Benefits: Strengthens ankles, knees, legs, hips, core, shoulders, arms; stretches shoulders, chest, abs, groins
Helps: Anxiety, stress, insomnia, focus

  1. Begin standing tall with your feet together and arms by your sides in mountain pose (tadasana).
  2. Step your legs about 1.2m apart, keeping your feet parallel. Inhale and lift your arms overhead, shoulder-width apart, palms facing each other.
  3. Exhale and turn your left foot and leg 90 degrees out to the left and your right foot in 45 degrees to the left. Rotate your hips and torso to face the direction of your left leg.
  4. Take a deep inhale and as you exhale, bend your left knee, forming a right angle with your left thigh and shin. Hold for 3 to 10 slow, deep breaths. (Tips: Less than 90 degrees is fine; only bend your front knee as far as you can while keeping the outer edge of your back foot pressing flat into the floor, which stabilises the pose. Pull up through the arch of your back foot to avoid collapsing its ankle. To align your spine, drawing your front ribs in, point your tailbone toward the floor, and elongate the back of your neck, gazing straight forward.)
  5. To come out of the pose, lower your hands to your chest in prayer position, straighten your left leg, and rotate your left leg and torso back to centre, bringing your feet to parallel.
  6. Turn your right leg out 90 degrees to switch sides and repeat.