Tree Pose

This picture was taken by Robin Adams Photography back 2006, right before I opened up my yoga studio. I used this picture in some marketing collateral.  Seems like another lifetime ago!  Otherwise known as life BP (before Penelope).

I love tree pose so stinkin' much.  It is one of those poses, where when you look at it, it looks so easy.  So you saunter your leg up, like it aint no big deal, and you can't do it.  You can't even have your foot on your foot and balance.  It humbles you.  It forces you to take a big look at yourself and forces you be honest with yourself in the present moment. 

At the same time, for some people, it is one of those poses you can fake.  Sure, you may be able to get your leg up and make a triangle with your bent leg, and balance.  But how is your form?  Are both your butt cheeks pulled in?  Especially, the cheek of your standing leg.  Is your knee cap of your standing leg, pulled up and your thigh engaged?  Is the weight of your entire body, spread perfectly and evenly across the bottom of your standing foot?  Is your bent knee at a 90 degree angle with your pelvis? Or is it pointed slightly forward?  Are both your hips facing forward?  Is your belly button pulled up into your spine?  Are your shoulders down away from your ears?  Are you staring at your drishti (a focus point on the wall, at eye level, to help you balance) and thinking of nothing but your breath?

It is a complicated pose, no doubt about it.  But the beauty of practicing and mastering, balancing yoga poses, is that whatever you accomplish in class can directly correlate to mastering balance in your own life.  Learning to live in a perfect state of balance, in regards to all things, in something I strive for and truth be told, one of the biggest lessons I learned when I had my studio, was how to keep my life in balance.  Tree pose is one of the things that helps me along.

Once you can do some sort of balance in tree pose, you will start to notice that one side may easier to balance on and that it changes by the day, by the hour and by the minute.  You will also notice, that moment you come out of the present and start thinking about your to do list, you will fall.  



For babies and toddlers, tree pose is a different experience.  It is one of pure joy and elation as they learn about their bodies and what they can do with them.  Tree pose, is one of my favorites to teach, because once a toddler can master this on their own, the look on their face when they do it for the first time, is priceless.   The picture below is of Ava Grace, age 18 months.  And me when I used to look young, pretty and full of life.  Now, I look like someone ran me over with a truck, ah, motherhood.

For toddlers, you show them how to do tree pose first.  But you show them the easiest way  you can.  With your foot by your ankle, or on top of your foot.  Later you can show them the full version of it, if you want.  But this is a really hard pose for them, so make it attainable at first.  Usually, it takes well past the 2nd birthday before kids can balance on one foot, so don't despair if it takes them awhile.   You can hold onto them,  or show them how to hold onto the wall.

For babies, you move their legs for them, like the picture (which by the way is more Robin Adams, and this is Ella Shea, age 6 months).  They can be seated or standing.  For babies, you are simply getting them to experience the movement, which helps them set the brain pathways for later and they will pick it up faster when they are older.

So there you have it.  Tree Pose.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Did these pictures spark your interest in more yoga studio pictures by chance? When I was looking for these on the computer, I found more pictures Robin took of the studio, it really was a beautiful place.  Anyone interested in going down memory lane with me?

And tell me your Tree Pose story! 

Yoga for Mama and Child: Down Dog

Oh, how I love this pose! It's one of my favorite yoga poses. It is a great all over body stretch and you are giving lots of muscles in your arms, back and legs a bit of work out too. Now, its been awhile since I have been in a regular yoga routine for myself, so don't laugh at my technique! And besides, you are doing yoga no matter what the pose looks like, as long as you are breathing. In through your nose and out through you nose!

Start on your hands and knees. Any yoga I do these days, involves Penelope. She loves to be underneath me with this pose. She giggles so much when I do Down Dog! Then you lift your tail bone in the air and put your body into an upside down V. Your hands and feet should be equal distance apart. Try to balance your body's weight equally between your hands and your feet. You are trying to get your heals on the ground and your back flat at the same time. If that is not possible, bend your knees to get your back flat and then slowly work on your flexibility, so that you can straighten your legs and then get your heals down. Come in and out of the pose as you need to rest. A pregnant variation of this pose, would be to place your hands on a wall and to make a 90 degree angle with your body.


Even babies can do Down Dog! This is Miss Ava at about 10 months old. She had been doing Down Dog about a month at this point. Babies will naturally do Down Dog as they are learning to crawl and walk, but at about 9 or 10 months, you can teach them to do it when you say Down Dog!! Anytime you see your baby naturally do it, say "Yay!!! Down Dog!!! Good job!!! Then do it yourself and say again Down Dog!! Similar to the concept of how you would teach them sign language by repeating the word and showing the sign over and over again. Eventually, they put the word recognition and the body movement together and ta da! They can do Down Dog! Let me tell you it's the best feeling in the world when they do their first yoga pose on their own! Ava's self esteem sky rocketed, she was so proud of herself. And that continued all through her toddler hood. Yoga is something all babies and toddlers can excel at. So not only is it good for their health it is great for their self esteem.

Just FYI, most of the baby yoga poses I post, I learned at my Itsy Bitsy Yoga training. The founder and creator, Helen Garabedian, has a great book and dvds that you can purchase to help your home practice. Or you can go to her website and try and find a class near you!