When it comes to transformation, we need to have a solid grasp of our foundation – as well as have a good foundation – to elicit that change. In yoga, we use the tool of grounding to help us through challenging moments.

As a preamble though, it’s good to know that challenges come in moments. We just need to survive that moment, and then we can move forward. After awhile, these challenging moments may have greater intervals between them.

And we overcome them, there is the sense of power (or Lakshmi) that we have, that we can draw upon the next time the challenge comes around.

What is grounding?

Grounding means many things in many disciplines, but in yoga, it means bringing ourselves to the present moment. What we seek to do when we bring ourselves to the present moment is to distance ourselves from the grippings of the past and of the future.

Think about it. When something challenges us, it usually is something that haunts us from the past, or something we seek in the future. So going to the example of cutting down coffee intake, if I am yearning for a cup of coffee, it’s my focus on future gratification that drives the moment. I am not focused on what’s happening right now. It is an opportunity to bring myself to the moment, what I am experiencing right now.

In any single moment, we experience so many things. So, I may be experiencing the yearning for coffee, but I also am experiencing the sensation of air on my skin, my feet on the floor, perhaps the presence of my pets with me, and a myriad of other experiences. I just need to pick one to focus on.

How to ground?

So, when you find yourself troubled or struggling through your transformation project, it may help to ground. As mentioned above, grounding means bringing yourself to the present moment by having your awareness focused on one sensation that you are currently experiencing.

We bring our awareness to to something that is present, and the thing that is always present is our body. And usually, the part of our body that is experiencing a sensation is either our feet (when touching the ground), or our sit bones if we’re sitting.

The feet and sit bones also represent the foundations of our bodies. So when we are challenged, just bring our awareness to our feet – from each to right through the arches to the heels of our feet. Spend a few minutes with full focus on our feet.

This helps to get ourselves distance from that which grips us. And hopefully, we can move forward with space between us and our struggles.

Other methods to ground.

Having our awareness on our feet or sit bones is similar to counting to ten when we are angry, what we want is that space between us and our struggles. We can also ground by bringing our awareness to breath, see post below:

Breath-focus for meditation.

Aside from this, you can also learn other methods to ground in the Mindful Mornings Mini Course below.

As with everything, grounding takes practice and may not give you instant success. But as with all practices, once we put in the work, it comes to you faster and faster until it will reach a point when as soon as your focus goes to your feet (or other grounding point), any negativity will be dispelled.

Work on it. You are worth the effort.