By Dr Mickey Mehta

New Delhi, Jan 29 (IANSlife): As much as the sun is fiery and all about passion and high-octane energy, the moon on the opposite side is cooling, calming, and very creative in nature. Ardha Chandrasana as the name says particularly this posture brings serenity, and tranquility to the moon. It brings the shine and hue of light from within. Lunar energy helps you develop empathy, compassion, creativity, and connect with hearts. Talents are the sign of representation of moon subtleties and grace.

The push and pulls of life stretch people to sit for late hours at work, till the sun rises. Long hours of sitting continuously lead to tight gluteus, quads, and hamstrings muscles. Ardha Chandrasana also known as Half Moon pose is a perfect posture for those.

Because every asana is about geometry, our inner geometry corresponds to the geometry of the outside world, the Universe. This must also be flawless in terms of symmetry. So, when it comes to angles, make sure that you have deep relaxation in your body and mind and achieve the appropriate posture with the right alignment of your palms to shoulders and hands above, the leg that is down absolutely stable and deeply anchored for you to get anchored in your own self as well. The beauty of Ardha Chandrasana is the combination of being anchored and soaring in this posture.

It's standing and a challenging posture.

Like the moon goes through phases to reach the full moon. To achieve the perfect posture we also need to practice preparatory postures. Make sure your sensibilities, your senses, and your awareness are all conjured up together, and with absolute grace and softness of being you hold this posture and don't use aggression anywhere, because aggression doesn't allow you to balance, it will tip the balance. It may also cause injuries. So, one needs to warm up well before getting into the actual pose. You can do compound movements or any individual muscle group movements for warm-ups with gentle breath in and out, stretching every body part, especially your shoulders, back, lower back, gluteus, and hamstrings which are going to play in this posture.

How to do:

Stand with Legs apart, Bend in Trikonasana, Breathe in slowly raise your leg up and try to balance on one foot and one arm. Try holding as much as comfortable. Repeat on another side. Focusing your attention in the upward movement of the hand and the alignment, being perpendicular to the ground is so important that leads to stability of the mind which we call "Sthirtha" in Yoga.

The benefits:

Strengthening core muscles: Strengthening your core muscles translates into strengthening confidence.

Improves Body Balance: Practicing it on both sides keeps you well co-ordinate and deeply anchored into your being and mentally stable. Ardha Chandrasana in particular also helps you to bring equanimity to the fore, calmness, and serenity, once again Chandra representing the moon is all about coolness being collected, getting integrated, and balanced.

Strengthens your legs: When you strengthen your legs, it helps to maintain your energy throughout the day precisive with clarity.

Good Body stretch: Stretching on other hand expands spaces on your own being and helps you move your fluids and air-ether element better. When an air-ether element is stable your movement and mental state also become stable.

Cellular regeneration: When done together, all kinds of stretches and bends contract most of our toxins in organs. When we stretch fresh nutrients and oxygen-laden blood gets into our organs. So, rejuvenating our organs and cellular regeneration is very good.

Holding postures for an extended time helps us improve concentration, focus, determination, and Sankalp. With Sankalp, we can achieve anything.

All Yoga postures translate into a stable, strong, confident personality. People who master Ardha Chandrasana are disciplined, they are very focused, determined, and most important they are visionary people.

(Dr. Mickey Mehta is a Global leading holistic health guru/corporate life)