वृक्षासन
Vrikshasana — Tree Pose
vṛkṣa = tree — standing rooted as a tree
One leg becomes the root, the hands bloom overhead — balance you can feel growing.
In the simplest words
Stand on one leg like a stork, put your other foot on your leg (not on the knee!), and grow your arms up like branches. Stare at one spot and you won't fall — trees don't look around!
What it is
In vrikshasana one foot roots into the earth while the other rests against the standing leg's inner thigh or calf, and the palms join overhead like a crown of branches. Balance here is not stillness but a thousand tiny corrections — the practice is to stay calm while wobbling, which is why teachers call it meditation on one leg. A drishti (a soft fixed gaze on one point) is the whole trick.
Before you practise — health first
Keep the raised foot off the knee joint. With vertigo, low blood pressure or weak ankles, practise beside a wall and skip the overhead arms.
Getting into it
Stand in tadasana and fix a soft gaze on one point ahead.
Shift weight into the left foot; place the right sole on the inner left thigh or calf — never on the knee.
Press foot and leg gently into each other; hips level.
Join the palms at the chest, then stretch them overhead if steady.
Hold, breathing slowly, then lower and repeat on the other side.
The breath
Slow and quiet; wobbles smooth out when the breath does.
What it is kept for
Balance, ankle and hip strength, and one-pointed attention.