Root and Rise Yoga with Anjaneyasana
Personal practice notes: this week I have mainly been practicing Anjaneyasana or low crescent lunge pose to root and rise.
Grounding is a really wonderful part of yoga practice, helping to calm my nervous system (as an anxious type) and feel more in the moment (as somebody who tends to overthink). However I have found that it's very powerful to compliment grounding with expanding, an approach to practice known as root and rise yoga, and this week I have been enjoying the benefits of keeping myself both grounded and open by practicing Anjaneyasana.
What is Anajaneyasana?
Anjaneyasana or low crescent lunge is a formative pose in any yoga practice which includes standing poses. Kneeling on the back leg and lunging with the front one, you connect your weight and power down through the lower body into the ground. From there you rise, drawing your upper body tall and hands towards the sky. The palms may touch, or find another mudra such as Kali Mudra, or they can remain separated if it helps to reach taller and find more openness in the shoulders and upper body.
It's lovely to practice Anjaneyasana with the breath. Exhale to root down through the foot and lower body, inhale to reach tall towards the sky. You can do this whilst holding the pose or in repetitions with the hands to the earth and then to the sky.
What is Root and Rise yoga?
Root and rise is one way of exploring complementary opposites through yoga practice. From a practical perspective, rooting is grounding and rising is expanding and opening. These are opposites which you experience through the physical body (pressing down, reaching up) as well as through the energetic or pranic movement through the body which leaves you feeling both calmer and lighter after a good yoga practice. Root and rise as an approach to yoga supports you in confidently expanding your body, energy and experience from a solid and supported base.
It takes time to develop a really good root and rise yoga practice, especially as the grounding and feeling well supported aspect is something that many of us need to spend more time with to counteract the effects of busy, stressful and cerebrally-focussed daily life. Anjaneyasana however is a great place to start feeling into both root AND rise.
What are the benefits of Anjaneyasana?
Anjaneyasana is a wonderful pose for lower body strength and flexibility, especially in the hips and thighs. Lunging deeply forwards stretches the front of the hip on the opposite side and as you stretch the upper body upwards it creates a deep lengthening in the hip flexor, allowing more opening in a muscle which is often shortened and lengthened by habitual sitting. Good hip flexor mobility can help prevent back, hip and knee pain so a regular practice of Anjaneyasana can provide lifelong benefits.
The lunging leg requires strength and activation in the quads and hamstrings and a deep lunge can promote ankle flexibility. As it's an asymmetrical pose, Anjaneyasana also supports and develops core strength.
From an energetic point of view, over and above the root and rise nature of the pose, Anjaneyasana is very centering as the focus required to ground, balance and reach up at the same time draws your attention and energy inwards, away from outwards distractions and helps to calm your mind. If you practice it with a back bend it can also feel quite exhilarating, especially after a few repetitions.
Is Root and Rise Yoga with Anjaneyasana good for supporting stress?
Yes, this is a wonderful practice for supporting stress as it gives you grounding and centering to find calm and support with your physical body and your mind, whilst also providing a good amount of stretch, sensation and movement to draw you into the practice and prevent rumination. It's not an 'easy' pose for most bodies, and variations of Anjaneyasana give you the opportunity to dial in the grounding or the opening elements as much as you would like to help support your stress response.
How do you practice Root and Rise Yoga with Anjaneyasana?
Anjaneyasana is a key part of the practice, but it's good to start with some long held seated poses and perhaps a three part breath or other grounding breath practice to find balance with Apana Vayu or downwards energy. Especially if you've had a busy day, are prone to overthinking or racing thoughts, or are experiencing stress, this is a really beneficial way to start rooting down before kicking into more movement.
Before Anjaneyasana, pacticing gentle upper body opening with tall mountain, cobra pose and perhaps reverse prayer can really help warm into the chest and shoulders and support freer movement of the breath; many of these movements are included in the hatha sun salutation or surya namaskar and for this reason it can be a lovely way to experience Anjaneysana as you begin to root AND rise.
As mentioned above, using the breath to settle into Anjaneyasana itself provides that strong sense of connecting down, feeling solid and secure (with the exhale) and then rising and expanding (with the inhale). In a traditional sun salutation you flow with the breath, but for a root and rise experience I would advise taking up to 5 breaths whilst holding the pose on each side, maintaining your awareness in your body and breath so that you can feel the oppositional and complimentary nature fully taking form.
Following Anjaneyasana you might like to go to more challenging balances or even a more vigorous vinyasa, or skip straight to downward facing dog and end with balancing pranayama and some longer held poses lying on your back.
What are the variations to try for Root and Rise with Anjaneyasana?
For a more grounded and less strenous practice you can use a more square knee and hip shape which will lean more into the natural support of your skeleton and connective tissue. If you're feeling more stressed and tired, rather than restless, or you simply don't want to go too deeply into the hip stretch then a squarer knee and a moderate upper body stretch can be a great practice.
If you feel it's appropriate to bring in more stretch and sensation you can lunge more deeply stretch upwards and backwards more with your upper body to find more powerful rising, but don't forget to keep connecting down through your feet and legs as Anjaneyasana needs a good balance of both root and rise to become secure!
Once your preferred pose shape is locked in you can begin experimenting with exhaling to lower your hands to the mat and inhaling them back up, or inhaling to raise your back knee and exhaling it back down for an even trickier balance.
Finally, you have the option to move into a twist with your exhale which consolidates the centering nature of the pose but requires a really solid root and rise set up so that you don't feel wobbly when you get there.
if you also find benefits from Anjaneyasana or Root & Rise as an approach to yoga then tell me in the comments!
If you'd like to explore this more in your own yoga practice, head over to the bookings page for plenty of ways to practice with me.
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