Asana Focus: Skandasana

The Sanskrit meaning of this beautiful posture is something like ‘the posture of the god of war’.

However, rather than imagining any actual war happening when doing this pose, I recommend embracing the boldness and flair that seems to flow naturally when you’re balancing in it. It can take a lot of practice to get comfortable holding the balance, but once you get the hang of it, it can be a very empowering pose to play around in, and moving towards even better alignment only makes the pose look and feel more dramatic, so you might as well roll with it!

I find that to get the best balance, it’s important for the extended leg to be stretched out to its full length, and more directly to my side than to the front; it’s fine to put the hands on the floor while you shuffle the foot along to get the leg into this position. Flexing the foot back to the face is a helpful way to keep all the stabilising muscles engaged, supporting the balance.

For the leg with the bent knee, try to keep the foot angled so that it’s pointing roughly the same direction as the knee; this will both stabilise the knee and support the balance. Don’t let too much of the weight fall on the heel though, you should be engaging the foot to stay lifted. Engage the core to allow the torso to lift up and maybe you’ll keep the balance and can even bring hands to prayer.

Because this is a big hip opening pose, a final mental note is to externally rotate the entire extended leg to open up even more. An easy visual cue here is to focus on the foot; try rotating it so it’s pointing straight up to the ceiling.

Good luck, and more importantly, enjoy!

By Kristian Strommen