Enter
- From Mountain, bring your feet together and keep your heels grounded.
- Inhale; raise your arms and join your palms overhead.
- Lengthen upward before bending.
- Exhale; bend your torso sideways, keeping your chest facing forward.
Steps
Support
Both soles of your feet, with your heels grounded.
Hold
- Ground both soles; keep your legs engaged without hyperextending your knees.
- Lengthen from feet to hands without collapsing either side.
- Keep your chest and pelvis facing forward without twisting.
- Allow your shoulder blades to rotate upward; keep your neck long.
Exit
- Inhale; return to center with your arms overhead.
- Repeat on the other side.
- Exhale; lower your arms and return to Mountain.
- Breathing
- Inhale to rise and return; exhale to bend.
- Duration
- A couple of breaths per side.
Adapt
Adaptations
- Wider basePlace your feet hip-width apart.
- Separate armsSeparate your hands; raise them without arching your back.
- Smaller bendReduce the sideways arc and keep lengthening upward.
- ChairSit with your feet grounded; raise your arms and bend sideways.
Variations
- Wrist hold: clasp your opposite wrist with both arms overhead.
- Tiryaka Tāḍāsana: feet wide, fingers interlaced, palms facing upward.
- Feet together, fingers interlaced, palms together above your head.
Signals of effort
- Both arms held overhead.
- Sustained side bend without hand support.