Tag Archives: Individual Practice

Wellness topic, Yoga

Chakra Yoga Therapy Sequence for Emotional Balance & Flow

Session from Last Night’s Group

The second chakra, or Sacral Chakra (Svadhisthana), is the energetic center connected to emotional flow, creativity, pleasure, and the ability to experience life with a sense of fluidity rather than tension. Located in the low belly and pelvis, this chakra helps us connect to movement, sensation, and healthy boundaries. When balanced, it supports flexibility — both physically and emotionally — allowing us to feel our feelings without becoming overwhelmed by them. This practice is designed to gently open and regulate the Sacral Chakra through mindful movement, breath, and grounding awareness.

✨ Warm-Up: Awakening the Body

1. Standing Joint Circles
Begin standing tall. Gently circle the ankles, knees, hips, wrists, and shoulders. Move slowly and intentionally, inviting awareness into each joint.

2. Swaying Side to Side
Shift your weight from one foot to the other in a slow, rhythmic sway. Allow the arms to hang heavy or gently float with the movement.
This helps regulate the nervous system and encourages fluidity — perfect for sacral chakra work.

🌞 Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskar)

Move through 3–5 rounds, or whatever feels right.

Step-by-step version:

  1. Mountain Pose (Tadasana): Stand tall, grounding through all four corners of the feet.
  2. Inhale – Arms Up (Urdhva Hastasana): Sweep the arms overhead, lifting through the spine.
  3. Exhale – Forward Fold (Uttanasana): Hinge at the hips, softening into the legs.
  4. Inhale – Halfway Lift (Ardha Uttanasana): Lengthen the spine, hands on shins or thighs.
  5. Exhale – Step Back to Plank: Engage the core, steady the breath.
  6. Lower Down: Knees-chest-chin or Chaturanga, depending on comfort.
  7. Inhale – Cobra or Upward Dog: Lift the chest, opening the heart.
  8. Exhale – Downward-Facing Dog: Hips lift back, grounding through hands and feet.
  9. Inhale – Step Forward, Half Lift: Long spine.
  10. Exhale – Forward Fold
  11. Inhale – Rise to Stand
  12. Exhale – Return to Mountain Pose

🔥 Standing Strength & Flow

3. Goddess Pose (Utkata Konasana)
Open the hips and connect with your internal power. Add gentle pulses or stillness.

🐾 Floor Work & Core Awakening

4. Cat–Cow (Marjaryasana/Bitilasana)
Move slowly, synchronizing breath with spinal movement to regulate and soothe.

5. Side Plank (Vasisthasana)
Choose knee-down or full expression.
This activates inner stability and confidence.

6. Reverse Plank (Purvottanasana)
Lift the chest and hips. Option: bend the knees for a table-top version.

🌀 Hip Opening

7. Locust Pose (Salabhasana)
Strengthens the back body and energizes the solar plexus chakra.

8. Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)
A deeper heart opener—move gently and avoid strain.

🕊️ Hip Release Sequence

9. Pigeon Pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana)
Hold each side, using props as needed.
Great for emotional release stored in the hips.

🌙 Cooling Down

10. Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)
Lift and open the front body, supporting heart and throat energy.

11. Reclined Twist (Supta Matsyendrasana)
Release tension in the spine and support digestion.

12. Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclined Bound Angle)
Place hands on belly or heart.
End here for a few minutes of soft, supported rest.

🧡 Closing

Take a moment to notice how the body feels — the warmth, openness, and grounding.
This sequence is designed to bring balance to the emotional body, support nervous system regulation, and restore mindful presence.

**Bonus

If you’d like a guided audio version of this click here for bonus content. (Content related to this post may take up to a week to be uploaded.)

Also if you’d like to receive our new “Grounded”newsletter, it’ll be available to subscribe to in the next week or so. It will contain atleast one additional practice or information to supplement what is already on the website. We are hoping to create a space and a community to support overall wellness so stay tuned!

Breathwork, Stress Management, Yoga

Mindful Warrior Practice

Last week I posted a piece on Mindfulness Practicing for ACT.

Here’s another practice , this time using a warrior II pose. I like Warrior II, Virabhadrasana II (veer-ah-bah-DRAHS-anna), for generating a feeling of power and focus. Try this exercise when you are having difficulty with finding motivation.

Part one: The pose

  1. Face the long side of your mat with your arms stretched straight out from your shoulders and your feet parallel to each other in a wide stance. You want your ankles approximately beneath your wrists.
  2. Turn your right foot and knee to face the front of the mat.
  3. Angle your left toes a little in toward the upper left corner of the mat.
  4. Bend your right knee so that you only see your right big toe.
  5. Check and distribute your weight evenly between both legs. Press down through the outer edge of your back foot and four corners of right foot.
  6. Check posture and keep the crown of your head stacked over your pelvis and your shoulders over your hips.
  7. Reach through both arms toward the front and back of the mat and turn your head to look past your right fingertips.
  8. Engage your abdominal muscles by creating a “lift” in your lower ab area.

Part Two: The practice

Hold the pose and breath in to the belly, reversing the exhale constrict the belly as the air empties. Continue even breathing as you look out over your right finger tips, envisioning that which you to accomplish. Switch sides and think of another project/task you would like to accomplish.

Additional:

For a full Warrior Sequence subscribe to our bonus content.

Practice updates, Yoga

Fall Update 2025

There’s lots of new things happening for Grounded for Peace this fall. We have a new intern that has started with us. I will have her introduce herself in the next week or so. She will be providing individual sessions and facilitating a group or 2 during her time. She also will be providing some fresh eyes for our practice and our online presence. Another wonderful benefit to our practice is that she’ll be able to take on clients at a sliding fee scale so if you have someone that struggles to afford therapy we may have some room to take on a few more clients. Please click on our contact page to send us a message if you would like more information.

We also are increasing our yoga therapy services with another group starting in October. Once the details are firmed up, we will be providing more information. If you are interested in individual or group Yoga Therapy, feel free to also reach out via our contact page.

Breathwork, research, Stress Management, Wellness topic

How to Benefit from a Gratitude Practice

branch pic
         I think many of us can identify the calmness and peace that comes with having the thought of thankfulness.  If any of you have read my recent client manual or seen any research on what happens to the body when we experience stress versus when we cultivate peace and calm, you would put 2 and 2 together and know that anything bringing peace is going to have the power to heal.  This is something we intuitively understand but the science is building to show this as well.
         Dr. Masaru Emoto, the Japanese scientist and water researcher, discovered that vibrations affect the molecular structure of water. In his years of water research, through high speed photography of thousands of water crystals, Dr Emoto has shown the most “beautiful” (symmetric and well organized)  crystals are those formed after the water is exposed to the words ‘love and gratitude.’   When water was exposed to words of “anger and hate”, the water crystals became asymmetric and disorganized.  The fact that the human body is made of 70% water, one would consider how  our thoughts can have profound implications on our health.
         The wonderful thing about this feeling of gratitude is that it can be cultivated quite easily.   One can do 15 minutes a day of gratitude practice and experience immediate benefits.  The long-staying results though comes like anything does…. with consistent daily practice.  That’s the kicker, right?  Many of us will start a practice for a week or so and then see it flicker out.  Here’s some steps to help build a daily “consistent” practice of gratitude that has good potential to last.
  • Start small, 5 minutes.  Success will lead to you trying again and not being overwhelmed.  Set a timer and resist doing more.
  • Link your practice to something else you already do daily, like a morning cup of coffee or brushing your teeth.
  • Do it right before or after this already daily routine.
  • During this 5 minutes jot down 3 things that make you feel gratitude.
  • Do this for a month.
  • Bump up to 10 minutes the next month.
  • Bump up to 15 minutes the third month, this time add a nice sitting posture and a minute of quiet after.
  • Continue to build as you feel so, adding other health routines like yoga or breathwork if desired.
Exercise, Wellness topic, Yoga

Personal Practice Challenge – Self Judgment

The third sections of Judith Hanson Lasater’s book “Living Your Yoga” focuses on Self-Judgment.  She reminds at the beginning of the section of the yoga sutra that says the posture should be “steady and comfortable”.    She then goes into describing how we set certain expectations on ourselves and have certain thoughts in regards to our practice that gets in the way of our personal practice.  She discusses how we are a culture of “No pain, no gain” and how this is not necessarily the focus in yoga.

Her suggestions for this month is 1)Write down your internal dialogue right after your personal practice.  Keep notes brief and do not try to interpret. Keep track and note how the dialogue changes over time. 2) If you find yourself forcing in asana or other parts of your live ask, “is this in the spirit of yoga?” 3)If you notice that someone else is judging you, don’t be quick to agree or to internalize the judgment.  Think about what happened and agree only if his assessment aligns with yours. 4) If you are going into a situation about which you feel anxious, tense, or afraid say to yourself, “I am perfect just as I am” 5) Rather than approaching your yoga practice from an attitude of no pain, no gain, how about no pain, no pain? and 6) Do not criticize yourself, anyone else, or anything for one hour.  If this feels like too much, commit to doing it for the next 5 minutes.

These suggestions or homework feels quite freeing to me.  We spend so much of our time worrying about not meeting expectations that we forget the only real expectations are to grow and learn.  This should be interesting  lesson in letting go.