Named after the Moon, the standing balance Ardha Chandrasana (Fifty percent Moon Posture) invites you to use both the tranquility, balancing power of the moon and also the fiery force of the sunlight. In this position, you discover exactly how the coming together of two opposing powers produces a power that is more than its separate parts.
In Fifty percent Moon Posture, two opposing movements are taking place simultaneously: You are rooting down into the earth with your Standing Leg while simultaneously lifting and also extending your raised leg right into room. The meeting of these two forces– rooting down and also extending out– offers you the power to equilibrium as well as suspend your spine and also torso in midair. The position shows coordination as well as can assist you understand the connection of the actions in your body. It could train you to remain concentrated as well as well balanced throughout testing moments of change in asana practice.
Half Moon Pose could additionally aid you establish solid legs and also open hips. Many individuals have one leg that’s dominant as well as one that’s weaker, which could cause postural inequalities. By learning to depend on one leg at once in Fifty percent Moon Posture, you start to enhance both legs uniformly. The standing leg is enhanced as it bears the weight of the body, with the external upper leg muscle mass engaging strongly. The increased leg has to function to remain suspended and parallel to the floor, needing you to involve as well as raise from the inner upper leg muscular tissues and prolong via the heel. Each leg gets toned as it does its individual task.
The secret to lifting up right into Half Moon Pose is to bring the private work of both your legs into synchronised action. The movement comes from with the weight shift (see Step 1), which takes the weight of the torso onward over the standing leg as well as front arm and assists to create more solidity when you lift right into the pose.
Start by bending your standing leg without raising the back leg off the flooring. Utilize your whole arm for equilibrium as well, removaling the weight of your body forward so it is directly over your front hand and also foot. Remain there for a couple of breaths, allowing the strength to integrate in the standing leg till you begin to feel solid and also steady. Press down with the sphere as well as heel of the foot as you guide the center of your kneecap towards the toes. Make certain to transform and also open the outer thigh enough to keep that direction of the knee, otherwise, you could begin to fluctuate and lose your equilibrium. Keep your leg steady as you revolve the shoulders, upper body, and also abdominal area upward.
Half Moon Pose calls for openness in the pelvis as well as upper body. Making use of the wall for support (see Action 2) will provide you a chance to explore this expansion much more totally and also experience a full opening. While still actively engaging the standing leg, you have the ability to use less effort to raise the lifted leg greater because the wall is there to hold you. Extend and extend both legs and also arms, and also then turn your abdomen and upper body up. Don’t drop back or collapse into the wall surface, but use it to sense what does it cost? you could open. You could just need to have the rear of the increased heel against the wall.
In Fifty percent Moon Posture, you are uniting opposing energies. To do this needs coordination. As you increase the raised leg, correct the standing leg at the very same speed. Exercise rising and coming down all at once. Work strongly in both directions: Weigh down as you raise and connect. Maintain weighing down and keep connecting. Stick with it and also you may involve a minute when you feel you are put on hold in the air, balancing with ease. Check out what does it cost? you are able to release the chest as well as transform the trunk open without losing your stability.
As you practice Fifty percent Moon Pose, hold the image of the moon rising with elegance and simplicity from the perspective. Permit the coolness of its rays to perfuse your mind in a great, calm, and also steady balance.
Tune in to the Moon
The soothing energy of the moon is as essential in our lives as the sun’s warmth and also light. When you require drive and determination, you use sunlight energy. At other times, calming lunar power is an extra balanced feedback to situations. The technique is finding out when to utilize each: when to cool off passion, as well as when to turn up the heat.
Step 1: Half Moon Pose, Preparation
Get based for liftoff by shifting your weight forward.
Set It Up
1. Stand with your feet together.
2. Dive your legs large apart, and extend your arms to a T position.
3. Transform your Left foot slightly internal and also your appropriate foot and also leg outward.
4. Exhale, and also bend your upper body sideways, bringing your right hand to your shin as well as your left hand to your hip.
5. Begin to bend your right knee and also move your right-hand man forward, putting it a little to the exterior of your foot.
Refine: Bend the front leg a little deeper as well as let your left foot slide along the flooring behind you. Remain to progress till your underarm and shoulder are straight over your wrist. Maintain the right hand cupped as well as the arm joint fully expanded to enhance the fingers, wrists, as well as arms. Maintain your ideal leg bent and also your kneecap pointed toward the toes, with your left foot simply barely touching the floor.
Finish: To develop steadiness, press down through the right foot and also fingertips. Maintain a strong base as well as turn the chest up until the left shoulder is directly over the appropriate one. Explore this transforming movement without letting the standing leg or arm waver from the basing action.
Step 2: Half Moon Posture, Supported Variation
With assistance, learn to totally open your hips and chest.
Set It Up:
1. Stand with your back versus a wall and also set on your own up as you did in Step 1.
2. Location a block on the floor before your right foot.
3. Exhale, and also bend to the ideal side, reaching your appropriate hand to the block as you raise your left leg up.
4. Expand your left arm upward. Permit your left foot as well as hip as well as your head to relax against the wall.
Refine: Keep the ideal foot securely grown, pushing with the heel and also the big-toe mound. Company the right leg, raising the knee and also drawing up the thigh. Press the left heel to the wall surface, as well as maintain raising the inner left leg from the top thigh to the internal heel.
Finish: To broaden the hips, lift the left side of your pelvis and rotate your abdomen and upper body. Reach your left arm up along the wall surface, and also widen your breast as well as collarbones. Expand your torso horizontally: lengthen the front of the body from your pubic bone towards the head as well as reach back with the inner left leg. Acknowledge the flexibility and visibility that come with assistance. Take a breath efficiently and also evenly.
Final Pose: Half Moon Pose
Set It Up
1. Establish on your own up as you carried out in Action 1.
2. Exhale, and also bend your torso to the right, bringing your right hand to the floor. Reach your left arm upward.
3. Flexing your right knee, removal your right arm and also left leg to shift your weight forward.
4. At the same time lift the left leg as you correct the appropriate one.
Refine: Weigh down right into the foot of the standing leg, specifically the internal foot. Lift the outer upper leg from the knee to the hip. Keep removaling the external hip much deeper toward the midline of your body as you solid and also lift the inner upper leg of the raised leg. Maintain lifting this leg until the increased side of the pelvis is straight over the underside. Extend the elevated leg from the pelvis to the heel. With the elbow joint still bent, roll the shoulder back until the upper body begins to turn upwards as well.
Finish: Continuously turn the abdominal area, and after that prolong the arm fully. Spread out the collarbones and broaden the chest. Breathe uniformly as well as discover balance.
Optimize Your Pose
Explore these adjustments of Half Moon Posture:
Challenge your balance: Turn the abdomen and also trunk up, and afterwards gradually turn your head to consider the elevated hand.
Strengthen your legs: In the last position, duplicate the coordinated leg action several times by lifting up right into the present and also decreasing down.
Ease your lower back: While making use of the wall for assistance, rest the elevated foot on a table. Expand the top arm together with the raised leg.
Stabilize your shoulders: Extend the leading arm along the upper body as you roll both shoulders back and widen your collarbones.
Elements Of Practice
How do you attach your yoga practice to exactly what you perform in your day-to-day live? Your day-to-day tasks appear to quit as well as begin with a clear start and end, providing you a compartmentalized experience of life. Your awareness could be continuous. When you stay connected as well as present as you move from one point to the following, you are practicing yoga exercise at work. If you shed your balance as well as loss in a position like Fifty percent Moon Pose, it calls your focus to refocusing and reconnecting with your breath. It’s the same method life: When you obtain sidetracked, return to your breath and also to today moment.
Watch a video clip demonstration of this pose.
