Jun
12

Day 12! Pose a Day from The 21-Day Yoga Challenge

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Pose a Day Brings you: Ardha Chandrasana ~ Half Moon Pose

If you are building from yesterday’s pose of virabhadrasana II, it is a natural progression to go from warrior II to half moon. This pose will definitely work your balance, but to keep the alignment on solid ground, practice against a wall.

Cues: With the front leg turned out to 90 degrees, turn your back leg in slightly. Reach arms out long and bend your front knee as in warrior II. With an engaged core to keep you steady and strong, begin to bring your back leg toward your front leg as you raise it up, then straighten your standing leg. Simultaneously, the front arm reaches out and then over to the floor, a chair seat or a block.The back arm reaches skyward or comes to your hip.

The standing leg often wants to hop, pronate or supinate. Be vigilant to keep the foot facing forward with knee over ankle in order to protect the knee. Contract both legs and keep active to promote strength. Keep lifted foot flexed as you press through the heel. To take the heaviness out of the standing leg, engage the gluts of both legs. Upper arm may be lifted toward sky as in our illustration; however, a keen place to be is with hand on hip and focus on spine lengthening and upper torso rotating open.

Benefits: Balance is a big benefit piece of this pose even when done at a wall or with the use of a chair. It can tone the lumbar and sacral spine as you focus on lengthening. Mr. Iyengar promoted regular practice of this pose: to increase your span of concentration, and in a world where we can hop about in our minds as much as our standing leg, that is a good thing!

Modifications: The wall gives the stability you need to really focus on the alignment of this pose. You can feel the shoulder blades and hips supported by the wall as you concentrate on engaging the legs, lengthening the spine, rotating the torso upwards. From the wall, the next offering is to place your lower arm onto a chair seat. It is higher than a block and will help balance and openness in upper body.