Yoga: Balancing act
It’s an iconic yoga posture, yet remaining stable in tree pose takes a bit of work. Find out how it’s done
I love this time of year. Although winter is just around the corner, when the skies are clear, the air has a wonderful crispness about it. And as the sun pours down onto swathes of russet and golden leaves, they seem to emit their own special glow. Of course, it won’t be long before the trees are completely bare and, for the next few months, we’ll have a constant reminder of how they balance stability and expansiveness, a connection to earth and sky. If you’d like to feel more grounded and open, it’s time to nurture your inner tree.
Here’s how:
1) Stand with your feet together and take a few slow breaths to center yourself and quieten your mind.
2) When you are ready, take a deep breath in and, on an exhale, shift your weight so it’s centered over your left leg, knee, and hip stacked over the foot. Grasp your right ankle, placing the sole of your right foot as high as possible on your inner left thigh, toes pointing to the floor.
3) Continue breathing deeply as you spread the toes of your left leg, rooting through the big and little toes and heel, and lifting your arch.
4) Draw in your abdominal muscles and let your tailbone release towards the floor, so your sacrum is flattened. Keeping your hips squared to the front, take your right knee out to the side and bring your hands together in prayer position.
5) Rest your eyes on a fixed point in the distance to help you balance, and let your mind and breathing become still. Allow your weight to release through your left leg and foot, yielding into the ground, as you feel a corresponding lift upwards through the body.
6) On the next inhale, draw your shoulder blades down your back as you slowly extend your arms overhead, palms together or fingers interlaced and hands inverted, elbows close to your ears.
7) Continue grounding through your left leg, releasing your coccyx downwards and opening your right hip out to the side as you extend your spine upwards from the waist to lift the side ribs.
8) Finding a balance between steadiness and ease, breathe calmly and evenly in the pose for up to two minutes.
9) On an exhale and with control, slowly lower your arms and release your right leg to return to standing.
10) Pause for a few moments to absorb your experience, then repeat on the other side.
Still wobbling now and then?
Try these tips:
* Fixing your gaze on a point ahead of you will quieten your mind as well as your body.
* Once your raised leg is in position, keep hold of your ankle until you feel completely steady. Don’t let this take the place of engaging your thigh muscles, though. When you’re ready to raise your hands, consciously activate your inner thighs and extend the sole of your raised foot into your supporting leg.
* Try various arm options and notice the effect on your balance and spinal extension – hands in prayer at your heart or over your head; extended arms parallel; ‘V’ shape or fingers interlaced with palms facing the ceiling.
* The correct alignment will help you feel steady in the pose. To work with refining your alignment rest your raised knee against a wall. Don’t stand too close, however, or it might interfere with your hip placement and throw your spine out.
* Using your breath can help you maintain stillness in the final pose. Let your attention to turn inward as you focus on slowing your breath, allowing it to sink deep into your abdomen and filling your chest on an inhale, before slowly releasing any tension on the exhale.
Tree pose can be wonderfully calming, helping balance both your body and mind, and giving you a greater feeling of connection to the earth. In fact, I feel a sense of stillness just writing about it! I think I’ll go and do a tree pose now.
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