FITNESS Yoga pose of the week – Tree pose

Tone up and find your balance


Yoga
Lee Kennedy

Yoga can help increase muscle endurance because typically you hold any given pose for a period of time and can repeat it several times during a yoga session, at home or during a class. A regular yoga practice can also help reduce the risk of injury and condition the body to function better at things we have to do every day like walking, sitting at a desk, twisting and bending.
Yoga moves your body in the way it was designed to move and can help ensure that it keeps functioning properly. For example, in yoga we use both large and small muscles and move them in many directions, helping to tone muscles all over the body, keeping them in balance with each other.
In this balancing yoga pose, called ‘tree pose’ or ‘vrksasana’, one leg has to hold up the entire body. It helps to increase overall body strength just by putting the weight on that one leg.
By holding any of the yoga postures for longer, doing more repetitions and learning new yoga poses, you can make your yoga practice more or less challenging.

Tree pose

• Stand on your yoga mat with your feet together – toes, inner ankles and heels touching
• Lift the knee caps and draw the front of the thighs back
• Keep the spine extended and chest lifted
• Shift the weight over to the left foot
• Bend the right leg, catch hold of the right foot, bringing the knee out to the side.
• If you begin to struggle with balance at this point, move to a clear wall area and stand so your back lightly touches the wall and continue
• Place the sole of the right foot high on the inside of the left thigh, the toe facing downwards
• Keeping the left leg strong and steady, extend the arms straight over the head, palms together
• Find a fixed point to look at either ahead of you or on the floor – this will help you keep your balance
• Exhale, lower the right foot to the floor, take the arms down and repeat on the left side

Lee Kennedy has a Yoga-teaching Diploma from the YTTC and an Iyengar-teaching Certificate from BKS Iyengar Yoga UK. She also specialises in natural birth with yoga and Thai yoga massage. For current local and private classes, phone 086 3906343.