Vrksasana

The tree posture develops balance.

I've shown you the same student when she started doing the tree and her tree after several weeks of practising.

In an ideal world, you start by standing in the Mountain Pose, Tadasana which is the basic standing posture.

You lift one foot up so the heel tucks into the top of the other leg's thigh and the toes are close to the other leg's knee.

You bring your hands together in prayer position at the front.

Concentrate on your breathing. When you feel steady, take your arms up above your head.

As you progress, you will straighten your arms.

You will pull your shoulder blades closer together opening out the chest.

You will take your lifted knee backwards so that if somebody picked you up and put you against a wall both your buttocks and the lifted knee would touch the wall.

However you might be finding it hard work just to stand on one leg. Do not panic.

See how my beginner has taken her foot across the other one? She is playing mind games with herself and trying to press the top heel down onto the foot underneath and lift her toes off the ground for a count of 1 second... then she tried again for a count of 2 seconds.

Gradually she built it up so that she could balance on either foot for about half a minute.

Some of my pupils stand so there is a wall behind them, or if they feel very insecure in the corner so that the walls will catch them up if they wobble too much.

Once you feel confident balancing on one foot, you can start lifting the other leg using a belt, like the lady is in this posture.