beginner pose / vrik-SHAH-sah-na
Vrikshasana (Tree Pose)
In one breath
Vrikshasana, or Tree Pose, is a beginner standing pose held for thirty seconds to one minute on each leg, twice. It works mainly on ankles, feet, hips. Read the warnings below before you try it: it is not right for everybody.
On this page
- Vrikshasana, and why balance is worth practising
- The three things balance is made of
- The one rule about the knee
- What the hips are being asked for
- The part that is not physical
- How long, and a four week plan
- Hold time, each leg, by stage
- Who the tree is for, and where it appears
- How to do it, step by step
- What it is good for
- Who should not do this
- What Vaithialingam sees people get wrong
- Easier and harder versions
- Questions people ask
Vrikshasana, and why balance is worth practising
Vrikshasana takes its name from vriksha, a tree, and the image is the whole instruction. One root going down, a trunk that is long and steady, and branches that move. Notice that the image contains movement. A tree sways. So should you.
It is one of the standing postures in the Ministry of Ayush common protocol and appears in almost every school of hatha yoga, and it is usually the first balance a beginner meets. It is also, in practical terms, the pose on this site with the clearest everyday consequence, because the ability to stand on one leg is not decorative. It is what you use every time you climb a stair, step over a gutter, or put on a pair of trousers.
Most adults lose that ability quietly and without noticing, because nothing in a normal week asks for it. Ten minutes a week asks for it, and in my experience the change is noticeable within a month, first as a feeling of being less wobbly and then as seconds on the clock.
The three things balance is made of
When somebody tells me they cannot balance, they usually mean they have never been shown what balance consists of. It is three things, and all three can be practised.
The eyes. Fix on a still point at eye level about two metres away, and keep the eyes there. Do not look at the floor and do not follow a ceiling fan. Try the pose looking at a fixed point and then looking around the room, and you will discover that at least a third of your balance was visual.
The foot. The standing foot is making dozens of tiny corrections a second, and it can only do that if it is awake. Spread the toes, feel the four corners, and let the arch lift slightly. Practise barefoot. Shoes have been doing this job for you for decades.
The breath. Almost everybody holds the breath while balancing, and then falls out the moment they have to inhale. Count the breaths aloud until it becomes automatic. A calm even breath is not a nicety here, it is the mechanism.
Add a fourth if you like: patience. Twenty seconds in week one becoming a minute in week eight is an entirely ordinary rate of progress.
The one rule about the knee
Never place the lifted foot against the side of the standing knee.
The knee is built to bend and straighten. It is not built to be pushed sideways, and it has very little to resist that with. Resting a foot against the outside of the knee joint and then pressing into it, for a minute at a time, several times a week, is asking the ligaments on the inside of that knee to hold a load they were not designed for.
There are three safe placements, and one of them will suit you:
- High: the sole flat against the inner thigh, above the knee.
- Low: the sole against the inner calf, below the knee.
- Lowest: the toes on the floor, the heel resting against the inner ankle.
Higher is not better. The high placement asks for more hip rotation, and if your hip does not have it, the pelvis will twist to supply it. Most adults are better served for the first six months by the calf placement, done well, than by the thigh placement, done with a twisted pelvis.
What the hips are being asked for
Underneath the balance, this is a hip pose. The lifted leg is being asked to rotate outwards at the hip joint, taking the knee out to the side, and that rotation is the first thing a life of chairs takes away.
The honest test is the pelvis. Put a hand on each hip bone. In the pose, are they still level and still facing the same direction? If the lifted side has swung backwards or lifted upwards, the hip has run out of rotation and the pelvis has started supplying it, which puts a twist through the lower back for the whole hold.
The correction is simple and unwelcome: bring the knee forward, towards the front of the room, until the pelvis is square again. It looks less impressive. It is the actual pose.
Over months the rotation increases and the knee drifts back out to the side by itself. Anyone who wants to work on the hip specifically will find the low lunge on the equestrian pose page a useful companion, since between them they cover both directions the hip has lost.
The part that is not physical
I would not normally write a section like this, but the pose forces the point.
You cannot hold this balance while planning your afternoon. The moment attention leaves the foot, the foot stops making its corrections and you come down. Students discover this within their first minute, and they discover it about themselves rather than being told it, which is why it lands.
What is worth practising is not being still. It is the quality of response when the sway begins. Most people do one of two unhelpful things: they stiffen everything, which guarantees a fall, or they give up at the first wobble. The trained response is neither. You notice the drift early, you press a little more through one corner of the foot, and it passes.
People who practise this for a few months describe the change in ordinary terms. They say they feel steadier on the bus, or that they stopped worrying about the last two steps of a dark staircase. That is the whole benefit, and it is quite enough. Anyone practising for calm rather than for balance will find Bhramari a natural thing to sit down for afterwards.
How long, and a four week plan
Thirty seconds to a minute on each leg, twice through, always both legs even if one is obviously worse. Especially if one is obviously worse.
- Week one: toes on the floor version, fingertips on a wall, thirty seconds a side, daily.
- Week two: foot on the calf, fingertips on the wall, lifting them off for five seconds at a time.
- Week three: foot on the calf, no wall, palms at the chest, thirty to forty five seconds.
- Week four: foot on the thigh if the pelvis stays square, one minute, arms overhead for the last ten seconds.
Time yourself once a week and write the number down. This is one of the few things in a practice that gives you an honest number, and for somebody who is not sure whether yoga is doing anything, watching twenty seconds become sixty over two months is quite persuasive.
It is a natural partner to Trikonasana in a short standing sequence, and a good pose to include in the ten minute morning practice once you are steady on your feet.
Hold time, each leg, by stage
Balance is trained by repetition rather than by duration, so the number of attempts matters more than the seconds.
| Stage | Hold | Rounds | Breath | Stop if |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First month | 15 to 20 seconds, toes still down | 2 each leg | Normal, eyes open, near a wall | You start hopping to stay up |
| After three months | 30 seconds, foot to the calf | 2 each leg | Slow and even | The standing hip pushes out sideways |
| Long practice | 1 minute, foot to the inner thigh | 2 each leg | Slow, eyes soft | The foot presses on the side of the knee |
| Falling out | Does not count against you | As many as it takes | Laugh, then start again | Never, everybody falls out |
Never place the foot against the side of the standing knee. Above it or below it, and that rule does not relax with experience.
Who the tree is for, and where it appears
Balance is the quality that goes first and comes back fastest, which is why the tree is on the condition pages it is on.
- Yoga for beginners over 40 uses it at a wall, with the toes of the lifted foot still on the floor, and treats thirty seconds as a real result.
- Yoga for weight loss includes it because a standing practice needs one pose that is difficult without being strenuous.
- Yoga for anxiety uses it for the reason people find odd until they try it: you cannot balance and worry at the same time, and the pose forces the attention into the foot.
Every version of it starts from Tadasana, which is why the two are always taught together and why the tree is the pose that shows whether the standing was any good. In sequences it appears on the later days of the seven day beginner plan, once the standing has settled.
Two practical notes. Do it after the spine has moved, not before: a minute of Marjariasana and a few rounds of Adho Mukha Svanasana make the standing steadier than any amount of concentration will. And do it before you sit down to breathe, because a balance pose gathers the attention in a way that Anulom Vilom then inherits. Finish in Savasana. If you would rather have somebody standing next to the wall with you the first few times, that is what a class is for, and the first one is free.
How to do it, step by step
Read all of it once before you start. Hold for thirty seconds to one minute on each leg, twice, and come out while the pose is still steady rather than when it gives way.
Step 1. Stand in Tadasana with the feet hip width apart and settle the weight evenly on both feet before you begin. A balance that starts from a wobble stays a wobble.
Step 2. Fix your eyes on a still point at eye level about two metres away. Not a moving fan, not another student. The eyes are half of your balance.
Step 3. Shift your weight onto the left foot and feel the four corners of that foot press down: base of the big toe, base of the little toe, inner heel, outer heel.
Step 4. Bend the right knee and take hold of the right ankle with your hand. Using the hand is normal, not a weakness.
Step 5. Place the sole of the right foot against the inside of the left leg: on the calf, on the thigh above the knee, or with the toes resting on the floor and the heel against the ankle. Never on the side of the knee joint.
Step 6. Press the foot into the leg and the leg back into the foot with equal pressure. This mutual press is what makes the pose steady, and without it you are simply standing on one leg with a foot balanced on you.
Step 7. Open the right knee out to the side as far as the hip allows, without letting the pelvis twist or the right hip lift. If the hip lifts, bring the knee back towards the front a little.
Step 8. Level the hips and drop the tailbone so the lower back is long. Then lengthen upward through the sides of the waist, all the way to the crown of the head.
Step 9. Bring the palms together at the centre of the chest. Once that is steady, raise the arms overhead if you wish, keeping the shoulders down away from the ears.
Step 10. Breathe evenly for thirty seconds to a minute, then lower the arms, lower the foot with control, stand in Tadasana for one breath and change sides.
What it is good for
- It trains the single leg standing balance that keeps older adults on their feet. A twelve week therapeutic yoga programme that explicitly included Vrikshasana for one legged standing improved postural control on the Mini BESTest and increased fast gait speed by 0.22 metres per second, above the threshold considered clinically meaningful in that age group. Source
- It strengthens the small muscles of the standing foot and ankle, which do not get worked by walking on flat floors in soft shoes and which are the first line of defence against a stumble.
- It opens the hip of the lifted leg into outward rotation, the direction that gets lost first in a body that spends its life in chairs and cars.
- It requires a quality of attention that nothing else in a standing practice does. You cannot balance while thinking about the office, and students discover this about themselves within one minute, which is why it is often the pose people report as their favourite.
- Practised near a wall it is safe enough for almost everybody, and in four decades I have found it the pose that gives nervous new students their first real sense of progress, because the improvement is measurable in seconds held.
- It builds a habit of correcting rather than freezing. The tree is supposed to sway. Learning to keep making small corrections instead of locking up is exactly the skill that prevents a fall on an uneven pavement.
Who should not do this
- Vertigo, giddiness or an inner ear disorder: practise with one hand on a wall throughout, keep the eyes open, and do not raise the arms overhead.
- Low blood pressure or any tendency to faint: keep the holds short and stand near something solid you can reach.
- Recent ankle, knee or hip surgery, or a healing fracture in the leg: do not load a single leg without your surgeon's clearance. Use the version with the toes on the floor and a chair to hold.
- Severe osteoporosis or a high risk of falling: practise only holding a chair back or a wall, and never in an empty room alone.
- Migraine or a headache in progress: balance is unreliable during a migraine and the concentration required makes it worse.
- Uncontrolled high blood pressure: do not hold the arms overhead for long. Keep the palms at the chest instead.
- Late pregnancy: the centre of gravity has moved, so practise facing a wall with the hands on it and the foot placed low on the calf.
If any of these apply to you, say so before your first class. There is almost always a version of the pose that is safe for you, and it is the teacher's job to find it, not yours.
What Vaithialingam sees people get wrong
What the teacher corrects most often in this pose, on the left, and what to do instead, on the right.
Placing the foot against the side of the standing knee, which pushes the joint sideways.
The fix. Put it above the knee on the thigh, or below the knee on the calf. Never on the joint itself. This is the only rule in this pose I will not bend.
The standing hip pushing out to the side, so the body makes a banana shape.
The fix. Draw the standing hip in under you and press the lifted foot into the leg. Imagine the standing leg is a post going straight down into the ground.
Holding the breath in order to hold the balance.
The fix. Count your breaths out loud for the first week. A balance held on a held breath collapses the moment you inhale, which is why people fall out at fifteen seconds.
Staring at the floor, or letting the eyes wander around the room.
The fix. Fix on a still point at eye level, two metres away, and keep the eyes there for the whole hold. Half the difficulty of this pose is visual.
Getting rigid, and treating any wobble as failure.
The fix. Let it sway. A tree sways. Keep making small corrections through the standing foot. The corrections are the training, not an interruption of it.
Forcing the lifted knee back to open the hip, which twists the pelvis.
The fix. Bring the knee forward until the pelvis is square again. Hip rotation opens over months and cannot be borrowed from the lower back.
Easier and harder versions
Toes on the floor, heel at the ankle
Keep the toes of the lifted foot on the floor and rest the heel against the inner ankle of the standing leg. All the hip opening, all the postural work, almost no balance demand. This is where I start everybody over sixty and everybody who is anxious about falling.
At a wall or with a chair
Stand with one shoulder near a wall, or with a hand on a chair back, and keep the fingertips in contact throughout. Fingertips on a wall remove almost all of the fear while removing very little of the training. Progress by lifting the fingers off for five seconds at a time.
Seated tree
Sit tall on a firm chair with both feet flat, then place the right ankle on the left thigh so the right knee opens out to the side. Sit up long and bring the palms together at the chest. You get the hip opening and the upright spine with no balance at all. This is the version for anyone who cannot stand for long.
Arms overhead, eyes closed
Once you can hold a minute comfortably with the palms at the chest, raise the arms overhead like branches. When that is easy, try closing the eyes for a few seconds. Removing the visual reference makes the pose four or five times harder and is genuinely humbling. Do it near a wall.
Where these claims come from
Anything on this page stated as a fact about the body is sourced below. Anything not sourced is written plainly as what the teacher has seen in his own classes, and is labelled that way in the text.
From Vaithialingam's class
I ask students to time this pose, which is unusual for me, because I do not otherwise measure anything. The reason is that people who come to a class in their fifties and sixties often cannot tell whether they are improving, and the mind supplies discouraging answers in the absence of evidence. So we time it in the first week and again eight weeks later, and the number has almost always doubled. What I do not tell them at the start is that the balance is not really the point. The point is the response to the wobble. I watch new students freeze solid at the first sway and come crashing down, and I watch students of a year sway visibly, press through the big toe, and carry on for another forty seconds. That correction, made a thousand times on a mat, is what stops a person falling on a wet pavement. I am 89 and I still stand on one leg in front of the class, and I still wobble. The wobble was never the problem.
This is what he sees in class, not a medical claim. Where this page states what a practice does for a condition, the evidence is in the sources cited on the page.
Vaithialingam, founder and teacher, 40 years of teaching.
Questions people ask
Where should the foot be placed in Tree Pose?
On the inner thigh above the knee, on the inner calf below the knee, or with the toes on the floor and the heel at the inner ankle. Never against the side of the knee joint itself, because the knee has almost no capacity to resist sideways pressure. Higher is not better. If placing the foot high makes your pelvis twist or your hip lift, use the calf placement, which is the right choice for most adults for the first six months.
Why can I not balance at all?
Usually because of the eyes and the breath rather than the legs. Fix your gaze on a still point at eye level about two metres away and do not let it move, and count your breaths out loud so you cannot hold them. Practise barefoot so the foot can feel the floor and make its corrections. Start with the toes of the lifted foot on the floor and your fingertips on a wall. Twenty seconds in the first week is entirely normal.
How long should I hold Tree Pose?
Thirty seconds to one minute on each leg, twice through. Time it once a week and write the number down, because this is one of the few poses that gives you an honest measure of progress. Most people roughly double their time over eight weeks of daily practice. Always do both legs, and give the weaker leg the same time as the stronger one.
Is Tree Pose good for older adults?
It is one of the most practical poses there is for anybody over sixty, because single leg standing is what you use on stairs, kerbs and uneven ground. A twelve week yoga programme that included this pose for one legged standing improved postural control and increased fast walking speed in community dwelling older adults by a clinically meaningful margin. Practise it with fingertips on a wall or a chair back, and never alone in an empty room if you are at risk of falling.
Can I do it if I have vertigo or feel dizzy?
Yes, with care. Keep one hand on a wall or a chair back throughout, keep the eyes open and fixed on a still point, do not raise the arms overhead, and use the version with the toes resting on the floor. Never close the eyes. If the dizziness is new, undiagnosed or getting worse, see a doctor before adding balance work to your practice.
Should I be completely still in the pose?
No. A tree sways, and so should you. Stiffening everything to prevent movement is the most common reason beginners crash out at fifteen seconds. Let the small drifts happen and answer them by pressing a little more through one corner of the standing foot. Those constant small corrections are exactly the training, and they are the thing that transfers to an uneven pavement.
Does Tree Pose increase height?
No. Nothing you do on a mat lengthens bone once the growth plates have closed. What balance and standing work do give you is the height you have been losing to slumping, which is often a real centimetre or two, and a way of carrying yourself that reads as taller. Anyone selling a posture as a height treatment is selling you something else.
Which joints are used in Vrikshasana?
The ankle of the standing leg does most of the continuous work, making small constant corrections. The knee of the standing leg stays firm but not locked, the hip holds the pelvis level, and the hip of the lifted leg opens outwards. The lifted knee is passive and must never take pressure from the foot pressing on the side of the standing knee. The shoulders and spine simply stay long.
How many times should I do Vrikshasana?
Twice on each leg in one practice, and once a day is plenty. Balance improves through repeated attempts rather than long holds, so two honest goes a side, with the wobbles included, does more than one heroic minute. Falling out and starting again counts as practice rather than as failure, and I would rather see four attempts than one held with the jaw clenched.
Who should not perform Vrikshasana?
Anyone with vertigo, giddiness or an inner ear problem should keep a hand on a wall and never close the eyes. Anyone with a recent ankle, knee or hip operation should wait for a surgeon's clearance. In later pregnancy the centre of gravity has moved and the pose needs a wall. Nobody with knee pain should let the lifted foot press against the side of the standing knee, at any stage.
Do and dont's of Vrikshasana?
Do stand in Tadasana first, do fix the eyes on a still point, do keep the standing hip level, and do use a wall for the first weeks. Do not place the foot against the side of the standing knee, do not lock the standing knee, do not hold the breath, and do not treat swaying as a failure. A tree sways. Freezing is what makes people fall.
What muscles does Vrikshasana work?
The ankle of the standing leg does the continuous work through the tibialis anterior and the peroneals, making constant small corrections. The quadriceps hold the knee firm, and the gluteus medius keeps the standing hip level, which is the muscle most people have not used deliberately in years. The lifted leg's outer hip rotators hold the knee open, and the erector spinae keep the trunk upright.
Practise in the hall, in person
In a hall in north Bangalore, in a small group, with hands-on correction. The hall is within a short ride of MSR Nagar, Mathikere, Malleshwaram, Yeshwanthpur and further out.
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