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OCTOBER – VATA SEASON

Grounding Through Vata Season: Supporting Teens with Yoga and Ayurveda

As autumn arrives, the air becomes cooler and drier, the days become shorter, and nature begins to slow down and turn inward. In Ayurveda, this is Vata season, when the qualities of air and space (cold, dry, light, mobile, expansive) become more present in our environment. Because we are part of nature, these seasonal changes influence us too.

In September, we explored finding rhythm during times of transition, supporting teens through changes in routines and new beginnings. October invites us to continue that journey by turning inward, finding our roots, and cultivating steadiness.

Vata is associated with movement, creativity, and change. When balanced, it supports imagination, adaptability, and inspiration. During Vata season, these qualities naturally become more active. Teens may be especially sensitive because adolescence is already a time of transition. As they move from the Kapha stage of childhood toward the Pitta stage of adulthood, this constant growth and change can easily aggravate Vata, contributing to restlessness, overwhelm, difficulty focusing, and feeling disconnected.

Ayurveda teaches that balance comes through introducing opposite qualities. Warmth, nourishment, steady routines, time outdoors, and quiet moments help create calm, connection, and stability.

The Yoga Sutras remind us of sthira sukham asanam (Yoga Sutra 2.46), cultivating both steadiness and ease. Autumn invites us to embody this balance by remaining grounded, relaxed, and present. We can bring this wisdom into everyday life through practices that calm the nervous system and anchor us to the present moment. Yoga, breathwork, mindfulness, and creative expression all offer tools for grounding. Restorative poses such as Child’s Pose (Balasana), Legs Up the Wall (Viparita Karani), and Supported Butterfly (Supta Baddha Konasana) can help teens reconnect with their bodies and feel supported. Breath practices such as Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana) and Humming Bee Breath (Bhramari) encourage calm, focus, and balance.

As we move through autumn, balance doesn’t mean avoiding change. Instead, yoga and Ayurveda help us develop steady roots, allowing us to move through the season with greater resilience, awareness, and ease.

During the month of October, follow Teen Yoga on social media to explore Vata-balancing practices to help young people thrive this autumn.

With thanks to Stefanie Levine; Houston, Texas (United States), Ayurvedic Wellness Educator; Teen Yoga Specialist; Holistic Interior Designer; & Artist/Author

WHY TEEN YOGA?

We have created two resources that are likely to be useful to people who wish to talk about the benefits of yoga (for example to schools).

Download the presentation we used in Parliament in Ocotber 2022:
Teen Yoga Cost-effective Policy Presentation Oct 22

Download the benefits and cost-effectiveness of yoga document we created
Teen Yoga Rationale for Yoga in Schools Oct 22

Please let us know if you have any questions/suggestions.

LINKS & RESOURCES FOR OCTOBER

Class: Grounding Through Vata Season

This practice sequence is designed for teens to use at home, once they have learned it in a yoga class. It takes roughly twenty minutes and is best practised somewhere warm and quiet, on a mat or carpet, with a cushion or folded blanket nearby and a clear stretch of wall for the tenth practice. Where September built energy and rhythm, this month turns inward. It’s slower, warmer, and more restorative — a settling-down practice for a settling-down season. The guiding idea throughout is sthira sukham asanam: hold every shape with both steadiness and ease.

Before You Begin

Vata season is cold, dry, light, and mobile — so the antidotes are warmth, nourishment, weight, and slowness. Set the room up to be cosy: warm enough, soft light, a blanket within reach. Then give yourself permission to move slowly. This is not a practice to power through; it’s a practice to sink into.

  • Move slowly and stay warm. Keep a layer on, and let each pose be unhurried. Rushing and chill both aggravate Vata; warmth and slowness settle it.
  • Find sthira and sukha in every pose — steadiness and ease together. If a shape feels rigid or strained, soften it; if it feels floppy or vague, find a little more support. Balance is the practice.
  • Breathe slowly through the nose throughout, letting the belly stay soft and full. A deep, low breath is deeply grounding.
  • Use props generously — cushions, blankets, books. Being well supported isn’t cheating; for a restorative practice, it’s the whole point.
  • Skip or soften anything that doesn’t feel right today, and if you have a current injury or health condition, check with a teacher or healthcare professional first.

The Sequence

Twelve simple practices, moving from a grounded, rooting arrival, through gentle warming movement, into deeply supported restorative shapes and rest. The whole arc leans downward and inward — towards the earth, towards stillness, towards the steady roots that let you meet a changeable season without being blown about by it.

1. Rooted Easy Seat  (Sukhāsana)

Hold: 2 minutes

How to come into it. Sit cross-legged on a cushion so the hips are higher than the knees. Let the sitting bones feel heavy, as if they’re sinking roots down into the floor. Rest the hands on the thighs, spine long, shoulders soft. Close the eyes. Breathe low and slow into the belly — in for a count of four, out for a count of six — and feel the whole base of you settling and growing heavier with each breath.

Autumn is nature turning inward, and so is this. Close the eyes, come home to yourself, and feel where you meet the ground.

Why this pose, this season. Vata is light and mobile, so it settles when it feels weight, warmth, and ground. Beginning low and heavy with a slow belly breath immediately draws the energy downward and inward — the opposite qualities Ayurveda uses to balance an airy, restless season.

2. Cat–Cow  (Marjāryāsana / Bitilāsana)

Hold: 1–2 minutes

How to come into it. Come onto hands and knees. Inhale: drop the belly, lift the chest and tailbone (Cow). Exhale: round the spine, tuck the chin (Cat). Move slowly with the breath — about ten gentle cycles — letting the movement be smooth and warming rather than big or effortful.

Warm the body gently, the way you’d warm cold hands — slowly, kindly, without any hurry.

Why this pose, this season. Cold and stiffness are classic Vata qualities, and a little gentle movement generates the warmth that counters them. This soft, fluid warm-up frees the spine and wakes the body just enough to settle comfortably into the stiller shapes that follow.

3. Thread the Needle  (Parsva Balāsana)

Hold: 1 minute each side

How to come into it. From hands and knees, slide the right arm underneath the left, palm up, until the right shoulder and ear rest on the mat. Let the hips stay high over the knees. Breathe into the back of the right shoulder. Press gently through the left hand to come out, and switch sides.

Let the shoulders, where we carry so much, soften and release. There’s a lot you’re allowed to put down.

Why this pose, this season. Teens carry tension high in the neck and shoulders, and Vata’s restlessness tightens it further. This gentle, supported twist releases exactly that area while keeping the head low and the mind quiet — turning the attention inward as the season asks.

4. Child’s Pose  (Balāsana)

Hold: 2 minutes

How to come into it. Bring the big toes together and let the knees widen. Sink the hips back towards the heels and walk the hands forward, resting the forehead on the mat, on stacked fists, or on a cushion. Let the whole back body soften and breathe slowly into the back of the ribs. For extra warmth and support, drape a blanket over your back.

Curled towards the earth, forehead resting down — this is the body’s way of saying enough for now. Stay as long as you like.

Why this pose, this season. Child’s Pose is the great grounding, inward-turning shape — a favourite of the season and one the article names directly. Folding small and low quietens an overwhelmed mind and gives a restless Vata system the sense of safety and containment it craves.

5. Low Lunge  (Añjaneyāsana)

Hold: 1 minute each side

How to come into it. From hands and knees, step the right foot forward between the hands and lower the left knee to the mat (pad it with a blanket if it’s tender). Rest the hands on the front thigh and let the hips sink gently forward and down. Lift softly through the chest and breathe. Switch sides.

Feel yourself long and open at the front, grounded and heavy at the back knee. Steady below, at ease above.

Why this pose, this season. A warming hip-opener that keeps you low and connected to the floor. Hips are a storehouse for Vata’s restless tension, and opening them gently — while the back knee grounds down — builds warmth and stability together, a clear picture of sthira and sukha in one shape.

6. Standing Forward Fold  (Uttānāsana)

Hold: 1 minute

How to come into it. Roll up to standing, feet hip-distance apart. Bend the knees generously and fold over the thighs. Catch opposite elbows and let the head and neck hang completely heavy. Be still, or sway a little, and breathe slowly.

Let the head hang and the busy thoughts pour downward. As the days shorten, it’s natural — even healthy — to quieten down.

Why this pose, this season. Bringing the head below the heart calms the nervous system and turns the attention inward, matching autumn’s own slowing-down. Folding forward is settling and containing — the antidote to the scattered, expansive quality that Vata brings to a busy mind.

7. Tree Pose  (Vrksāsana)

Hold: 1 minute each side

How to come into it. Ground down through the left foot, spreading the toes and feeling all four corners press into the earth. Find a steady spot to gaze at. Place the right foot on the inner left ankle, calf, or thigh — never the knee. Palms together at the heart, or arms up like branches. Breathe, wobble, rebalance. Switch sides.

Roots down, standing tall, swaying a little and staying up anyway. This is what steadiness actually looks like — not rigid, just rooted.

Why this pose, this season. This month is about finding our roots, and Tree is that lesson in a single pose: press down to stay up. The small wobbles teach that steadiness isn’t rigidity — it’s the constant, easy re-rooting of sthira and sukha working together, exactly the resilience a changeable season calls for.

8. Seated Forward Fold  (Paschimottānāsana)

Hold: 1–2 minutes

How to come into it. Sit with the legs out in front, a slight bend in the knees, a cushion under the hips if it helps. Inhale tall, then hinge forward from the hips, letting the head and neck go heavy. Rest your hands wherever they reach. There’s no need to touch the toes — fold to a comfortable edge and stay, breathing slowly.

No reaching, no striving — just folding gently inward and letting the breath do the rest. Ease is as much the goal as effort.

Why this pose, this season. A long, quiet seated fold is deeply calming and turns the mind inward, soothing Vata’s restlessness. Holding it softly, with no push to reach further, is sukha (ease) balancing sthira (steadiness) — the very lesson of Yoga Sutra 2.46.

9. Supported Butterfly  (Supta Baddha Konāsana)

Hold: 3 minutes

How to come into it. Lie back over a cushion or bolster placed lengthways along your spine, so the chest is gently lifted and open. Bring the soles of the feet together and let the knees fall wide, sliding a cushion or block under each knee so the hips can fully relax. Rest the arms open, palms up. There should be no stretch — only support. Let yourself be held and breathe slowly.

Held, open, and warm — nothing being asked of you. Let the floor and the cushions carry your weight for a while.

Why this pose, this season. One of the season’s signature restorative poses, named in the article. Fully supporting the body while gently opening the chest and hips releases deep tension and switches on the rest-and-digest state — precisely the warm, nourishing, held quality that balances cold, ungrounded Vata.

10. Legs Up the Wall  (Viparīta Karaṇī)

Hold: 4 minutes

How to come into it. Sit sideways against a wall, then swivel to swing the legs up it as you lie back, so the body makes an L-shape. Rest the arms by the sides, or one hand on the heart and one on the belly. A folded blanket under the hips is lovely, and a blanket over you keeps you warm. Let the legs be completely passive and the breath slow.

Let the whole day drain down and out of your legs. There is nothing to do here but be held by the wall and the floor.

Why this pose, this season. If Vata season had one signature pose, this gentle inversion is it — the article names it too. It rests the legs and heart and reliably settles an over-active nervous system, easing the restlessness, overwhelm, and trouble sleeping that too much Vata can bring. Many teens use it on its own before bed.

11. Reclined Twist  (Supta Matsyendrāsana)

Hold: 1 minute each side

How to come into it. Come away from the wall and lie on your back. Hug the knees into the chest, then let them drop gently to the right as you turn the head to the left. Rest the arms wide, palms up. Let gravity do all the work — no effort, no force. Breathe into the belly, then float the knees back through centre and switch sides.

A slow, easy unwinding at the end of the day. Let the spine release what it’s been holding and settle towards stillness.

Why this pose, this season. A passive, supported twist gently releases the spine and belly and helps the body transition towards deep rest. Keeping it completely effortless — letting gravity carry the legs — is ease in its purest form, calming rather than stimulating a Vata-heavy system.

12. Final Rest with a Rooting Body Scan  (Śavāsana)

Hold: 4 minutes

How to come into it. Lie flat on the back, legs comfortably wide, arms a little away from the body, palms up. Cover yourself with a blanket — warmth matters here. Let the breath settle into an easy rhythm. Then travel slowly down through the body — head, shoulders, back, hips, legs, heels — and at each stop, let that part grow heavier and sink a little more firmly into the floor, as if putting down roots. Feel the whole length of you held and supported by the earth beneath you.

Held, heavy, warm, and completely supported. You don’t have to hold yourself up right now — the earth has you.

Why this pose, this season. Ending flat, warm, and fully supported gives a light, mobile Vata system the grounding and containment it most needs, sealing in the practice’s steadiness. The rooting body scan turns rest into an active experience of sthira and sukha — steady and at ease, held by the ground.

Carrying the Practice Into the Week

If you only have five minutes on a cold, over-full day, do three things in this order: Rooted Easy Seat with a slow belly breath (one minute), Child’s Pose with a blanket over your back (two minutes), and Legs Up the Wall (two minutes). That’s a complete grounding — warm, low, and held.

Then take the theme off the mat with small, Vata-balancing anchors. Ayurveda’s autumn advice is simple and cosy: favour warm, cooked, nourishing food over cold and raw; keep warm and get to bed at a steady, reasonable hour; make a little time outdoors and a little time for quiet or creativity each day; and go gently on the stimulation — the endless scrolling, late nights, and over-scheduling that stir Vata up. Think warmth, weight, routine, and rest. And remember sthira sukham asanam off the mat too: look for the places in your week that are all effort and no ease, or all drift and no structure, and gently bring in the missing half.

Sthira: find your roots and your steadiness. Sukha: hold it all with ease, not strain. Against a cold, restless season, choose warmth, weight, and rest — a little, often.

A note for parents and teachers

Vata season can quietly unsettle teens — the shorter, darker days and the accumulating demands of term often show up as restlessness, tiredness, trouble sleeping, or feeling scattered and low. The most supportive things an adult can offer are warm and ordinary: regular warm meals, a cosy and predictable wind-down before bed, and unhurried pockets of calm at home. Grounding is contagious — a steady, unrushed adult, and a home that feels warm and safe, give a young person solid roots to settle into while the season turns.

Meditation – The Resting Seed

Time: 6 minutes.

Best used: At the end of a long day, before sleep, or any time you feel scattered, overwhelmed, or worn thin by everything going on.

Lie down or sit somewhere comfortable and warm, a blanket over you if you like. Let the body feel heavy and supported. Close the eyes.

Take three slow breaths, letting each exhale be longer than the inhale, and feel yourself sink a little more with each one.

Picture yourself as a seed, resting deep in the dark, warm earth. Above the ground it’s autumn — cold wind, falling leaves, the light fading earlier each day. But down here, where you are, it’s still and warm and safe. None of that weather can reach you.

Feel the earth all around you, holding you on every side. You don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to grow, or perform, or figure anything out. This is a season for resting, not for pushing. In nature, the seed that rests through autumn and winter is not lazy — it’s gathering everything it needs. Let yourself simply be held, and gathering.

Rest here in the quiet dark for a few slow breaths. Notice that you can be completely still — steady, unmoving, rooted — and completely at ease at the same time. Nothing tense, nothing forced. This is sthira and sukha: steadiness and ease, together. You don’t have to choose between them.

If worries about tomorrow drift in — all the things to do, to finish, to face — let them stay up above the ground with the wind. They’ll still be there later. For now, you are the seed, resting in the warm earth, and that is exactly enough.

Take one more slow breath in the quiet. Know that rest like this isn’t time wasted — it’s roots growing. When you’re ready, let your breath deepen, wiggle your fingers and toes, and slowly open the eyes, carrying a little of that warm, settled stillness with you.

A seed in the dark earth isn’t falling behind — it’s getting ready. Rest is not the opposite of growing. Sometimes it’s where growing quietly begins.

Why this works. Autumn is nature turning inward, and this meditation lets a teen do the same — countering the cultural message that they should always be doing more. The warm-earth image directly supplies Vata’s missing qualities (warmth, weight, containment, stillness), and experiencing steadiness and ease at once makes the abstract idea of sthira sukham asanam something the body can actually feel.

Breathing: Three-part Breath

Sanskrit: Dīrgha Prāṇāyāma

Time: 5 minutes (around 10–12 slow breaths).

Best used: When you feel anxious, scattered, or wired, before sleep, or any time you want to feel more grounded and present in your body.

This is the most grounding breath there is — a slow, full, three-part breath (also called Complete Breath) that fills you from the belly up and settles you right back down into your body. It’s the perfect foundation for autumn, and it makes the alternate-nostril and humming-bee breaths (mentioned in this month’s article) easier too. Lie down with a hand on the belly and a hand on the chest, or sit comfortably with the spine long.

Take a couple of natural breaths first, then build the breath in three unhurried steps.

  • Part one — the belly. Breathe in slowly through the nose and send the breath low, letting the belly rise under your lower hand like a balloon gently filling. Exhale and feel it fall. Do this a few times until it feels easy.
  • Part two — the ribs. Now breathe into the belly and then let the breath keep rising to expand the ribs out to the sides. Exhale from ribs, then belly.
  • Part three — the chest. Finally, breathe into the belly, then the ribs, then let the breath rise into the upper chest under your top hand. Then exhale slowly in reverse: chest softens, ribs draw in, belly falls.
  • Now put it together: one smooth, slow wave — belly, ribs, chest on the way in; chest, ribs, belly on the way out. Continue for around ten to twelve breaths, keeping it gentle and unforced.

Let the breath return to normal and rest for a few seconds. Notice the heaviness and quiet it leaves behind — that settled, grounded feeling is the whole point.

Fill yourself slowly from the ground up, then let it all go. A full, low, unhurried breath is like weight in the body — it’s the fastest way to feel grounded when everything feels light and scattered.

Why this works. Slow, full breathing directly calms the nervous system and pulls a racing mind back into the body and the present moment. Deep belly-led breathing is especially grounding for Vata, whose shallow, quick, upper-chest breathing mirrors an anxious, scattered state — so lengthening and lowering the breath steadies both body and mind at once.

A note of care. Keep it gentle and never strain for more air; if you feel light-headed, return to normal breathing for a while. Best done lying down when you’re learning it.

If you only have one minute. Three or four slow, full breaths — belly, ribs, chest on the way in; chest, ribs, belly on the way out — with a hand on the belly to feel it rise. Enough to drop back into your body.

Reflection – The Grounding Pages

Time: 10 minutes (or 3 minutes if you write only one prompt).

Best used: At the start or end of the week, on a dark evening in, or any time you feel scattered, overwhelmed, or pulled in too many directions.

This is a short writing practice rooted in the ideas from the article above: sthira sukham asanam (steadiness and ease, together) and the Ayurvedic wisdom of balancing a cold, restless, over-stimulated season with its opposites — warmth, nourishment, quiet, and roots. One prompt helps you turn inward, one finds the missing half of your balance, and one names the roots you can lean on.

Find a notebook or open a fresh page. No phone. Set a timer for ten minutes. Don’t edit as you go — let the writing be a little messy and honest.

Three prompts

Prompt 1 — Turning inward. The days are getting shorter and nature is slowing down. Where in your life could you slow down too? Write about one place you feel over-stretched, over-stimulated, or scattered right now — too many late nights, too much scrolling, too much on. What would it feel like to give yourself a little less, and a little more quiet, there?

Prompt 2 — Steadiness and ease (sthira & sukha). Look at your week honestly. Where is it all effort and no ease — rigid, pushing, joyless? And where is it all drift and no structure — vague, aimless, ungrounded? Pick one of each, and write down one small thing that would bring in the missing half: a bit of ease where you’re straining, or a bit of steadiness where you’re drifting.

Prompt 3 — Your roots. When everything feels changeable, what steadies you? Write down the warm, nourishing, grounding things that help you feel like yourself — certain people, a cosy routine, a place, a food, a comfort, a creative thing you love. Choose one to lean into a little more this month, and write down when you’ll make time for it.

You don’t steady yourself by gripping harder against the change. You do it by turning inward, warming up, and remembering the few deep roots that hold you — then choosing, again and again, to return to them.

Why this works. Naming where you’re over-stretched builds the self-awareness to notice Vata tipping into overwhelm before it takes over. Looking for the missing half of steadiness-and-ease turns sthira sukham asanam into a practical life tool rather than a mat-only idea. And writing down concrete sources of warmth and grounding makes the season’s abstract advice — balance with opposite qualities — into something a teen can actually reach for.

FUNDRAISING

I bought some meditation cushions yesterday.

I have a little button, a ”widget”, in my web browser from an organisation called Give as you Live.

Before buying the cushions I clicked on the button, then carried on as normal.

Later I received a message saying, “you have raised £2.21 for the Teen Yoga Foundation”. It was that easy.

Over 2000 people see this page each month, if you all clicked it would quickly add up!

As Christmas comes you may be making online purchases, if you set up the Give as you Live button, then the places you buy from will make donations (the percentage varies) to us.

All you have to do is click on the button! We would really appreciate it, as every donation helps!

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED…

You first need to sign-up on the ‘Give as you Live’ website. Choose Teen Yoga Foundation as your chosen charity.  Then, you just need to enter a few details about yourself and you’re all set to start raising free funds!

Once you’ve signed-up, download the Donation Reminder “widget” to your browser.  When you visit a participating online store (there are thousands),you click on the widget and it asks if you want a percentage of your purchase to raise money for us.  You click ‘yes’ and shop as you normally would.

You won’t typically see anything different on the store’s website, but as long as you’ve clicked on the widget, they’ll know you’re a ‘Give As You Live’ online shopper.

And that’s it!  They will email you to let you know how much has been raised.

Why not try it now? Sign-up on the ‘Give as you Live’ website 

Inspiration from our blog…

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