Feeling Scattered This Season? Here’s How to Ground Yourself with Yoga

updated from previous title:  How to Adapt Your Yoga Practice for Autumn (and Feel Grounded Again) 

🎙️Show Notes

Keywords:
yoga, autumn, Ayurveda, grounding, vata season, breathwork, mindfulness, seasonal living, wellness, stability, self-care

Summary:
In this episode of Rooted in the Seasons, Katja Patel shares how to adapt your yoga practice for autumn — to feel grounded, warm, and steady through the changing season. Drawing on the wisdom of Ayurveda and yoga, she explains how Vata season affects both body and mind and offers simple, practical ways to bring balance back.

You’ll learn how to slow your flow, use the breath as an anchor, and choose poses that restore calm and stability. Katja also shares how props can make your practice more supportive and why warmth, rhythm, and rest are the medicine we all need right now.

Takeaways:

• Autumn’s light, mobile qualities can leave us feeling scattered and dry.
• Adapting your yoga practice brings grounding and warmth back to body and mind.
• Focus on slow, steady movement and smooth breath.
• Ujjayi breath builds quiet inner strength and warmth.
• Standing poses root your energy; forward folds calm the nervous system.
• Gentle backbends open the chest and create space for the breath.
• Props make yoga more accessible and nurturing.
• Reflect after practice: What felt grounding? What will you carry into your week?

Titles:

1. How to Adapt Your Yoga Practice for Autumn — to Stay Grounded and Warm 
2. Grounding Your Practice: Simple Yoga Tips for the Autumn Season

Sound bites:

• “Autumn brings beauty, but also change — and our bodies feel it.”
• “Keep your gaze low and your breath smooth.”
• “What felt grounding for you today? Which cue will you carry into your week?”

Chapters:
00:00 Embracing Autumn: How to Adapt Your Yoga Practice
06:45 The Power of Breath: Ujjayi and Grounding Awareness
11:48 Grounding Poses for Strength and Calm
17:20 Props, Helpful Cues, and a Moment of Reflection

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🎙️ Rooted in the Seasons is created by Katja Patel at Zest for Yoga & Ayurveda.
 Explore more episodes at zestforyoga.com/podcast

Transcript

Katja Patel (00:00)

You know that sound, the crunch of leaves underfoot, the air little cooler, maybe a touch more movement in your mind too. Autumn brings beauty, but also change. And our bodies feel it. Today I'll share how to adapt your yoga practice to bring warmth and steadiness back in. So you can meet this season.

Hello and welcome back to Rooted in the Seasons where we explore how ancient wisdom meets modern life with a strong cup of tea and a few honest practical tools for real busy women. I'm Katja Patel Ayurvedic diet and lifestyle consultant, yoga teacher and teacher mentor and someone who helps you

Katja Patel (01:01)
find calm and clarity.

Katja Patel (01:04)
through

Katja Patel (01:05)
small daily rituals and seasonal rhythm. In today's episode we are exploring how to adapt your yoga practice to autumn so you can feel grounded, steady and warm through the season.

You might ask why do I need to change my yoga practice? In my last episode Ayurveda in autumn I talked about what's happening behind the scenes in your body and mind this time of year. How Ayurveda calls this vata season ruled by air and space.

You might have already noticed the signs. The air feels lighter, the wind's a little wilder and maybe your mind busier or your body a little drier. So it's not just you, it's the season itself. And while we can't control the weather, we can meet it in a way that helps us

Our yoga practice is one of the simplest way to do that. To steady the moving parts of the season through warmth, rhythm and awareness.

Let's make this really simple. If autumn feels upward, windy and fast, your practice should feel downward, steady and warm. Start by slowing down. Fewer transitions, more breath. Five to eight calm, even breaths per pose is perfect.

Look down more often, literally. Fix your gaze or drishti on a still point just in front of you.

It's an instant way to steady your balance and quiet the mind.

Keep the body warm, layer up or even better do a light oil massage before the practice and then wear clothes that can do with oil and stains.

That warmth brings the grounding quality your body craves right now. ⁓ You don't need a perfect set up or a long class. Even 10 quiet minutes can change how you feel.

To recap, opposite qualities balance the season. Stillness steadies movement. Warmth softens coolness. And rhythm quiets restlessness.

Now let's talk about the breath. Your breath is the bridge between the mind and the body. And in autumn it's your best tool for calm. For example, Ujjayi breath, the victorious breath is perfect here. It's steady.

wave like rhythm builds inner warmth and quiet strength. A gentle victory over distraction, restlessness and self doubt.

You can integrate ujjayi into your yoga posture practice or even use it when you go for a walk, letting your breath move in a slow steady rhythm with your steps.

It warms from within and helps you stay centered when the world feels quick and unpredictable. And if Ujjayi feels too strong, just keep the breath soft and even. Think of it as simmering, not boiling.

When you step onto your mat this season, think of every movement as a way to steady yourself. Start with standing poses. The warriors, the triangle, side angle, they are all perfect. As you press the ground away with your feet, feel the strength travel up through your legs.

into your hips, pelvis and lower back. That's what grounding really is. Energy moving downwards so you can rise from stability, not strain. Tree pose is another example. Wonderful way to steady your focus. Keep your gaze low and soft.

And if you're having one of these wobbly days, stand near a wall for support. Remember, the goal isn't stillness in the body, it's steadiness in the mind.

Next bring in some gentle forward folds like Paschimottanasana or Janasirshasa. They calm the nervous system and center scattered energy. Don't forget the backbends.

They are often misunderstood in the autumn practice. We tend to think of them as energising. But when done slowly and consciously, they actually open the chest, create space for the breath and help the body release tension held across the front line, especially around the heart and the belly.

Even a soft cobra or bridge pose can make you feel both grounded and expansive at the same time. And not to forget legs up the wall. This one's pure medicine and my absolute must do everyday pose.

The entire upper body is grounded and supported by the earth. The heart relaxes, the breath deepens and it brings a wave of calm through the whole system. Stay there for a few minutes as long as you can. No effort, no agenda, just rest.

If you finish your practice feeling heavier, warmer and not in a hurry to move on, that's your cue that you have found your autumn balance.

Sometimes we need to support our body just a little more to make poses more accessible. Maybe you already use props in your regular yoga practice or maybe you're new to them. Here are a few of my favourites and they are easy to use.

blocks or even a couple of books can bring the ground closer to you. For example, when you bend forward,

raise the floor and rest your hands on. You can even use a chair for that. In seated forward bends like Pashimottanasana, a strap or belt or even a towel around your feet helps lengthen the arms so the shoulders can stay relaxed and the front can stay open.

Props are only useful if they make your practice easier and more comfortable and not confusing. They're there to support and not to complicate.

Another way to stay focused are cues. Here are a few simple cues you can hold in your mind during practice. They're like little anchors to bring you back when your focus drifts. For example, press down to settle. Steady gaze, steady mind.

Breathe into your back body.

quieter not bigger finish warmer than you started

Which one of these feels most relevant to you today? Maybe that's your mantra for the week.

Let's recap the essentials. Slow down your flow and stay longer in each pose. Keep your gaze low and your breath smooth. Bring warmth into your body with your practice.

Use props for comfort, not perfection. And always finish with stillness. It's less about doing more and more about feeling steady through what is.

Take a moment to reflect what felt most grounding for you today. Which cue or quality will you carry with you off the mat and into your week?

And if you like to explore this idea of living in sync with the seasons, how rhythm supports your energy, mood and digestion, I go deeper into this in my Lift Your Mood with Food course.

And if you just started, you can download my free guide, my five quick Ayurvedic fixes from Scatter to Steady and join my Sunday read newsletter. You'll find both linked in the show notes.

Thank you so much for listening to Rooted in the Season. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe or follow wherever you're listening. That way you won't miss the next one.

and of course I always love hearing from you message me on Instagram or drop me an email I truly enjoy connecting until next time stay rooted in the seasons bye bye