Half Moon Pose and the New Moon!

This month on the 13th of July we have a new moon! This is a time for new beginnings and an end to what has come before.

A new Moon happens when the Moon’s orbit falls directly between the Sun and the Earth. This basically means the Moon is joined with the Sun. because the Moon reflects light from the Sun, it seems to have disappeared at this phase of the lunar cycle.

New moons aren’t visible unless there is an eclipse and eclipses don't happen every new moon because the orbit of the moon is tilted by about 5 degrees relative to the plane of the Earth's orbit, and the point where the orbits intersect moves relative to the Earth's surface. So the moon's shadow "misses" the Earth most of the time. The next eclipse is on the 25th of October this year.

So in honour of the New Moon, we thought we’d tell you all about Half Moon Pose!

Half Moon Pose - Ardha Chandrasana

Before trying Half Moon there’s a few things to consider, so if you have a neck injury you can keep the gaze straight ahead or towards the floor and if you have a knee injury you can lessen the bend in the knee. If you struggle with vertigo it’s advised that you avoid this pose.

In terms of why we do the Half Moon pose, it has many benefits! It strengthens the abdomen, ankles, thighs, glutes and spine. It also stretches the groin, hamstrings, calves, shoulders and chest, and it opens the chest and hips.

This is also a balancing pose so along with helping you to improve your balance, it also helps you to improve focus.

It’s a strong pose, we’re standing on one leg and so is something we’d consider to be quite a loaded pose. It also includes a hip opener and a balance. Therefore Half Moon is something you’re going to want to build up to to either if your planning a class to teach, or planning a class for you to do yourself.

How to Half Moon Pose?

Start in a Warrior 2 pose, and for the purposes of this explanation on the right side.

Rest the left hand on the left hip, and reach your right hand down to the outside of your right foot, either on a block or your mat.

Start to shift more weight into the right foot, and start to raise the left keeping it parallel to the floor. At this point you can start to think about straightening the right leg keeping the knee joint soft. Or you might decide if you’re new to this pose you’d like to keep a bend for balance.

You can leave the left hand on the hip if you’d prefer, or you can raise the arm up towards the ceiling and the gaze can either be neutral, down, or follow the hand and look up.

Want to know more?

If you'd like to learn more about Yoga we have a Yoga Basics course designed around just that, if you’re interested you can email info@yogacourse.com to request a free syllabus.

Or maybe you’re interested in teaching yoga - if so we have 200hr Yoga Teacher Training, 300hr Yoga Teacher Training and the combined 500hr Yoga Teacher Training available.