Tree pose
How to Do Tree Pose in Yoga
If you’ve ever tripped off a curb or slipped on a patch of ice, you probably understand the benefit of having a good sense of balance. Practicing balancing poses in yoga, such as Tree Pose, will help you gain both physical and mental steadiness and poise.
Tree Pose improves focus and concentration while calming your mind. Its Sanskrit name, “Vrksasana” (vrik-SHAH-suh-nuh), comes from two words:
• “Vrksa,” which means “tree”
• “Asana,” which means “pose”
The word “asana” can also be translated as “seat.” Many of the original ancient yoga poses were seated postures. As the practiced developed, standing poses were introduced, but the seated, meditative aspect still remained.
Tree Pose, with its calming and meditative benefits, is like a standing variation of a seated meditation posture. Keeping calm and focused while balancing on one foot will teach you to sway gently like a tree in the wind, steady and sure no matter what the outside circumstances may be.
Instructions
1. Begin standing in Mountain Pose (Tadasana), with your arms at your sides. Distribute your weight evenly across both feet, grounding down equally through your inner ankles, outer ankles, big toes, and baby toes.
2. Shift your weight to your left foot. Bend your right knee, then reach down and clasp your right inner ankle. Use your hand to draw your right foot alongside your inner left thigh. Do not rest your foot against your knee, only above or below it. Adjust your position so the center of your pelvis is directly over your left foot. Then, adjust your hips so your right hip and left hip are aligned.
3. Rest your hands on your hips and lengthen your tailbone toward the floor. Then, press your palms together in prayer position at your chest, with your thumbs resting on your sternum.
4. Fix your gaze gently on one, unmoving point in front of you.
5. Draw down through your left foot. Press your right foot into your left thigh, while pressing your thigh equally against your foot.
6. Inhale as you extend your arms overhead, reaching your fingertips to the sky. Rotate your palms inward to face each other. If your shoulders are more flexible, you can press your palms together in prayer position, overhead.
7. Hold for up to one minute. To release the pose, step back into Mountain Pose. Repeat for the same amount of time on the opposite side.
Tips
In order to fully gain the meditative benefits of Tree Pose, it’s important to stay grounded and calm in the pose, while still maintaining alignment. Here are a couple of tips to help you stand up as tall as a tree:
•
Take your time. As with any balancing pose, it’s often easier to come into the pose slowly and with awareness. If you enter the pose
quickly, you are more likely to lose your balance, which makes it more difficult to re-gain your balance once it’s been lost.
• Mountain Pose (Tadasana) provides the structural foundation for Tree Pose. Thoroughly review the instructions for Mountain Pose before practicing Tree Pose.
• Work the pose from the ground up. Balance your weight entirely across your standing foot — across the inner and outer ankles, big toe and baby toe.
Then, bring your awareness to the shin, calf, and thigh of your standing leg. Find alignment in your hips, tailbone, pelvis, and belly; and then in your collarbones, shoulder blades, arms, and neck. Extend the pose through the crown of your head. When you are ready, you can then raise your arms overhead.
• Never rest the foot of your raised leg directly on your knee or at the side of your knee joint!
• To help with balancing, bring your awareness to the center line of your body — the vertical line that runs directly through the center of your head, neck, and torso.
• Although regular practice of Tree Pose will tone the abdominal muscles, weaker abdominal muscles can make it difficult to balance. Add extra core-strengthening work into your practice to help with balancing (and with the rest of your standing poses!). Some examples of core-toning poses are Boat Pose (Navasana) and Plank Pose (Kumbhakasana).