Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose)
How to do it
Turn your right foot out. Shift the weight of the body to your right foot and lift your left leg up. Place your right hand on a block or floor directly underneath your shoulder. Try to stack your hips on top of each other and shoulders on top of each other. Keep lifting your left leg up. Look up or down depending on how your neck feels (looking down is easier for balancing purposes).
TRICK: Keep your chest away from the navel to avoid the rounding of the upper body forward. That is why we need to include back bends when we prepare for this pose, as well as other movements that facilitate the widening and lifting of the chest
Breathing in the pose
Inhale: Stretch out away from your belly in every direction – along the spine, though both legs and both arms. Imagine your body radiating from the center.
Exhale: Hug the waist in from the front, sides and back creating stability in the center. Continue to breathe like that expanding on the inhalation and stabilizing on the exhalation. Try to keep the body in one plane and keep lifting your raised leg up.
Pose adaptations
By the wall
Ardha Chandrasana: By the Wall gives you more stability and practice holding your body in one plane. You will also be able to hold the pose longer and got all the benefits out of it. Make sure that you just rest your hip against the wall.
Foot on the wall
Ardha Chandrasana: Foot on the wall helps you stabilize yourself a bit while getting the full benefit of the pose, including balance training. It serves the same purpose as placing a finger tip on the wall in any other balance pose.
Hand on the chair
Ardha Chandrasana: Hand on the chair decreases the challenge and takes the load off your hamstrings.