Yoga Pose of the Month - Tree Posture; Vrksasana

I thought I'd introduce The Pose of the Month... Over the next coming months I will introduce a new posture to you to help enhance and deepen your Yoga practice. I'll tell you about the posture, the benefits and then how to practice the posture.

So let's begin, since we are coming into Spring I've been doing some gardening and planting seeds etc when I thought I would start off with the Tree posture - Vrksasana, since the trees will soon start to blossom and bloom...

Tree Pose - Vrksasana
The Tree Pose is a standing balancing pose. If you think about a tree, its roots provide the foundation and stability for the trunk or its body and branches, so your feet and legs are your roots and provide the support for your upper body to stand tall with strength and poise. Your feet are your foundation, so with all standing postures you need to make sure your foundation is strong, so with Tree you are standing on one leg, so it is your one-foot that you ground and build upon. Aim to achieve a grounded and firmness of a tree. Just as a tree uses it roots for stability; you ground the energy down through the foot like a tree. The challenge for some may be maintaining balance on one leg - this however improves with practice. Poor balance is often the result of a restless mind or distracted attention. The balancing postures reveal your state of mind; some days your balance is good and others it is poor, this depends on what you are going through in your life. If you are distracted and one thought is jumping to the next, the balance will be harder. Some days you are stressed and your mind is overactive and this will reflect in your yoga practice and maybe need more support, like a wall to achieve the posture like the Tree. This is ok, try not to judge yourself, but think I am a growing tree that needs a stick as a support for strength and metaphorically your stick is a wall that you can use to help your balance into the posture. As you use the wall for support this also build confidence so that you start to not hold the wall and stand tall and balanced alone in the Tree posture. Regular practice of this posture will help focus the mind, it builds calmness and stillness as you hold the posture and lengthens and strengthens the body. Regular practice of the Tree, Vrksasana improves concentration, balance and coordination. Because the weight of the entire body is balanced on one foot, the muscles of that leg are strengthened and toned as well.
As you advance in this posture and are able to remain standing for more than a few moments, try closing the eyes and maintaining your balance.

Benefits of the Tree, Vrksasana include:

· Improves sense of balance and co-ordination

· Tones and strengthens abdominal muscles and your core

· Opens hip area

· Strengthens thighs, calves, ankles, and spine

· Increases and improves concentration

· Improves focus, confidence and stillness



How to do the Tree, Vrksasana:


1. Stand with the feet together and the arms by your sides. Ground your feet into the floor, lift the toes and spread them wide to create your balancing foot of the standing balancing leg. Bend the right leg at the knee, and bring the sole of the right foot to either the calf muscles, the arch of the foot across the inside of the knee or the foot to the inside of the thigh, pushing into the groin area as pictured or to half lotus position as pictured.

2. Find you balance by focusing the eyes and the mind on something that is not moving in front of you, it is easier to start with the foot lower down the leg, if you have good balance then take the foot higher.

3. When you have your balance bring your hands into prayer position in front of your heart and keeping the focal point and balance, you can raise your arms over the head into prayer position. Hold the posture while breathing gently through the nostrils for about 5-10 breaths.

4. Lower the arms and right leg and return to the tadasana the mountain posture or standing position with feet together and arms at the sides. Pause for a few moments and repeat on the opposite leg.

I hope you enjoy practising your Tree Posture and grow and strengthen from your inner being.

Om shanti, Michelle
http://www.yogarelax.co.uk