Windy Life, Grounded Feet

As we make our way through November the days grow shorter and colder, nature telling us to slow down and to go inward. However, pop culture and the hustle and bustle of 2025 along with the holiday season send a completely different message to our hearts and minds. Do more. Be more. Buy More. Expect more. Push more. More and more and more. The winds of autumn begin to pick up causing a natural environment that begins to resemble the inner workings of our minds during this time. It almost begins to feel impossible to find stable ground when the calendar begins to fill our shortened day time hours and there's always another added task or event. That's why it becomes more than self-care, more than a tool in the "toolbox" to understand how to ground yourself in the winds of life when they begin to pick up. 

Yogi tips to stay grounded when life gets windy:

1. Asana grounding poses

Easy seat

Child's Pose

Reclined cobbler pose

Corpse pose

Legs up the wall with a sandbag on the bottoms of the feet and one on the belly

Mountain

When moving through your asana practice, think about the bottoms of the feet. Press firmly into all four corners of the feet. Feel into all ten toes. When on hands and knees press firmly into the palms, fingertips, knees and tops of the feet. Bring your awareness to having a long light spine but a solid lower half drawing the inner thighs together while in standing poses. Move slow and with intention. 

2. Meditation

With the eyes closed visualize the thoughts and images spinning about within the mind as if they were snowflakes in a snowglobe. On the inhale, the thoughts are floating and spinning around. With the exhale, visualize the snowflakes falling and settling on the bottom of the globe. With each inhale and exhale begin to visualize more space between the flakes as more and more thoughts settle on the ground. Creating a white solid foundation in the globe and a quiet silence in the mind and a grounding feeling in the breath and body. 

3. Breathwork 

Best with bare feet on the ground as you sit in a solid arm chair. Belly Breathing, apapana-focused breath, directing energy downward. Stimulates apana vayu — the downward-moving energy responsible for grounding, elimination, and stability

*Place hands on the lower abdomen.

*Inhale into your hands, feeling the belly rise and expand.

*Exhale completely, letting the belly gently contract.

*Keep the chest soft; focus breath low in the body.

4.Mindfulness Grounding

5 - 4 - 3 - 2 -1 grounding practice that brings you back into your body when you get stuck in your head or feel chaos overwhelm the body. A simple way to bring you back to your present moment. When dysregulated take a moment to stop and identify the following:

5 objects you see, 4 objects you can touch, 3 "objects" you hear, 2 "objects" you smell, 1 "object" you taste

5. Foods

Root vegetables grow underground, taking root in the soil. Their energy will root the body and mind. 

Sweet potatoes. Carrots. Beets.Turnips. Parsnips. Squash.

Eaten warm, cooked in fat or made into a stew. 

Warming herbal teas made with earthy spices such as cinnamon, cumin, cardamom, and clove.

6. Production

Tactile hobbies, "getting your hands dirty". 

Pottery/clay work.

Yarn in knitting or crocheting.

Soap and candle making.

Baking along with kneading, mixing or molding with the hands (a cooks' best tools).

Gardening, hands in soil indoors and outdoors. 

Journaling and listening to low heavy music pieces to allow the thoughts to match. 

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Written by

Brooke Halperin