Simple Yoga for Early Fall: Garland Pose

Here is a simple yoga pose that builds inner strength and centeredness to help us thrive throughout the busy Fall season. It focuses on a simple squatting position, the primary working pose for so many people throughout the world.

This asana is so beneficial for deep abdominal and pelvic floor muscles, and the title reminds us of the harvest garlands that celebrate the autumn season’s lush bounty.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Start by standing in Mountain Pose, with feet shoulder width apart and your pelvis, head, and chest aligned. Breathe quietly through the nose, thinking of the name of this beginning asana, Mountain–an image of firm uprightness. As you breathe out, exhale down the body and feel yourself straighten down to your feet and up to the crown of your head.

2. Keeping your heels on the floor, extend your arms in front. Bend your knees, folding the body forward and down by dropping the pelvis. If your heels come up, place a folded blanket under them and squat again. Once forward in the squat, place the arms in prayer position (hands palm to palm in front of center of chest) or rest them on the floor in front. Keep the knees enough apart for the body to drop between, weight dropping into the heels. The feet splay; without straining the knees, turn them in, balls of the big toes down.

3. As the trunk lengthens forward, feel a broad stretch across the back of the pelvis. Practice a couple of times, holding as long as is comfortable.

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Adapted from The Yoga Year, by Celia Toler (Storey Books, 2001). Copyright (c) 2001 by Celia Toler. Reprinted by permission of Storey Books.
Adapted from The Yoga Year, by Celia Toler (Storey Books, 2001).