Half-Moon Pose

Post of the week is half moon pose! AKA Ardha Chandrasana. I apologize in advance for the pictures, I had just done a hot yoga class and I am drennnnched haha. So, the traditional way to do this pose it a little different, but the hatha series that I do takes a couple inspirations from Bikram yoga, so that is the form of half-moon that I do.

This is commonly the next pose in the series, and starts with your feet together. As you inhale, bring your arms up, clasping your hands overhead with the pointer fingers towards the ceiling.

With every inhale you want to make yourself a little longer (taller), and with every exhale you want to bend a little bit deeper. Start by leaning to the left, and looking towards the ceiling. Go deeper and deeper for eight breaths. Do the same on the right.

Last , we do it backwards. Try to push your hips and thighs forward, and heart towards the ceiling, or eventually the back wall. Make sure to keep an imaginary orange under your chin so that your don’t strain your neck and look too far back. If your breathing becomes difficult, you’ve gone too far into this position.

One day I wanna look like this chick! Except she’s not looking at the ceiling as she bends to the side, so she's not getting the full benefits of this pose. Also, she's not keeping that imaginary orange under her chin as she leans back, so this could be dangerous for her back. She is clearly doing Bikram yoga because his style tends to push the body to extreme limits such as this, even when it's not ready. This is the most common criticism of Bikram yoga.

“The moon has a rich symbolic significance in yoga mythology. In hatha yoga, for example, the sun and the moon represent the two polar energies of the human body. In fact, the word hatha itself is often divided into its two constituent syllables, "ha" and "tha", which are then esoterically interpreted as signifying the solar and lunar energies respectively.” – Quoted from yogajournal.com

Love, Ami G