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| I am having a very difficult time with Ardha Chandrasana. Two weeks ago my teacher asked us to practice this pose. She said if we did we would see an improvement. She gave some good tips on how to get in to the pose but it is a constant struggle with me. My right side is noticably weeker than my left side and my balancing leg often cramps up. I find myself getting very frustrated with this pose. It's sad because it is a pose I have been looking forward to learning. I practice it almost every day yet I don't feel like I am noticing an improvement. Any advice? What kind of experience have you all had with this pose? |
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| ardha chandrasana can be a difficult pose.
it is for me i know.
try practicing against a wall. that will assist you with the balance and help build strength in your legs. also, your limbs should extend to create an opposition of force. this will take some of the work out of your core and make balance easier.
one more, make sure your standing leg doesn't creep its rotation inward.
thats a killer.
good luck.
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| Phoenix: I am having a very difficult time with Ardha Chandrasana. Two weeks ago my teacher asked us to practice this pose. She said if we did we would see an improvement. She gave some good tips on how to get in to the pose but it is a constant struggle with me. My right side is noticably weeker than my left side and my balancing leg often cramps up. I find myself getting very frustrated with this pose. It's sad because it is a pose I have been looking forward to learning. I practice it almost every day yet I don't feel like I am noticing an improvement. Any advice? What kind of experience have you all had with this pose?
===> Take a private class with your teacher ONLY for this pose. If that does not work, take the same with an Advanced Iyegar Teacher. And, follow what they say.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| Try the wall as dhan says. It really helps. Also, do you go into the pose starting in trikonasana? If so, try just lifting the back leg off the floor about and inch then touching back down right away and do it 5 or 6 times quickly. Geeta Iyengar calls this "touch and go" method and it is very helpful for learning stability in gettting in and out of the pose. Be patient and, as I tell my students, be grateful nobody is asking you to do this pose on figure skates!  Those poor skaters have to do the pose AND spin around |
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| http://doyoga.com/p.ardhachand.htm
but really, how long have you been practicing the pose?
can't you afford yourself a little patience?
not everyone is adept at hatha, i know that i am not.
i also know that my mind makes the difference with some of the more challenging poses that i do. what's on your mind when you practice, see it, hear it, watch it, detach yourself from it, relax. with perfect practice comes improvement, but perfection is not guaranteed.
I use a wall for a lot of postures, and i've practiced for 16 years!
some postures will probably never be even remotely possible with the body i have, and that's o'kay, to me.
Good Luck with this, please, be patient and don't hurt yourself.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Steve - that is a lovely photo of the pose and good instruction (which is to be expected, I would say!). I also use the wall a lot for this pose. Actually, a couple of summers ago I made it a special project and worked on it at the wall almost daily. Some days I concentrated on stuff I had learned in class and some days I just worked on figuring out how my body needed to move to make it better for me. Then some days I just did the pose out in the room without any special plans or thoughts. I got more stable in the pose and found out things (mostly things I had already been taught but I "got" them better with that concentrated work) that helped me in the pose, in trikonasana and helped me learn how to teach the pose better. And I almost always think about the figure skating thing - I tell my students to look happy and smile to impress the Russian judge  |
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| Phoenix, Ardha Chandrasana is a lovely pose but it can take some time to find, you say "My right side is noticably weeker than my left side and my balancing leg often cramps up" Check the foot on the bottom leg and make sure it hasn't come out of alignment, this often happens on the way into the pose and is a sure fire route to cramp.
Also remember that the pose is one in which we learn to balance on both the bottom leg and the bottom arm, you don't need to take all the weight on your leg, let your bottom arm help out to. Then find a lightess in the pose by stretching your top arm up strongly.
All that can be done whilst you practice against the wall and continued when you feel ready to move away from the wall. Good luck with this pose, it took me a while to find my courage in it but now that I have I find it has become a favourite. |
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