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Even people who have never set foot on a yoga mat or in a yoga studio know Vriksasana, Tree Pose. This may be one of the most famous yoga poses in existence. You’ll see models standing on one leg in TV commercials for auto insurance and bank ads on buses. This is what preschoolers learn in school when they are first introduced to yoga. Target dummies do this.

This will probably be one of the first balance poses you ever practice as it is regularly taught in introductory classes. In addition to being widely known, Vriksasana is an incredibly versatile pose. It offers several options for the position of your raised leg and the position of your hand. You can even make a Tree on the back.

But the Tree is far from a simple pose. This requires an increased focus on balance because, contrary to what you might think, balancing is not as easy as standing on one leg. This asymmetrical position is all about evenly distributing your body weight. You might assume that doing Tree Pose “properly” means holding yourself perfectly still, but when you try to stand on one leg, you experience the balancing and calibration the body must do to resist gravity. Balance is a moving target, not a fixed point.

You may also feel that if you cannot place your heel on the top of your thigh, you are doing the pose incorrectly. Not so. A well-aligned tree pose has nothing to do with how high your leg goes. This is where you find the right amount of opposite actions to bring yourself into balance. Your foot presses on your thigh or lower leg; your thigh or calf pushes back.

Finding balance in tree pose

The tree evokes awareness of cause and effect. In the traditional pose, if you are standing on your right leg, your left foot is on the right inner ankle, calf, or thigh, and your arms are reaching toward the sky in line with your ears. When you push off too hard with the raised leg, the standing hip goes out to the side and loses balance. If you move your standing hip too far inward, your raised foot can slip off your standing leg, throwing you out of the pose, or the opposite hip can lift, which can create uneven spinal alignment. Both actions cause the tree to skew, which can affect your breathing and lower back. Similarly, if you extend your arms too far, your lower back may arch, but if you extend your lower back too much, your tree may look droopy.

Perhaps the most poignant lesson we can learn from Tree Pose is the same lesson we learned from trees: we are all connected. Peter Wolleben, author The hidden life of trees says that trees exist along what he calls a “tree network.” It seems that regardless of the size of a tree or a forest, all trees are connected to each other, just as we are to each other and to all things.

Variations of Vriksasana

Taking tree pose

Start at Tadasan (beyond the mountains). Bend your right knee and pull your thigh toward your chest. Open the right knee to the side and place the right foot on the left ankle, inner calf or inner thigh. Hug your left thigh and right leg toward the midline. Place your hands on your hips and align your pelvis from side to side. If you feel balanced, stretch your arms up in line with your ears.

It’s okay to need help balancing your poses; support Tree pose can be different. To practice “Tree” against a wall, stand sideways with your foot next to it and press down on it with your palm. This stabilizing force can increase your confidence in the pose.

Your gaze or drishti also has a huge impact on your balance. You can look down at the floor in front of you, directly in front of you, or up at your hands. Just choose a still place and keep your eyes on it.

Explore simply staying in the pose for 5 breaths. Allow yourself to sway and feel all the actions your body uses to maintain your balance. For example, toes can catch or stretch the floor. Notice how your spine gently bends as you inhale and exhale. To come out of the pose, lower your right foot to the floor. Pause for a moment before repeating with the left.

Tree with hands of Shiva

Two intertwined branches are stronger than one by itself. Extending your arms overhead and crossing your forearms adds an extra level of focus and agility to your practice. This variation is called the hands of Shiva after the god who is said to have created yoga in traditional yoga texts.

As: To perform the hands of Shiva, raise your hands above your head. Cross your wrists, then turn your palms inward and press them firmly together. You can bend your elbows to the sides to get more space on your neck. When you train on the other side, switch the arm that is in front.

A tree with a bend

So far we’ve been playing with our limbs, or rather our branches, but we can also explore different shapes with our trunks! Just as you can teach a tree to form an arch, you can also make an arch in Vriksasana. In traditional tree pose, we are looking for a neutral spine that preserves all of our natural curves. In this version, we will add a curve to the back.

As: Assume tree pose with a straight spine and hands in line with ears. As you inhale, slowly begin to lift your chest up and lean your body back. Move your gaze upward to encourage an arch to the neck, but be careful not to throw your head back. Feel free to explore by spreading your arms a little further so your chest can open even wider.

A tree with a bend

The trees are leaning. The trees are leaning. Adding a side bend to Tree Pose allows us to go beyond traditional alignment.

As: In this variation, allow the pelvis to tilt toward the standing leg, arching the spine toward the bent knee. You can hold both arms above your head as if you were swinging the branches, or you can rest one elbow on your bent knee and simply reach your upper arm overhead.

Other ways to practice tree pose

A tree with a chair and a wall

Remember, balance is as much a mindset as it is a physical experience. Consider using additional props—a chair or a wall—just as arborists use wooden stakes and ropes to support trees. Your details are here as support.

As: For this option, stand with your back to the wall. Place the chair seat on the right side. Place a blanket or pillow on the chair to make it more comfortable when you put your lower leg on it. Lift the right leg up, bend the knee and turn the leg, resting the right shin on the chair. You can raise your hands if you feel stable. You will have to move the chair from side to side.

Outside the tree lying on his back

You don’t have to stand to become a tree. You can also seek balance by lying on your back, using the floor as feedback to align your pelvis.

As: Lie on your back. Bend the right knee and bring the heel to the left inner thigh, then open the knee to the right. When you lift your right leg, your pelvis tends to tilt to that side. Working on pelvic alignment will help you learn to engage the obliques (sides of the abdomen) and gluteus medius (outer thighs). When you’re ready, extend your right leg and practice on opposite sides.

RELATED: No, You’re Not Doing Anything Wrong When You’re Swinging in Balance Pose

About our contributor

Sarah Ezrin is an author, world-renowned yoga teacher, popular Instagram influencer, and mom based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her willingness to be unapologetically honest and vulnerable, along with her innate wisdom, make her writing, yoga, and social media a wonderful source of healing and inner peace for many. Sarah is changing the world by teaching self-love one person at a time. She is also the author of The Yoga of Education. You can follow her on Instagram at @sarahezrinyoga and TikTok at @sarahezrin.