Published September 11, 2026 05:05AM
In Yoga Journal’s Archives series, we share a curated collection of articles originally published in past issues beginning in 1975. This article about Tree Pose (Vrksasana) first appeared in the January-February 1979 issue of Yoga Journal. Find more of our Archives here.
The key to an integrated life well-lived is balance. Without it, even beneficial things might be overdone and lose their value. The classic example of this is overeating; even the healthiest of foods can tax the body if taken in too generous quantities. Tree Pose (Vrksasana) is concerned primarily with balance and provides a means to discover, and rediscover, the principles of equilibrium within oneself.
When I first began to study yoga, most of the poses I learned were done while lying or sitting, except for the inverted ones. I was shocked when I had my first class in the Iyengar tradition, because so much attention was paid to the vertical line and extension of the body. Beginning. with Mountain Pose (Tadasana), I was instructed to “stand on my own two feet.” Under the guidance of Mr. Iyengar, this pose in itself became an act of meditation and devotion.
“Let your feet caress the earth,” he insisted, and I realized I was expressing Bhakti Yoga (devotional practice) through my body’s stance. After the first too brief and exciting days with Mr. Iyengar, I began practicing the standing poses more frequently. I was impressed by the beauty and order I perceived in my progress from standing on two feet to a single-leg stand—Tree Pose.
The obvious physical benefits of Tree Pose are that it strengthens your legs and feet, and develops balance. Just a few months of teaching experience makes one aware that many people are not readily able to stand on one leg.
Several aspects of brain functioning are involved in the act of balancing. Balance depends upon visual cues and input from the vestibular system of the inner ear. Sensations coming from the soles of the feet, also, enter in, as is apparent to anyone who has tried to walk with a foot that has “gone to sleep.” If both vision and sensation are impaired, balance is overwhelmingly difficult. To experience just a taste of this, try balancing in Tree with your eyes closed.
One way to begin Tree is by focusing attention upon the straightness of the spinal column, and levelness of the pelvis, that has been achieved in Mountain. To assume the Tree Pose, your foot can then be placed, experimentally, at different heights on your opposite inner thigh. Keep in mind, however, that the external rotation, or opening in your hip is very important. The bent leg should not be raised so high that it jeopardizes the levelness of the pelvis, horizontally or from front to back. The yoga student should not be so concerned with the end result as with the process.
By concentrating on the process of movement, not only is one brought fully into the present-which is the beginning of meditation-but one also learns discipline. A teacher has said that, “Direction in movement is discipline.” In Tree Pose, discipline develops as one works carefully to open the hips without spoiling the vertical line of the body.
This pose will also show the beginning student that body is an expression of mind, and that this relationship is dynamic and intimate. If the mind wanders, the balance in Tree Pose is unsteady. In order to make a disciplined, steady statement with the body, the mind, too, must reflect these qualities. Tree develops poise, the ability to move into varied situations-whether they be stressful, relaxing, exciting or boring, whether they require quick responses or sustained concentration—while maintaining inner equilibrium.
Tree Pose and Your Branches
When practicing Tree, your arms may be held in front of the chest in the namaste (prayer) position. I prefer the variation where they are straightened and held above the head since this allows the student to open the shoulders in preparation for later poses. It also makes it easier to extend the vertebral column without collapsing the chest.
But, once again, most important of all is the element of balance. By extending your arms overhead, one is completing a circuit: Your leg extends downward, to ground one in the earth and its energies; your arms extend toward the heavens, reaching for the infinite and, in terms of yoga philosophy, this is a move toward the inner self. With body extending up and down with equal stretch, one comes into balance. This is the key concept of a spiritual life, as expressed by masters such as Sri Aurobindo and in philosophies such as Taoism.
Interestingly, in practicing Tree Pose, one is reminded that balance is not static but eminently dynamic. In order to reach the middle point, one must move toward the end points. When one moves towards one’s boundaries, exploring the outer borders of self, balance is a gift. If one physically strives toward balance in Tree Pose, the goal slips by. If, however, one concentrates instead on fulfilling the moment, then balance is received almost as a bonus.
The joining of your palms overhead can be another such gift. When full extension of your shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints is achieved, the hands automatically meet. When your palms touch in this way, it may come as a surprise because one has merely been intent on stretching your arms. This seems to me to be what enlightenment must be like—it occurs as a gift when the individual has come into a harmony of being in the moment. It can never be attained by the effort of the intellect. In Tree Pose, it is undesirable for the intellect to act aggressively to create union, since the hands may be placed together overhead even though the shoulders and elbows are under-extended.
Aids for teaching Tree Pose include the use of a wall, both to balance and to measure progress in opening your pelvis as your bent knee moves back towards the wall. Practicing the pose while lying on the floor will enable the student to bring the knee up without rotating your pelvis too far.
In more advanced variations of the pose, your bent leg is placed in a lotus position. This requires additional flexibility in your hip joint, especially in the posterior hip capsule, which is made of very strong ligaments. By varying your leg position and increasing the difficulty of the pose, the teacher continually challenges the student to work at the edges of his or her ability. This allows each student to feel like a beginner. If the degree of difficulty of the poses is continually increased, the student is encouraged to approach the practice with a freshness that keeps the process of self-inquiry alive.
The author gratefully acknowledges her teacher B.K.S. Iyengar and his book Light on Yoga in the writing of this article.
