New short practice: Root down to connect like an elephant

Do you ever feel unmoored and disconnected from your body, from the people who matter, from the ground beneath you? When you feel adrift and unrooted, look to an elephant, one of the most deeply connected creatures on earth. Elephants remember the paths their ancestors walked and walk them again, know which waterholes have been reliable for decades, and live in tight family groups where the young are raised by many. They mourn their dead, and through the tip of the trunk and the soles of the feet, they stay in constant conversation with the ground, feeling the vibrations of a distant herd, wind moving through faraway grass, the slow deep hum of the earth. This is what the earth practice is for: grounding, weight, and belonging that anchor us to our home, our community, and this moment.

This twenty-minute practice moves through a slow arc that echoes the elephant’s own way of moving through the world. The first phase is elephant-inspired movement: hands swinging together like a trunk, slow firm walking in place, and Gaja Vadivu, the deep squat from the Tamil tradition, teaching the body to move with full weight, unhurried. The second phase is balance: vrikshasana (tree pose) on each side, followed by tadasana rising up onto the toes. You get a chance to find steadiness when your balance is challenged. The third phase is a seated pranayama with Bhu mudra (the earth mudra) and extended exhale with humming. The humming turns the practice into two-way conversation with the earth — first receiving the vibrations of the world through the ground, then sending our own vibration back down through the body.

Channel your inner elephant and see how it feels!