Sidebending Tree Pose [Parsava Vrikshasana]

‘Parsava ’  means sideways, ‘Vrikshasana’ is the Tree Pose. This pose is adding on a sidebend to the standard tree pose thus adding on a slight challenge in this standing balance posture.

Organising the Pose:

1. Stand in Tadasana
2. Bend your right knee. Place your right foot on your left thigh. Rest your hands on your hips.
3. Stretch your arms up and join your palms. This is ‘Vriksha asana’
4. Now drop your left arm down,palm facing inwards ,pressing into the left thigh. Bend the spine towards the left side with the left palm inching downwards as you keep the right arm up and lifted turning towards the right alongwith your spine. This is Parsva Vrikshasana.
5. Then come back to Tadasana and repeat on the other side.

DO: 

• Visualise yourself as a tall swaying tree with deep roots.
• Keep your top arm straight and reaching away from your waist.
• Keep your bottom arm straight fingertips reaching downwards.

DON’T: 

• Don’t lean sideways but bend from the waist giving the spine a ‘C’ shape.

BENEFITS:

• Improves elasticity of the spine by loosening the sides of the waist.
• It balances the right and left groups of postural muscles.
• It strengthens the leg muscles as we balance in this sidebend
• Improves focus as it is a balance pose.

VARIATION:

You could reverse the sidebend ie bending the spine towards the side of the bent leg for a variation and different challenge keeping both the arms up as in Vrikshasana or dropping one arm to the bent knee and keeping the top arm up and bending to the side.

Namaste!

 Neelanjana Bharadwaj- Yoga Expert