How to Do a Tree Pose (Vrksasana) | Yoga

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So coming to a standing balancing posture, this is called tree, or versashna. So you’re going to take your right foot intently into the ground, and just come on to the tiptoes of your left foot, so you can feel the weight transfer from both to just one. And you'll take your left knee and hover it, and you can grab onto it. And then take the knee, open it like a gate, and you'll see. So maybe for you, you can just grab it here, open it like a gate. The best place would be to come to the shin bone or to the ankle. You just want to, as a rule, avoid the knee joint in this pose, or pressing into the knee joint, so it's alright above the knee joint or below.

So we'll bring it above, for now, and then kick the heel in towards the thigh, but the thigh also back in towards the heel. So you feel two forms of force coming back in towards each other. And that will allow you to squeeze in toward your mid line, as we call it or just the center. Use your hands at prayer to start, if that helps you find your mid line. So raise your elbows up, relax your shoulders down, and think about the muscles of the chest wrapping around the hands, and the belly wrapping around the hands. So it allows you this little bubble of force to help you balance.

Not your ankle at balance, you might feel your ankle tracking, but it is your belly squeezing in toward the self, towards mid line that helps you balance. Drifting is another tool, so it is your gaze forward ahead that will help you balance, so take three strong breaths there. And another important point, so if you feel like your hip is opening out to the side, because the hip bones point forward. But the knee can open off to the side, right. So the hip bones, think about them interjectly coming together, but the knee can open off to the side. So to come out you close the gate, and then set the foot down to the floor. And that's a tree pose.