Grounded Yoga®

When I conceived the concept for Grounded Yoga® I was literally pregnant with my now 7 year old daughter. Downloads of various ideas surrounding the same program would wake me in the night, I have journal entries timestamped at hours like 1:23, 2:22, 3:33. It was too coincidental to be ignored: How to make a mat that would properly ground the user, ways to help actually FEEL the sensations of grounding, how to best sequence it to be a teachable, trainable program, not just a way to grow my own teaching practice, but a whole program to help other wellness practitioners/ yoga teachers add to their toolkit, weaving together ancient practices with modern scientific understanding. It was (is) brilliant. 

I wanted to help everyone deeply understand the importance of grounding as viscerally as I had learned, piecing together for them resonant concepts and ideas that changed my own life- but in a neat and tidy package that was both simple to practice for all levels, and for other teachers, a tool to add to their toolkit. The midnight downloads taught me an entirely fresh yoga adaptation- interesting for both beginners and advanced alike, some concepts repeated in every class while leaving much room for each practice to be modified as needed for the moment.

During my pregnancy and for over a year after my daughter’s birth, I began exploring this fresh sequencing for myself in my own body and feeling powerful shifts, I began working these ideas in groups in the park, using cotton blankets to ensure proper ground and beginning to take the different practices I had learned that made sense both scientifically as well as honored yogic tradition to the best of my understanding. It was fun. It brought people together and it WORKED. Momentum was building and it felt amazing to watch community gather for deep healing.

Enter pandemic.

The entire landscape of the yoga industry changed. My work simply couldn’t be done online at that time, as I still very much needed to witness in person the way human nervous systems responded to the practice. I didn’t know how to grow it to the masses anymore, but I kept up with organized barefoot walk + yoga events as well as yoga in the park with those who hadn’t succumbed to the mainstream social distancing narrative, which I was very strongly against. 

The project spread me too thin, as I was holding down a full time gig with Earthing as well as raising a kindergartner and a toddler from home. I handled a ton of responsibility with grace- Grounded Yoga® was building, my role at Earthing was smooth and stable, my son was adapting well to distance learning, my daughter was potty training on her own time, my marriage was happy, my house was kept clean enough and I kept healthy food on our table. My developed ability to self regulate during the day kept me productive and ensured that nobody (not even my partner) had a clue that my own nervous system was wrecked. 

I had no time for free flowing thought, every waking moment was spent caring for others to the point where my mind would not allow for sleep, happy for the quiet hours of free thought and organizing all the things for the next day. I was sleep deprived and sick on a level I didn’t comprehend until I slammed into a burnout wall so hard it nearly ended my life. 

I quit everything (but parenting) for many months to heal my mind and body. 

I never claimed Grounded Yoga® prevents illness, mental or physical. But it definitely served me when I needed to heal, and still does.

I learned that self regulation techniques were great quick fixes (how allopathic of me), but more important is it to address the underlying factors of WHY I needed to self regulate in the first place. I shifted my lifestyle dramatically to suit both my mental and physical capacity.

Eventually, I felt ready to start leading groups in the park. Momentum started to build again. I was having fun again. By now, Earthing had developed an indoor grounding yoga mat and I was literally itching for a chance to teach this practice indoors and away from the mosquitoes and weather/ seasonal shifts that made consistency a challenge.

I pushed pause on the project again, hoping the right indoor space would appear. There were a few hits and misses for a couple years, and as of this past spring, I have rested well at Bourne Pilates in Upland with a schedule and building group that has been mutually beneficial for all involved. My sequencing is dialed in. I can see it in practitioners eyes, they share it with me via feedback and even health monitor data.

Everything I envisioned in the middle of the night all those years ago is working and happening right before my eyes. All according to plan.

So what’s next?

I will need to start taking steps to create an online version of the project. A product, an app, a monthly membership… in my mind it’s all laid out clear as day, an intricate tapestry that has been delicately woven since the day I first plugged in the Rodney Yee DVD that began my western yoga journey nearly 20 years ago.

And, to manifest this vision will require a level of hustle that I swore back in the pandemic to never return to. My heart longs for a soft life, but manifesting this vision will absolutely need a shift back into hustle culture. No thank you.

Once again, my own nervous system’s whispers have turned to screams. This time, when Spirit woke me in the night, while the discomfort of my challenged health kept me from sleep she whispered in my ear, ‘It’s time to put down Grounded Yoga®’.

The message shook me. What? It’s finally ready to go!

I began an internal dialogue, in the darkness of my closed, tired eyes, longing for sleep I questioned what the thought meant. I challenged it from every angle- but it’s so magical! It will shift the whole yoga industry! It’s deeply healing on a global level! It’s my purpose and it’s finally working and gaining momentum! How can I just stop?

As I pondered these and many other questions and ideas, I drifted into a deep, restful sleep, and when I woke refreshed the next morning, I was left with a simple knowing. 

This project, this chapter, is over. I can’t logic my way out of it, it’s simply gone from my heart.

The entire yoga industry has shifted. I myself have shifted. I wanted, yes to help serve others, and I wanted a successful business for myself. But here’s the thing:

I’m already successful.

I’m already abundant.

I have a fantastic partner and family provider who loves caring for me and his children. What sort of lack energy is it that still calls me to hustle and grind for more? To build a business and act as an entrepreneur?

It’s like a cancer. It’s in me, and it’s riddled within our culture.

What sort of healer am I, if I am educating about listening to one’s own nervous system, about the importance of slowing down, if I myself am not practicing what I preach?

The wellness industry is not wellness. The yoga industry is not yoga. I want to starve this paradigm.

I am called to cleanse. I am called to a new depth of healing and wellbeing that exists beyond programs, concepts, ideas. 

I am called to the earth. To my community. To nourishing my vessel and nurturing those who dwell near me. I am called to craft nourishing food for my family, build a robust garden, laugh and play with the amazing community surrounding me and immerse myself in deep presence with each passing moment.

When I get really honest with myself, in spite of my egoic longings- I want a soft life, not an entrepreneurial one. 

It’s a sudden shift that even I am still wrapping my head around, hence the real point of this writing. 

But, as I have guided others for years- we must first listen to the vessel’s messages. And when it speaks, we must regard it honestly. Can I simply push pause and heal my current ailments and get back to work later? Sure. That would truly be the easier and more logical decision, as I have already moved through the hardest part of the health issues I have been dealing with. Putting down this project is a major kick to my ego, who screams at me as I type.

But I can’t ignore this knowing, that my creative baby has vanished inside of me. I no longer think the yoga or wellness industry needs another gimmick, which suddenly is all Grounded Yoga® feels like it is to me. 

The grounding industry is booming now. Yoga, breathwork, fascia, emf, nervous system understanding… all these things that fueled my early visions a decade ago that I so desperately wanted to share with others… it is all growing to the mainstream right before my eyes. So let it grow. 

I am not needed for this.

You know to get your feet in the earth. You know to slow down. Sound baths and breath work practices are easy and abundant to find, both online and in person.

I think the biggest impact I can make at this point, the best demonstration I can give to the credibility and validity of this work, is to put it down and step away. 

I will teach to slow down and step on the earth by… slowing down, and stepping on the earth. Not exhausting myself by generating a wellness movement, or adding to the noise.

I don’t need masses following me. Nor do you need some leader to guide you. 

You have it all inside. Just like I do.

Find your bliss. Especially when it doesn’t make sense.

I love you. I’ll catch you on the trail or the pickleball court. A living, breathing example of the power of Grounded Yoga®, with no ego or expectation, rather simple, authentic and exuberant ananda.

Till then,

My nervous system sees, loves, and honors your nervous system. Or, as the yogis say… Namaste.

Xo,

GroundedAsh