| Pose of the Month: Tree Pose (Vrksasana) |
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| Clara Simper | |||
| Tuesday, 01 November 2005 | |||
 Tried balancing on one leg recently? Standing in tree pose for even one minute is challenging for balance and concentration. Children can balance in this pose by the age of 5, but adults neglect balance and this pose can prove trying. Place your hands on your hips and feel for whether lifting your right leg has tilted your pelvis. This tilting may affect your ability to balance. As much as is possible, drop the right side of your pelvis so that it is in a neutral position, and your hips are level. Find a point to gaze on straight in front of you. Press your hands together in front of your heart in prayer position, or Namaste. If you are very still and balanced, on an inhalation, stretch your arms overhead, lifting the sides of the body. Keep the palms facing each other, shoulder distance apart or touching as in the picture. Explore your balance further by closing your eyes and probing your body's sense of itself in space. Do not hold your breath when you are focusing on balancing in the pose. If you are new to this pose bring your foot much lower on your left leg, even simply pressing your foot into your left shin. Practice balancing like this to start and as you feel more confident in the pose, over time, raise your foot a little higher. Perhaps even start out practicing against a wall. To come out of the pose simply lower your right foot and move straight on to the left side. When I practice this pose I like to imagine my body as the actual image of a tree. As my feet press down into the floor my toes become knobbley roots grounding into the earth. The legs and torso grow and lengthen as the strong long trunk of the tree. My arms extend to the sky like the tree's leaved branches. I sway. Balance in life for most of us is a work in progress. It requires constant tweaking and refining. Tree Pose explores the physical balance that is created by focusing on just this pose in this moment. Come into this pose and experience how your body is constantly shifting even as you try to be still; seek stillness within this constant movement. Observe a tree on a calm day and observe the small movements amongst its branches. Harmonious living springs partly from your ability to be fully present and do one thing at a time and do it completely. As you practice Tree Pose explore your relationship to balance both physically and mindfully. Experience your tree swaying in the wind but keep seeking to root into the earth right now. Namaste
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