Balancing Poses

[ailelie]

Hello, this is my first time posting here. I found out about this community through rydra_wong . I recently started my practice and am fumbling my way through a weekly class and am trying to get started at home (I have a mat now).

This week we did balancing poses in my class. I had a lot of trouble staying balanced and often had to start over. I was wondering if anyone here had any advice on keeping balanced or good poses to practice at home. Or, even just in general, what are your favorite balancing poses and how did you overcome any problems that you faced (whether keeping balanced or something else entirely)?

Comments

Welcome!

[rydra_wong]

Ooh, balancing poses *g*.

Seconding what everyone's already said about starting with something simple like Tree. Tree's also easy to modify in various ways -- put your foot on your shin instead of your thigh, or even touch the tip of your toes to the floor. It can also help to stand where you can put a hand on a wall if you need to.

Focus on getting all your weight into the standing foot and finding the sense of balance, rather than where you get the other foot to.

I actually find it helpful to think of shifting all my weight into the standing foot before the other foot even lifts off the ground (then it's "weightless" and you can do whatever you like with it *g*).

Once you're in the pose: expect to wobble. Don't try to be still like a statue (that locks all your joints and ensures that you topple). Think of your ankle and knee as being active shock-absorbers, working to stabilize you in the wobble.

Then play with it! It can be fun and/or useful to play with balance during the day; I have been known to end up standing with my legs in Tree while having conversations with people, without noticing. It's become a comfortable resting/thinking position for me.