What does it mean to be "grounded?"
How to stay rooted in purpose and intention
Dear Collective,
What do you think about when you hear the word embodiment?
When practicing yoga, embodiment means connecting the spiritual to the physical and nurturing the relationship between mind, body, and spirit.
It means seeing the heart as a bridge between the lower three physical chakras and the upper three ethereal/spiritual chakras.
If your root and/or your core is not strong, you will eventually find yourself injured—physically, mentally, spiritually, or all three. You won’t have the boundaries and stability to hold yourself together. You’ll crumble like a sandcastle.
At Yinsa, we focus on preventative care for the mind, body, and spirit. How do we build a strong foundation based on routine and discipline so that when life throws curveballs, our connection to the earth keeps us solid? You can shove us as hard as you want. We aren’t moving.
Say what you want about Bikram Yoga (104 degrees, 70% humidity, and a very rigid and unforgiving dialogue), but there was one quote from Bikram Choudhury that has stayed with me since my first class in 2008:
“You should be able to practice Bikram on ice covered in butter.”
That was the quip we would hear whenever our instructor saw us getting frustrated because we were slipping on our soaking wet mats. I remember her explaining after class that it’s our ability to ground - to press our feet so solidly and completely into the mat, and therefore the earth - while maintaining a steady gaze, that makes us unmovable.
Hearing that cue completely changed my practice. I learned how to step into the ground in all parts of my yoga. My tadasana, or mountain pose, became a mix of Batman and Wonder Woman.
I. could. not. be. moved.
There’s a danger in that, too.
To be so solid and stable in your physical body that you can’t flow or bend. Rigidity doesn’t equal discipline. Discernment is the tool that tells you not just what to use when you’re focused on staying grounded, but how to really feel into the earth and the energy it provides. That means you can flow with the breeze—or even a storm—without losing your ground.
In the month of November, just in time for the holidays and the end of one hell of a year, we’ll be practicing finding our ground. Our first (and last) book club for 2025 is Strong Ground by Brené Brown. It offers an analysis, as well as tools, to build stronger foundations and be rooted in purpose in all areas of your life. Like all things Brown, it’s rooted in empirical data, research, anecdotal evidence, and historical and philosophical texts, and it really asks you to look within and think about why you believe what you believe.
LiveYinsa Collective book clubs are a great way to introduce yourself to the Yinsa community. They give you an entry point for learning with us, and groups are always intimate and inviting.
If you’re interested in joining us, we start November 3rd. You can join below.
Lastly, after a lot of trial and error with many different developers, I called in a Hail Mary to Patricia - who many of you know from the early LiveYinsa days. She’s currently making all of my retreat pages beautiful and incorporating the FAQs I’ve been answering in my DMs for weeks. The fact that people have been booking my retreats without web pages blows my mind, but it’s a testament to your trust in me and my work, so thank you for that. It feels good.
More info to come Friday. In the meantime, the Scorpio Season 101 workshop is in the Collective, along with new meditations and podcasts to support you in your transformative process.
Remember that what you aren’t changing, you are choosing.
See you in the Collective.
With love,
Daniele
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