Improve balance and strength with Half-Rotated Standing Fire Log pose…

This advanced variation on Fire Log Pose will challenge your balance and strength, and help you learn to focus and stabilize through your trunk while balancing on one foot. Half-Rotated Standing Fire Log Pose (Ardha Parivrtta Agni Utkatasana) – also sometimes known as Twisted Half-Chair or One-Legged Chair Pose – helps to stretch the spine, build leg and core strength, and improve balance and coordination. It is also thought to reduce stress and anxiety, increase energy, and activate the solar plexus chakra, which is associated with confidence and self-esteem.

Here’s how to do this tricky pose, according to YogaJournal.com:

Instructions:

• Lift your left leg. Keep it in front of you and externally rotate it. This does not mean taking your leg to the side; it means rotating your leg from the root of the limb. Your leg will still be in front of you and your pelvis will not have moved.
• Then, bend the lifted leg and place it on your standing thigh. Extend back through your two sitting bones, even though they are not in a symmetrical placement.
• Then, lift up through your torso and steady your gaze in front of you.
• Twist to the right and place the back of your left hand or arm in the arch of your right foot. You can gently press the arm and foot into each to discover whether you can twist or open up your chest a little bit more.
• Press your hands together in prayer pose, or for a variation, reach your arms away from each other from the roots.
• Reach your tailbone back and down to lengthen your spine.
• Feel your two sit bones reaching back evenly.
• Exhale as you twist and inhale to lengthen.

Not quite ready for this pose? Build strength and prepare for it with Bridge Pose in Figure 4, Supine Twist with ankle to knee, or Revolved Head-to-Knee Pose as shown here:  https://www.yogajournal.com/poses/half-rotated-standing-fire-log-pose