FitnessWorkouts

Tree Pose in Yoga Is Surprisingly Hard But These Form Tips Can Help You Nail It

Explore the benefits and variations of yoga's tree pose. Enhance balance, focus, and leg strength with this standing posture.

alt
Photo: Getty Images/Antonio_Diaz
Published Feb 25, 2024

Written by 

Katherine Englishman

Classified as an asymmetrical standing balance posture, yoga’s tree pose (Vrksasana) evokes the feeling of being both grounded and wide open.

Experts in This Article

Christina Spencer

yoga teacher and studio manager of Portland Yoga Collective

Lindsay Mayock

physical therapist and yoga teacher

Like a tree, this yoga pose illustrates the importance of cultivating a solid foundation that supports growth in all directions, while also inviting us to play with our balance and focus our attention on the here and now.

Nourishing for both body and mind, tree pose is commonly taught to students both young and old, which speaks to the many benefits of this popular standing yoga posture. No matter your age or experience level, this is a pose worth adding to your yoga routine for a lifetime.

Read on to learn how to do it, what the benefits are, common mistakes to avoid, and other tips for beginners.

How to do tree pose the right way

alt
  1. 1.
    Begin standing with your feet hip-width distance apart and your hands on your hips.
  2. 2.
    Inhale to elongate your spine, then exhale to shift your weight onto your left foot.
  3. 3.
    Then bring your right knee up to your chest.
  4. 4.
    Place the sole of your right foot against your upper inner left thigh. (You can place the sole of your right foot just below your knee if that’s more comfortable.)
  5. 5.
    Inhale and gently open your chest. As you exhale, press your foot and inner leg together to stay centered and strong.
  6. 6.
    Bring your palms together in front of your heart in prayer position. (You can keep your hands on your hips for more stability if needed.)
  7. 7.
    Stay here for 3 to 5 rounds of breath, then repeat on the other side.

Tree pose benefits

1. It improves your balance

As a standing balancing pose, one of the big players is, you guessed it, balance. And while balance is most definitely a physical action, it’s also kinesthetic, meaning it brings way more than just our leg muscles into focus, but recruits our sensory awareness as well.

advertisement

While you’re balancing on one leg, you’re fine-tuning your nervous system’s ability to sense where you are in space and improving your focus.

“By narrowing our base of support or removing a point of contact [with the ground], we increase demand on the receptors in our nervous system that help us maintain equilibrium,” says doctor of physical therapy and yoga teacher Lindsay Mayock, DPT.

2. It builds lower-body strength

Balancing on one foot gives your feet and ankles a great workout. Plus, it offers a dynamic stretch in the outer hip of the lifted leg that releases and tones the external rotators.

“Single-leg standing postures improve strength in key hip and pelvic stabilizers, such as the gluteus medius and minimus, which are helpful for stability in the leg and hip,” Mayock says. “Being strong in these muscles is important for both hip and knee health and function. Tree pose is great for this, particularly if we pay attention to ‘growing’ upward and maintaining a level pelvis.”

Tree pose variations to make it easier or harder

1. Modification: Tree pose with toes on the ground

alt
  1. 1.
    Begin standing with your feet hip-width distance apart and your hands on your hips.
  2. 2.
    Inhale to elongate your spine, then exhale to shift your weight onto your left foot.
  3. 3.
    Place the sole of your right foot against your inner left shin and keep your toes on the mat for more stability.
  4. 4.
    Inhale and gently open your chest. As you exhale, press your foot and inner leg together to stay centered and strong.
  5. 5.
    Bring your palms together in front of your heart in prayer position. (You can keep your hands on your hips for more stability if needed.)
  6. 6.
    Stay here for 3 to 5 rounds of breath, then repeat on the other side.
advertisement

2. Progression: Tree pose with arms overhead

alt
  1. 1.
    Begin standing with your feet hip-width distance apart and your hands on your hips.
  2. 2.
    Inhale to elongate your spine, then exhale to shift your weight onto your left foot.
  3. 3.
    Then bring your right knee up to your chest.
  4. 4.
    Place the sole of your right foot against your upper inner left thigh. (You can place the sole of your right foot just below your knee if that’s more comfortable.)
  5. 5.
    Inhale and gently open your chest. As you exhale, press your foot and inner leg together to stay centered and strong.
  6. 6.
    Bring your palms together in front of your heart in prayer position.
  7. 7.
    Inhale to extend your arms up and overhead.
  8. 8.
    Stay here for 3 to 5 rounds of breath, then repeat on the other side.

Common tree pose mistakes

The most common mistake made when practicing tree pose is to not engage the muscles of your standing leg. You can tell you’re doing this if your outer hip appears to be dropping or sagging to the side. Even though it’s an asymmetrical pose, balancing your pelvis is key to making sure you squeeze all the juicy benefits out of this dynamic posture.

“Gravity and weakness can result in a dropping of the non-standing side of the pelvis,” Mayock says. “It’s an activation of the standing gluteus medius and minimus muscles—aka your outer hips—that answers gravity and brings the pelvis back to a level position.”

Although it was previously thought to be a mistake, placing the foot of your lifted leg on the inner knee isn’t dangerous if you don’t have a history of knee pain or injury.

advertisement

“All my research has led me to the understanding that it’s okay to place your foot on the side of your knee,” says Christina Spencer, a yoga teacher and studio manager of Portland Yoga Collective in Portland, Maine. “It’s not going to dislocate your knee.”

Mayock also backs this up, helping to bust a long-standing myth that this may cause injury.

However, if you do put your foot on the inside of your standing knee and feel pain, move your foot higher or lower or exit the pose entirely.

Safety precautions

If you have problems balancing for any reason and/or feel fearful of falling, make sure you practice on a flat, level surface with a comfortable yoga mat and stay near a wall for support.

Tree pose is not recommended for people who are six months pregnant or more because of the higher risk of falling.

FAQ

1. How long should you hold tree pose?

Tree pose can be held for three to five rounds of breath, which equates to 30 seconds or a little less than one minute.

advertisement

2. What are the disadvantages of tree pose?

There are no disadvantages of tree pose if you’re able to practice it safely. This is an excellent posture to gradually improve your balance, build strength in your hip, knee, and ankle joints, and enhance your ability to stay centered and focused.

Sign Up for Our Daily Newsletter

Get all the latest in wellness, trends, food, fitness, beauty, and more delivered right to your inbox.

FitnessWorkouts

6 Lateral Exercises You Need to be Doing ASAP for Longevity

Time to train smarter.

Cropped image of woman doing lunge yoga pose
Stocksy / Photo Credit By Studio Firma
Published Feb 21, 2025

Written by 

Jaime Osnato

Want to stay strong, steady, and mobile for life? It’s time to stop thinking only about forward and backward movements and start training side to side. 

advertisement

Lateral exercises boost your ability to move and stabilize in the frontal plane—a genuine game-changer for longevity. Developing this kind of strength helps prevent falls, improves balance, and keeps your joints healthy as you age (more on this later). 

Whether you’re climbing stairs, getting in and out of a car, or just want to feel more confident in your body, adding lateral exercises to your routine can keep you moving with ease for years to come. Here’s your bulletproof guide.

How lateral exercises boost strength

Lateral strength is your ability to move side to side—think stepping sideways, lifting your arms, side-bending at the waist, or balancing on one leg, says certified strength coach Maggie Fazeli Fard. 

These movements, known as frontal-plane motions, rely on small but crucial muscles like the gluteus medius (outer hip), adductors (inner thighs), and quadratus lumborum (a lower-back muscle that helps lift your hips).

Neglecting these muscles can lead to poor balance, lower-back pain, and even knee issues, says Fard.

Why does lateral strength matter for longevity?

Incorporating more lateral exercises into your routine isn’t just about moving better—it’s about aging better. Stronger lateral muscles improve balance, coordination, and lower-body stability, helping you stay active and independent as you age, says Fard.

Want to carry groceries, chase grandkids, or swing a golf club with ease? Here’s why lateral strength matters:

  • Balance: Falls are the leading cause of injury and death in seniors, with 1 in 4 older adults taking a spill every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Strong lateral muscles help keep you steady.
  • Lower-body mobility: Weak lateral muscles lead to stiff joints and poor mobility. Since most workouts focus on forward-backward movement (like running and lunging), skipping lateral work can leave you prone to injuries, says Fard.
advertisement

6 Best Lateral Exercises

Lateral strength is essential for balance, mobility, and injury prevention. But Fard says it’s best to think of these lateral exercises as accessory moves—not the core of your routine. 

Sprinkle these moves into your workouts a few times a week (they’re great for warm-ups, pairing with bigger lifts, or conditioning workouts), and you’ll move stronger, smoother, and pain-free in no time.

1. Figure Eights

This low-impact move improves balance, coordination, and control—a perfect warm-up or daily brain-body booster, Fard says.

How to do it:

  1. 1.
    Stand on your right foot, lifting your left knee to hip height.
  2. 2.
    Extend your right arm forward.
  3. 3.
    Gently move your left foot and right hand in small figure eight patterns (think: a sideways “8”) concurrently. 
  4. 4.
    Do 20 reps, then switch sides.

2. Side-Traveling Ape

This primal “animal flow” exercise engages “your lateral system from head to toe,” says Fard. Do it in warm-ups or pair it with heavy lower-body lifts.

How to do it:

  1. 1.
    Stand with your feet hip-width apart, knees bent.
  2. 2.
    Keeping your back flat, lean forward to place your hands on the floor shoulder-width apart, with your left hand directly in front of your right foot.
  3. 3.
    Press your hands into the floor and hop your feet to the right, landing softly with feet hip-width apart.
  4. 4.
    Bring your hands to the starting position and repeat for six steps, then switch directions.
  5. 5.
    Perform three sets.

3. Side Plank March

advertisement

This move strengthens your hips, inner thighs, lower back, and shoulders while improving overall balance and full-body lateral stability, says Fard.

How to do it:

  1. 1.
    Lie on your left side with your feet right foot directly in front of your left and your left elbow under your left shoulder, forearm along the floor.
  2. 2.
    Press through your left forearm and lift your body so that you're balancing on your left forearm.
  3. 3.
    Keeping your hips lifted, bend your right knee toward your chest, then return to start. Bend your left knee toward your chest; return to start.
  4. 4.
    Continue “marching” for 8 total reps, then switch sides and repeat.

4. Banded Lateral Walks

This exercise strengthens the small stabilizing muscles around the hips (which are key for lateral strength), says Fard. Control is key here—no bouncing. 

How to do it:

  1. 1.
    Place a resistance band around your ankles.
  2. 2.
    Stand with your feet hip-width apart and clasp your hands in front of your chest.
  3. 3.
    Bend your knees slightly, and step to the left. 
  4. 4.
    Bring your right foot back to hip-width slowly, resisting the band's pull.
  5. 5.
    Repeat on the right side (returning to start); continue alternating for 10 reps per side.

5. Lateral Lunge

Stronger hips, knees, back? This move can help you achieve all three, targeting the outer hips and inner thighs for improved hip stability and lower-body control, says Fard. (Make it harder by holding a pair of dumbbells.) 

How to do it:

  1. 1.
    Stand with your feet at hip-width distance, toes facing forward. Clasp your hands in front of your chest. 
  2. 2.
    Shift your weight to the right and step to your right with your right foot.
  3. 3.
    With a flat back, bend your right knee and shift your hips back, keeping your left leg straight.
  4. 4.
    Keep your toes pointed forward on both feet.
  5. 5.
    Press into your right heel to return to standing.
  6. 6.
    Complete 8–10 reps, then switch sides and repeat. Do 2–3 total sets.

6. Lateral Step-up

advertisement

This lateral step-up variation strengthens the outer hips, inner thighs, and lower back, making it a great prehab move for injury prevention, says Fard.

How to do it:

  1. 1.
    You’ll need a bench or box to complete this exercise.
  2. 2.
    Stand next to your bench and place your left foot on the bench, so that your left knee is bent round 90 degrees.
  3. 3.
    Keeping your torso upright, press your weight into your left foot and push through your quads and glutes to straighten your left leg and stand on top of the bench. 
  4. 4.
    Reverse the move, lowering your right foot to the floor with control. Step your left foot down to the floor next to your right. 
  5. 5.
    Complete 8–10 reps, then switch sides and repeat. Do 2–3 total sets.

Sign Up for Our Daily Newsletter

Get all the latest in wellness, trends, food, fitness, beauty, and more delivered right to your inbox.

FitnessWorkouts

Doing This Type of Breathing as Part of Your Pilates Practice Can Help Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor

Here's how hypopressive breathing, a deep breathing exercise, can help you with your Pilates practice and other forms of movement.

alt
Photo: Stocksy/Atolas
Published Jan 29, 2025

Written by 

Kelsey Kloss

If you’re obsessed with all things Pilates, you already know about the best athleisure, accessories, and self-care moments to incorporate into your practice. However, you may be less familiar with a type of breathwork that can improve your practice — and help you feel more grounded.

Experts in This Article

Anouska Shenn

certified Pilates instructor and founder of The Office Yoga Company

Blair Mauri

a pelvic floor therapist and owner of Blair Mauri Pelvic Health

advertisement

Enter hypopressive breathing, a deep breathing exercise that involves emptying your lungs completely. It’s similar to the uddiyana bandha in yoga (or an “abdominal lock”).

“It involves breathing in a way that creates a vacuum-like effect in your thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic cavities by decreasing the pressure, causing a lift and toning of the pelvic floor,” says Anouska Shenn, a certified Pilates instructor and founder of The Office Yoga Company.

But before we get into how to do it, let us clear up one thing: Don’t try any breath-holding exercises during your practice, since Pilates focuses on breathing through movements.

That said, practicing hypopressive breathing before, after, or separate from your Pilates workouts can help support your practice in a number of ways.

What is hypopressive breathing?

Hypopressive breathing is a technique that involves completely emptying your lungs and holding that breath to create a vacuum. It serves as a core exercise that can benefit your pelvic floor health.

Think of it this way: Your abdomen is a closed pressure system. That means that when the pressure changes—like with a cough, deep breath, or force like a lift—your abdominal structures need to be able to manage that pressure properly. That’s where pelvic floor exercises, like hypopressive breathing, come in.

“When we’re not managing that pressure properly, gravity takes it and sends it down into the pelvic floor,” says Blair Mauri, MS, OTR/L, a pelvic floor therapist and owner of Blair Mauri Pelvic Health. “Repeated downward pressure not only weakens the pelvic floor, but can also cause it to become extremely tense.”

That tension may lead to symptoms such as incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, painful sex, low back pain, or chronic constipation. “Hypopressive breathing is an excellent way to optimize pelvic floor function, as it provides a natural lift to these tissues without increasing the tension,” says Mauri.

Improving your pelvic floor function can relieve pelvic pain or low back pain, improve your oxygen and energy levels, promote digestion, and support your movement throughout your Pilates practice.

In fact, an eight-week program of hypopressive exercises improved pelvic floor muscle strength and urinary incontinence symptoms in women ages 18 to 60 with pelvic floor dysfunction and urinary incontinence symptoms, per a 2022 study1 in Neurourology and Urodynamics.

advertisement

Plus, hypopressive breathing can work your lungs in a way that benefits your Pilates practice. “Optimizing your rib mobility is also important for diaphragm function and getting the most out of your breaths,” adds Mauri.

How do you do it?

First, take a few deep breaths and see where you notice that pressure (in this case, your breath):

  • Is it focused in your chest or belly?
  • Are your ribs moving apart as you breathe in?

You should feel some mobility in all of these areas, not just one. “Rib mobility is especially important for proper hypopressive technique, so you may need to start here,” says Mauri. “Take some time to retrain your breathing so that everything expands on the inhale and comes back together on the exhale.”

Once you’ve honed in on that, you can move on to your hypopressive breathing exercises, following Mauri’s instructions:

  1. 1.
    Gently exhale as if you are fogging a window. Don’t send any pressure or force down into your lower belly or pelvic floor.
  2. 2.
    After you exhale, hold your nose and close your mouth and “pretend” to inhale without actually taking in any air. Think about widening those ribs, which will make your stomach begin to look concave.
  3. 3.
    Hold this for 3-5 seconds and then inhale.

How does it benefit your Pilates practice?

This breathing technique shines as an add-on to your Pilates practice. You don’t want to hold your breath during Pilates moves (after all, Pilates is all about coordinating movement with breath), but hypopressive breathing exercises can serve as bumpers for an effective workout.

advertisement

“Hypopressive breathing is designed to stand alone, but you can use it as part of your warm-up or to close your Pilates practice,” Shenn says.

Pelvic floor strengthening is already often a key element of Pilates. In fact, a 12-week Pilates program focused on pelvic floor strengthening significantly improved stress urinary incontinence symptoms in women ages 45 to 70, with the results lasting even six months after the program, per a small 2020 study2 in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

“Hypopressive breathing complements a Pilates routine, as it also retrains and strengthens the deep core along with your pelvic floor,” says Mauri.

A strong and coordinated deep core and pelvic floor gives you more stability as you move your body throughout your Pilates practice—and throughout the rest of your day.

“Our pelvic floor muscles work together with our deep core muscles to stabilize the spine—supporting our posture and providing a solid foundation for all of our movements,” says Shenn.

Tips to get started

As you integrate hypopressive breathing into your Pilates routine, Shenn recommends keeping these tips in mind:

  • Start with 1-3 sets of 3 repetitions, resting between sets.
  • If you’re a beginner, practice your breathing lying down or seated, before progressing to more challenging positions like side-lying or quadruped (a four-point kneeling position).
  • Do your hypopressive breathwork on an empty stomach (it’s recommended to not eat at least two hours beforehand, since this type of breathing involves suctioning the abdomen inward and upward).
  • Avoid wearing clothes that are too tight—including collars, waistbands, and belts—as they can impede your breath.

Very little research has been done on the effect of breathwork on babies in the womb, so avoid hypopressive breathing if you’re pregnant.

advertisement

One more thing to note: Certain preexisting health conditions like high blood pressure can also be contraindications for breathwork, so always check with your doctor first and consider working with a trained provider to make sure your form is correct.

  1. Molina-Torres G, Moreno-Muñoz M, Rebullido TR, Castellote-Caballero Y, Bergamin M, Gobbo S, Hita-Contreras F, Cruz-Diaz D. The effects of an 8-week hypopressive exercise training program on urinary incontinence and pelvic floor muscle activation: A randomized controlled trial. Neurourol Urodyn. 2023 Feb;42(2):500-509. doi: 10.1002/nau.25110. Epub 2022 Dec 8. PMID: 36482844; PMCID: PMC10107869.

    ↩︎

  2. Hein JT, Rieck TM, Dunfee HA, Johnson DP, Ferguson JA, Rhodes DJ. Effect of a 12-Week Pilates Pelvic Floor-Strengthening Program on Short-Term Measures of Stress Urinary Incontinence in Women: A Pilot Study. J Altern Complement Med. 2020 Feb;26(2):158-161. doi: 10.1089/acm.2019.0330. Epub 2020 Jan 9. PMID: 31916840; PMCID: PMC7044776.

    ↩︎

Sign Up for Our Daily Newsletter

Get all the latest in wellness, trends, food, fitness, beauty, and more delivered right to your inbox.

All Stories

Food
Nutrition

PSA: Walmart’s Stock of Protein-Rich Snacks Is Major—Here Are an RD’s Favorites

by Helen Sidebotham
on Feb 21
woman enjoying high-protein snacks from walmart in her kitchen
Shopping

Valentine’s Day May Be Over, But You Can Still Get Down by Saving 50% on Lelo Toys

It might be cold outside, but inside? It's heatin' up.

by Jamey Powell
on Feb 21
vibrator in woman's hand
Food
Nutrition

Why Are People Suddenly Eating Handfuls of Spinach Straight From the Fridge?

TL;DR: You don’t have to eat raw spinach out of the container like a raccoon to get the nutritional benefits.

by Emily Ziemski
on Feb 21
Girl in leggings and green shirt holding colander of washed spinach with hands visible, top view.
Shopping

I Tried a Tickle-Me-G-Spot Vibrator and All I Have To Say Is, “Again, Do It Again”

Sex and the City 'Rabbit' fans, this one's for you.

by Gabrielle Kassel
on Feb 21
playboy pleasure aurelie g spot tickler
Fitness
Workouts

6 Lateral Exercises You Need to be Doing ASAP for Longevity

Time to train smarter.

by Jaime Osnato
on Feb 21
Cropped image of woman doing lunge yoga pose