Tree Pose

Vriksasana


Spring Awakening!


Stand with your feet just a hip-width apart and balance your weight so you are resting on the back of your heels while the bases of your big front toes are pressing down into your mat. Imagine your feet are growing roots right into the ground beneath you. Rest the weight equally on both your feet and then shift slightly to the left, raising your right foot and placing it as high as it can go on the inside of your left thigh, with the centre of your pelvis balancing over the left foot. Now take your arms and stretch them high above your head, as though they were the uppermost branches of the tallest tree you have ever seen.... Lift your chest up as well, and your trunk and your lower ribs and your waist and stretch as high as you can possibly reach and then reach even higher still. Press your palms together above your head and point your fingers skyward, as though the base of each of your fingers were twined together, and then begin to bring them down slowly in a prayer position, past your forehead, your nose your lips your neck and finally to rest at the centre of your chest.... Now clasp your fingers together and hug your right knee tight to your chest, and very slowly and deliberately, let your right foot return to the ground below so it can send roots down deep under the surface.