When the world feels wobbly, become your own solid ground.

Before approaching spiritual work, use these exercises to get centered and rooted. Grounding is a way to plug back in to both yourself and the world around you.

Short on time? Skip right to the video at the bottom of the page which will teach you my favorite grounding techniques!

Forgive me if I've told you this story before; it's one of my favorites and bears repeating:

A few decades back, I visited my Aunt and Uncle, who were working in Singapore. It was a long flight, first to Japan and from there into Changi Airport. My body was a mess of minor aches and twitches after 26 hours in the air.

My Aunt decided that I needed yoga and took me to her favorite class which was held on the cool marble floors of a meeting hall inside a Hindu temple. Four long woven mats were unfurled, striping the echoing space. We lined up on the mats, one behind the other, waiting for the yogi to take his place at the head of the room.

At the time I had a regular yoga practice. I was (almost) over the self-consciousness of being a large-boned woman amongst the lithe and graceful American yoginis in their well-matched spandex and cute hoodie cover-ups.

So imagine my surprise when a man in a well-worn tank top and cut-off sweatpants (not a hint of Lycra or lean muscle mass in sight) took up the teacher's mat. He was built more like a sumo wrestler than a greyhound and looked nothing like any yoga teacher I'd ever seen before (or since!).

After a class unlike any I had ever attended in the States, I approached the front of the room. I was a bit in awe of this large man who could support his considerable weight on one arm. When it was my turn to speak with him, I blurted the first question that came to mind:

Why do you do yoga?

He didn't pause to consider his answer, just smiled gently and explained that yoga is a pathway to inner balance. Once you find that balance, the goings-on of the external world no longer shake you. You can even live on a park bench in happiness and joy he told me.

If you've done the inner work of rooting and grounding, of digging deep, there's a place for your energy to go to regroup and regrow when the wind whips and the storm rages.

Why am I pondering this story today?

Because even when you've spent your time honing your inner-resources so you can stand in your power, life inevitably happens.