With everything going on in the world today, from war and social discontent to natural disasters, it’s difficult to stay calm and happy. When the world seems to be spinning out of control and constantly throwing up new challenges, the best feeling you can have is one of quiet calmness – accepting and facing tough situations with a steady confidence, no matter what’s going on.
Facing a chaotic world
Yoga and meditation can help. You’ll learn the skills needed to remain centred, even during trying times – even when it feels like your world is spiralling into chaos, you will not be. Regular yoga and meditation actually allows you to change the way you feel in the world, and the way you respond to challenges. Yoga opens up a new way of feeling in yourself – strong, mighty and calm. It empowers you. Once you have found this inner strength and calmness, it will support you through challenges in life.
Meditating
Meditation is a way to focus the mind and slow down. You can start by sitting comfortably and focussing on nothing but your own breathing. This takes you far away from everyday life and stressful situations, and brings you inwards to your own body and inner calm. Now you can clear your mind, gently acknowledging and then letting go of any worries that enter your consciousness.
In modern life it can be difficult to find time for yourself or an opportunity to get away from things – meditation gives you this. It also trains you to stay calm and realise how strong you are.
Be a mountain
Practicing yoga and meditation does make you more centred, balanced and grounded. Yoga cultivates your awareness that you are of the world, not just in it. You are a part of the world around you, you grow from it like a mountain. You are a mountain – still, strong, and the most important being in your environment. You stay grounded, present in your environment. But you also reach up to the sky – tall and mighty. Your environment changes and can impact on you, yet you ultimately remain the same, true to yourself. Still standing. Although daily life surrounds you, it doesn’t affect you ultimately.
Staying grounded
The feeling of being grounded is a very secure one. In yoga you can learn how to ‘ground you feet’ in a physical and also thoughtful way. By realising your direct connection with the Earth through your feet – you acknowledge that you’re not spinning into uncertainty or chaos – your feet are firm on the ground and you’re balanced. You are not ‘out of touch’ with the world, but very much a part of it. You are not isolated or lost, you’re glued to a whole planet. Your problems seem smaller now you feel you are just one part of an entire world and its ecosystem. You are connected to something much larger than yourself, and the roots that connect you are unbreakable. No situation or challenge can take away your belonging here.
The yoga techniques below can help you feel more grounded:
Yoga poses such as the Mountain Pose (Tadasana), the Chair Pose (Utkatasana) or the Tree Pose (Vriksasana) are powerful postures. They express the stillness and strength of a mountain, and the stability and quietness as well. Standing tall, you’ll feel at once rooted into the ground and reaching high up as your spine lengthens and the crown of your head rises. Like a tree you grow both upwards as you achieve, and downwards as your roots get stronger. You are tall and mighty.
Grounding your feet is another example of yoga practice that literally helps you get grounded. It’s a good practice to do before Tadasana. Bare feet is very important – you feel more free and at one with the Earth if your feet are exposed and literally in contact with the ground. You immediately feel more connected to your world. You can feel every part of your foot that is touching the floor, and you feel the floor pushing back up on your feet. Realise the power of the ground beneath you and how it constantly carries your weight throughout life. You always have the ground beneath you and you are steady and balanced on it.
When you’re out and about, try pressing your big toes into the soles of your shoes. This will give an immediate feeling of being grounded.
Living in the present
Although the present day can seem stressful and uncertain, it’s important not to live only in the past or for the future. The past is already gone, and you can’t live the future until it is here. So you can only ever really enjoy and be in the present. This is where you can feel grounded and balanced.
Truly living in the present allows you to observe and feel your surroundings and to embrace life, with both its difficulties and rewards. It will help you feel grounded as you realise how connected and aware you are in your environment. Try not to focus on what you’re doing later or what happened yesterday, as these times are not your life. You live in the present.
Try this:
During meditation, become conscious of your breathing (your life force) and your body – are you warm or cold? Are you comfortable or does anywhere seem tense? What can you hear or smell? Make these observations without judgement, and just acknowledge them. This way of thinking empowers you to stay in touch with your life, rather than dwelling on the past or hoping for the future.
Dealing with change and uncertainty
If you are a centred and grounded individual, you will be able to face or even embrace change with strength and grace, as you’ll know that no matter what happens, you are still you.
Yoga is not just a physical exercise – it is a philosophy that asks for a mental shift. It can teach you to understand yourself, respect yourself, and have strength to live each day as it comes. Although life might be uncertain or cause anxiety, you have your inner strength and calm mind to carry you through. Yoga builds this mentality each session, allowing yogis to become strong, centred and peaceful individuals, despite the stresses of life.
A few more tips for staying grounded:
Reflect
Have a designated space for reflection, whether it’s a special room in your home or just a cushion next to a candle. Here you can focus quietly and just meditate. Reflect on things, think them through, and then let them go. Be sure to be in a calm mindset before you reflect – practice your yoga and do some deep breathing or meditate – slow yourself down before you begin to reflect. (See the section on
Meditating above)
Refuge
Find a personal, sacred place where you can take refuge. Pick somewhere that means something to you – a bench, a special place from your childhood, or even somewhere in the garden. Take a mental break here to feel free.
Breathe
Breathe well and deeply, filling up your lungs completely, and exhaling every bit of carbon dioxide that you can. Take deep breaths that make the abdomen rise, not shallow ones that lift your chest. Conscious breathing brings your awareness away from the stresses of the day and inwards to your physical body. It also connects you with the thing that keeps you alive, your life force – the act of breathing. Breathing exercises are also a standard treatment for stress or anxiety.
If you want to feel more grounded and find your meaning in what seems like an uncertain world, then yoga and meditation can help you towards this.
This article has described just some of the techniques and ways of thinking that can really change your life, and that are taught during yoga practice. In my classes I incorporate the whole yogic system – breathing, postures, meditation and philosophy – which gives my students the proper yogic experience and allows them to feel the benefits upon their outlook on life, their confidence, and their mental state and approach to challenges.
Please have a look at my about me page and browse my courses, workshops, weekend and holiday retreats. I am a qualified yoga teacher, trained by The International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres, a yoga organisation recognised worldwide.
More benefits
Apart from helping you to beat the winter blues, yoga also offers you:
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- Improvement of many medical conditions
- Relief from allergy and asthma symptoms
