Standing Poses
By Joy Abrams

All standing poses in yoga should be considered similar to the warrior pose. While doing your standing poses in yoga you learn how to trust yourself and orient yourself in space bravely. There are three basic ways that you orient your body.

Vision
Through vision you check to see if your legs are in the proper position as well as other parts of your body.

Vestibular system of the inner ear
This system helps you to maintain your balance and equilibrium.

Proprioception
This is the continuous but unconscious sensory flow from the moveable parts of your muscle tendons and joints. Their motion is hidden from us because it is unconscious. It is continually monitored and adjusted.

During the time that you are doing the standing poses, you develop an awareness of your pelvis as the center of gravity and the main support of the spine. It is helpful for you to understand that the pelvis is not one solid bone but different segments. The most important of the segments is the sacrum. The sacrum is the triangular bone that fits down in a pointing wedge between the hipbones at the back of the pelvis. Imagine the sacrum, as a theme for your practice of standing poses and it will bring to you a new awareness of your standing poses.

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