A Yoga Flow for Empaths

An empath has the incredible ability to tune into others’ feelings and emotions. Yet, this gift also comes with a great burden.

At times, you may feel overwhelmed. And you might struggle to live in the present and balance all of these emotions. Thus, for an empath, yoga can work wonders when it comes to taking care of your body and your mind.

Yoga for empaths provides a great opportunity to ground yourself and find balance.

So, what are some yoga poses for empaths? What kind of yoga should you be doing?

First, you might want to find out: Are You An Empath?

Why Use Yoga for Empaths?

For an empathetic person, taking care of yourself is essential. Oftentimes, you might find you are preoccupied with others’ feelings and problems. This leads to little time and energy to reflect on yourself and live in the moment.

Yet, yoga offers a wonderful physical challenge for the body and forces your mind to focus on the present and the movements involved. This can help you see your world clearer and also help you root yourself, despite the sway of emotions and turmoil you feel from others around you.

In other words, yoga is the perfect self-care ritual for empaths. So, let’s dive into some yoga poses for grounding empaths and helping you find your center.

Yoga Poses for Empaths

This Hatha yoga flow will help you balance your emotions and your body. For the best results, aim to do these poses about three to four times a week. They can even be done daily if needed.

1. Mountain Pose

This pose requires you to stand tall and ground yourself through your feet. It provides time for you to truly dive into how you feel and how you hold yourself throughout the day. It can be done during your yoga flow, but you could easily be done while waiting in line at the grocery store, waiting for your coffee to brew at work, or any other time when you might want to feel a little more grounded.

For this mountain pose, stand tall with your big toes slightly touching and your heels slightly apart. Sway from side to side and front to back until you find the perfect balance on your feet and feel grounded.

Gently bring your shoulder blades down and back. Hold your hands at your side with your palms facing forward. Ensure your head is aligned with your spine. Your tailbone should be intending towards the ground.

Stand here and just feel the ground beneath your feet. Take five to ten deep inhales and exhales, counting to four for each inhale and for each exhale.

2. Tree Pose

Tree pose requires balance. Many empaths may feel as though they don’t have a ton of balance in their life. Thus, doing the tree pose can help you find balance, as well as your center, taking some of the burdens off your plate. It also requires a ton of focus, forcing you to live in this moment right here and right now.

For the tree pose, bend your right knee outward and place the bottom of your foot on the inside of your left thigh. Keeping your spine long and tall, bring your hands to prayer position at your center.

Try to hold this pose for at least ten breaths. If you can go longer, do so! Really focus on holding your body in place and breathing in and out.

3. Happy Baby

Now that you’ve found a bit more grounding and are getting used to being in the moment let’s open up the body a little bit.

Come down to the ground (or your mat) and lie face up. Bend your knees in toward your belly, and grab your feet with your hands. If you cannot reach your feet, employ a strap or belt to help you.

Open up your knees, positioning each ankle over top of each knee. You should feel a nice stretch through your inner thighs. Aim to hold this pose for at least five to ten breaths.

Imagine yourself as a happy baby – enjoy that stress-free feeling!

4. Child’s Pose

Child’s pose gives you a break. It offers time to rest your mind and body. In truth, most people should be doing this pose on the regular.

So, how do you do it? Begin on all fours on your mat. Gently bring your buttocks toward your heels (or as far as you comfortably can). Keeping your arms stretched out long in front of you, bring your forehead to rest on the mat. If you need, place a pillow in between your legs and rest your head on the pillow.

Hold here for ten breaths or more. Try to meditate a bit while you do this pose. Focus on your breath and visualize each inhalation and exhalation. If a thought or feeling enters your mind, acknowledge it but let it pass. There’s no need to dig deep here. It’s all about simply being.

Related article: Meditation 101: Calming Your Mind & Soul

5. Corpse Pose

The corpse pose provides a similar break as the child’s pose, minus the stretching. Rather, it grounds your entire body, helping you consciously let go and be more mindful of your feelings and thoughts.

All you need to do is lay face-up in a comfortable position. Then, relax your entire body. Let every limb feel heavy and fall into the ground. Any tension? Let it go.

Stay here for a couple of minutes or as long as you like. Again, this pose is very meditative, helping you stay in control of your thoughts and emotions.

Make Empath Yoga Part of Your Daily Routine

It only takes a few minutes, and you’ll feel so much better for it! As an empath, it’s easy to let our emotions and feelings take control. You feel so much that it’s hard to detach from the emotions of others and reconnect with yourself.

Take that time for yourself! When you’re so in-tune to the feelings of others, it’s even more important to carve out time to take care of your body and your mind. When you’re at your best, you can give your best.

Get those yoga movements in, take a deep breath, and enter a more balanced phase of your life.

Read next: What Is Empathy So Important?