoga Center in NewburyPort. I like pigeon pose. 🙂
Dandasana, fo shore!
Final Spinal (supine twist) – it’s the culmination of a wonderful practice and I love to feel the release of and hear my spine crack.
Like the above commenter, I love ending my practice with a good spinal twist. I find it the most grounding because it is a challenge for me keep all the lower points deeply rooted to the floor while finding the freedom in the upper body. But that focus on seeming opposites–grounding and freedom–is what hatha yoga is all about. Also, it just feels great!
my favorite grounding asana is skandasana (the side lunge Shiva Rea style). I feel so fierce flowing into it, and I really have to apply mula bandha to keep from overstretching. I feel like a tiger (or should I say cougar) ready to leap up and pounce. oh, and I LOVE those pants!
Child’s pose with wide legs makes me feel like I’m melting into the earth.
I love supta virasana. It’s strong and peaceful and my go-to pose for sure. I did it all the way through my pregnancy!
Prasarita padottanasana (Wide-Legged Forward Bend)! My perfect combo of strength, inversion, and relaxation.
Adha baddha padma paschimotanasana, seated forward bends after self dropping back, back bends, so grounding and calming after something so exciting and energising! And supta baddhakonasana during savasana relaxation with an eye bag covering my eyes. perfect!
Tree pose – standing balance poses are grounding for me as they bring me right into the present.
I love to start with an inversion—lately it’s forearm stand for 5 breaths ending in an extended arm child’s pose. The inversion very quickly sets my mind in the present and the feeling of relaxation in balasana seems that much greater—putting me in a great place to continue with the day.
My fave is eka padda kapotasana the ole pigeon pose! Gets in those hips makes me let go of all the holding up the world I think I’m doing sometimes!
I love the combination of pigeon pose, Fire log pose (Agnistambhasana), and half lord of the fishes pose for a grounding feeling.
Baddha Konasana!
eka padda kapotasana– pigeon pose–allows me to release everything I hold–very grounding, very soothing. I hope I win these beautiful pants! At “Free Akron Yoga,” we’re all about FREE! 🙂
Is utkatasana considered a grounding pose? Work those quads, ya’ll! I love the burn! 😉
Having recently graduated from a yoga teacher training program, I would have to say that my favorite “grounding experience” came in the form of learning how to teach a class geared toward Vata types. As we know, Vatas can easily become ungrounded and need to pay particular attention to bringing themselves back down to earth.
This was not only one of my favorite grounding experiences, but one of my favorite sections of the teacher training, in general–I have used the principals I learned on myself and in teaching others and they are invaluable!
i love standing in Tree… envisioning my roots growing into the earth while i slowly grow taller through my crown…. namaste.
in my 15 years of yoga I’ve never owned a red yoga pants! so my favorite way to “ground” is a yin yoga practice for the stomach/spleen meridians (has to do with anxiety) and my vipassana practice. that’s all.
Child’s pose with arms back along body
Pigeon. I feel so flexible and relaxed after it
Whenever DH is on travel, I always do Kristin McGee’s old Power Yoga DVD. The poses and the soft music are just perfect before bed and, rather than feeling alone or sorry for myself, I always look forward to the practice.
The most grounded I ever feel is at the very end of a beautiful asana series, when I release body, mind and spirit into savasana. I can feel my body melting into the earth, fully connected to the energy around me and beneath me. It is here that, with my eyes closed and mind still that my ego is silent, and my whole being is grounded. Peace and Love.
I think it would have to be mountain pose with hands in anjouli mudra and eyes closed. It is definitely a time for a great mind body connection.
Placing my barefeet on the raw ground, then slowly, slowly unwinding into mountain pose.
I love pyramid pose with the arms either laying on my behind, or fingers interlaced – hands off the behind and the shoulders squeezed. Gotta really be grounded/balanced in this pose, especially with the legs super straight, and belly grounded into the upper thigh! Good Pose!
Down dog! Hands on the mat, heels to the mat… Take a breath a regroup.
My favorite grounding pose is wheel. Some days when I get into it I think “wow”.
Down Dog… there are days when I close my office door just to spend a few minutes breathing and reconnecting to my body. For me, nothing triggers that grounded feeling like that downward facing dog!
Child’s pose!
child’s pose is my favorite!
Dragon or Swan… definately grounding and rooting and great stretch!
Child’s Pose is great. Also, for added grounding in Savasana, I like to lay a folded blanket across the front of my hips and thighs. MMMM!
definetely tree pose…love it
Yoga: Balasana (Child’s Pose)
Life: Spending time with my dog – she’s always fully present
Definitely wheel — I wasn’t able to do it right away, and now that I am, I am reminded each time of why I love yoga so much and how good it is to feel yourself get stronger. Plus, my hands and feet are as one with the ground as they’ll ever be!
Downward facing dog and Savasana. During these poses my instructor always tells us to listen to our breathing and nothing else. It helps me reconnect with myself.
Pigeon and deer in Yin pratice.. both allow me to totally breath thru hips and relax.. feel stuck 2 the earth there.. also just seated with legs pulled in and arms walked forward… another great way to feel the hips breath..
Bonus.. I have the root chakra tattooed on me… beat that!.. 😉 jk
I really do tho.. want a pic?
Love, love, Half moon — best pose
Grounding poses? I’m going with child’s pose. I love starting my yoga practice in Child because it just feels so safe – sinking into the earth with your hips, forehead pressing gently into the ground, fingers spread wide…It just provides a very grounded, comfortable place to begin focusing your mind and starting the breath.
in this moment, my favorite grounding pose is tree. as the Buddha said, “praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind. to be happy, rest like a great tree in the midst of them all.”
Tadasana, Mountain pose… Grounding down to lengthen…
One of my most grounding asana experiences was with my mother. She surprised me on my birthday by taking me to the Colorado Yoga Journal Conference. It was our first “yogacation” together so we both signed up for “Yoga and Rock Climbing.” I had never rock climbed in my life, and I was TERRIFIED- but, with the help of my breath, support from my mom, and courage to trust the moment, before I knew it I was climbing up giant boulders that had taken an hour-long hike to reach. Afterwards the group practiced asana on the rocks of the ground, and there was something so beautiful about feeling those rocks and earth in my hands and feeling safety after being so afraid of the same elements up high. It was definitely a “grounding” experience I will never forget!
Bow pose! Makes me feel like a powerful archer woman.
beautiful pants!!! i hope my butt looks as good in them! 🙂
my favorite grounding pose is uttanasana – forward fold… sinking into the earth and myself… favorite winter-time experience is a solo run in the desert.. the winter light, the birds, the crisp air… its magic!
my favourite grounding pose is chavasana – whole body touching the ground and feeling the earth. Followed by a short black 😉
My favorite is child’s pose after my yoga practice.
My favorite is pigeon pose.
Kapotasana is the single most grounding pose I’ve ever experienced. Done in a series after ustrasana and laguvajrasana, it just knocks me out, every time.
It may seem counterintuitive, but headstand grounds me like no other asana. Something about all that blood flow straight to the head roots me right down into the present moment.
Malasana. Very grounding and just feels very earthy.
Malasana (Garland Pose)
I think being close to the earth, yet strong feels great & very “grounding”