Day 1 · Beginner journey
Root Chakra (Muladhara)
The journey begins at the Muladhara, the Root chakra at the base of the spine. Traditionally associated with security and grounding, it's the centre you draw on when life feels uprooted — a move, a change, a loss of footing. Today's grounding poses help you feel steady, rooted and confident.
Roll out your mat and find a quiet, stable space. The Root chakra sits at the base of the spine, near the perineum, and is traditionally seen as the foundation of the whole system — the sense of being safe, settled and grounded.
Follow the video through grounding, earth-connected poses. Feel your feet and sitting bones press into the floor, and let each exhale settle you a little more firmly. The theme of Day 1 is simply to root down and feel supported.
Today’s practice
- Stand or sit and feel the points that contact the floor
- Follow the video's grounding poses at your own pace
- Let each exhale settle you more firmly into the ground
- Notice any sense of steadiness or security by the end
Reflection
Where in your life do you most want to feel grounded and secure right now?
Video transcriptIn this session, the teacher explains the Muladhara (root) chakra and demonstrates Uttanasana with a student to help ground and strengthen it.
Om Namah Shivaya, welcome to Yoga & You. We are at 136.1 Yoga Studio. Today I'll tell you the connection between chakras and the various asanas.
We have seven chakras in the body and each of them are connected to certain emotions and the way we feel and the way we project ourselves to the world. The Muladhara Chakra is located at the base of the spine near the perineum, and this is the root of everything. So every time you are emotionally displaced, say for example if you move home or you move cities, that feeling of insecurity in you, that you need to root yourself to give yourself confidence, is why you need to strengthen this chakra.
So I'm going to demonstrate here, I have Anisha with me. So we'll do an asana which opens out this chakra, the Muladhara Chakra, and we'll start with Uttanasana. It's a very simple one. It basically stretches out your hamstrings, opens out the calf muscles. So there's an opening there, the legs and the feet are open.
So we start with that. Anisha, just stand up, keep facing this way, keep feet slightly apart, relax your shoulders. Now I want you to inhale and stretch up towards the ceiling, lengthen your torso as much as you can. Okay, exhaling, bend from your hips and go down towards your toes. Okay, and hold — when I say hold, breathe normally but hold the position.
The bending should be here, it shouldn't be here. Okay, hold and breathe. Now inhale and come up, stretch up again towards the ceiling; exhale down again from your hips, down. You should feel the stretch in the back of your thighs and your calf muscles.
Inhale up, keep your hands by your side, relax. Okay, so this was one where the muscles at the back of the thighs and the calf stretched. So there's an opening of that, and the chakra is relaxed.