After looking at Vrkasana earlier this month, here’s a little video on how to keep your balance. I kind of made it at the last minute, as you can tell from the fact that it’s filmed at the bottom of the stairs with our antique central heating system clanking in the background. But the prinicple remains the same right?!!
Oh and is that Himself’s collection of whisky miniatures in the background I see there, collected from hotels he has stayed in for work? How wildly inappropriate!
Tree pose – probably the most ubiquitous of balances in the yoga studio – I know I’m guilty of slotting it in to one too many classes! Like Trikonasana it appears right from the beginning of your yoga journey and is often thought of as a “beginner’s” pose (whatever that means, we’re all beginners in my eyes), but it can be difficult for both newbie and long-term practitioner alike.
Like all balances Vrkasana helps to develop and maintain mental and physical equilibrium. Like all balances it can also help to develop and maintain an endless feeling of frustration! One day it all clicks, you get it and suddenly you’re balancing. Hurrah, you think, I’ve knocked this Vrkasana thing on the head once and for all.
And then you turn up to class the next week and it’s just not happening again.
Balances depend on your mood, your stress levels, how tired you are, the phases of the moon. It’s a bit like baking really. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
The trick is focus and slowness.
Stand in Tadasana, feel those four corners of the feet grounding down, place the hands on the hips. Then slowly bring the weight into the right foot lifting the left leg and drawing the left knee towards the chest.
Focus on a point on the wall or floor, breathe and open the left knee out to the side placing the left foot on the inside of the right thigh. Slowly bring the hands into prayer position.
If it’s a good day you can raise the arms up. I prefer to keep the hands at least shoulder width apart to release through the shoulders, rather than the more traditional way of keeping the hands in prayer above the head.
For beginners, pregnant students + bad balancing days you can place that foot on the inside of the calf rather than the thigh.
Or even on the ankle with the toes on the floor for added balance.
It’s still Vrkasana – breathe and focus. It’s all yoga!
Everyone knows Downward Facing Dog – it’s one of the first asanas you learn in yoga class and is probably one of the most widely known, widely used postures. It opens up the backs of the legs and the chest and shoulders. It brings strength to the upper body and you can’t help but draw in the abdomen while you’re there. It is an inversion so it can help to calm the brain and reduce stress and some women (me included) find it very helpful for period pain.
However it can also bring a whole heap of stress into the rotator cuff muscles in the shoulders and many people (Lisa I’m looking at you!) really don’t like it.
I love it myself, but I didn’t used to. It wasn’t until I made some major changes to the posture that I learned to love just hanging there.
Warning: I am about to break one of the big “alignment rules” – I don’t care, but Iyengar enthusiasts might want to avert their eyes now!
The shoulder is a complicated joint and everybody’s work in slightly different ways. Some people have one shoulder that works one way and one that works another.
Traditionally, Downward Dog is taught with the hands about shoulder width apart and the index fingers pointing forward. That never really did it for me. My shoulders felt tight, my rotator cuffs horribly contracted, my shoulderblades sticking out.
And so I moved my hands to mat width apart and turned them outwards…
…and suddenly my shoulders opened, my chest moved further towards my thighs and my calves released. Wow!
It doesn’t work for everyone, but give it a go, see what happens, play around with the posititions of your hands and feet.
Yoga can become too restricted sometimes, too alignment focussed, too concerned with getting things “right”, but to me it’s just a ton of beautiful bodies doing their many varied beautiful things and every asana should feel playful, and only right in that it is right for you.
punk rock yogini, teacher, writer, massage therapist , general sprinkler of fairy dust with a love for all things glitter, cupcakes, kittens, pugs and Dave Grohl
I am a BWY registered yoga teacher, but only you truly know your body. If you try out any of the yoga sequences in this blog and they don't feel right for you please stop! Please do consult a doctor before starting any new exercise regimes, especially if you have pre-existing injuries or illnesses.
