By: Liliya Vafina
This article celebrates a great blog-wide event that includes 122 bloggers around the world writing about a different yoga pose every day of this month. It’s a so called Yoga Pose May Challenge and we at My Happy Me (MHM) are honored to be a part of it. The initiative belongs to Tina and Kate and the intention is to share the joy yoga brings into our lives with our readers, and, hopefully, motivate our readers to try the poses, realize the power of yoga for themselves, adopt the practice and cherish the benefits. As they say, the world would be a better place if everybody did yoga! 
Before I go on about Tree Pose that we at MHM were assigned, I want to explain what yoga means to me. To me, yoga is an inner workout first and foremost, and only then a physical one. Benefits that include toned body and sexy yoga booty (as one yogi friend puts it) plus numerous health benefits are enough of an incentive to commit to yoga forever, but wait to discover deeper levels and you will not only be committed, but addicted to yoga forever. You will see
The correct form is important in yoga so here are the steps you need to do the Tree right. There are variations of this pose. I am most used to it in the context of Bikram yoga where it is called Tadasana.
-
Stand feet together
-
Shift your weight onto the left foot and really root your left foot into the ground, spread your fingers to really grab the floor
-
Pick up your right foot and bend your knee so that the sole of your foot faces the sky
-
Bring the right foot to the left thigh as high as you can
-
Lock the left leg
-
Push the right knee back
-
Keep your hips straight, check in the mirror to make sure your hips and pelvis are even
-
Bring your right hand into prayer, then if the right foot stays on the hip and doesn’t slip, bring your left hand into prayer
-
Really straighten your body and try to reach up with the crown of your head as high as you can, try to reach the sky, shoulders relaxed, chest proud
-
Hold the posture for 1 minute and then repeat on the other side
As I correct my form and concentrate on stretching and ‘touching the ceiling ’, I feel deeply rooted and stable as if no wind can shake or move me from my spot on the mat. I am also assured that nothing can shake and throw me off my balance in life outside of this mat. I feel warmth scattering through my body, relaxing and energizing at the same time. Just as a tree captures energy from the sun, I feel like I capture energy in this pose. I store it in every cell of my body for later use. In Birkam classes, Tree is the last standing pose after which comes long-awaited recovery in Savasana. Tree gives me confidence. Confidence that if I could get through the warm-up and the standing series in this ‘chamber of hell’ I can do anything! Anything at all. Try it! Let me know what YOU feel. Namaste.
Also, check out what other blogers wrote on Tree:
Recent Comments