If you practice no other posture at home, try doing this one just once a day. It has so much to offer.
Stand with the feet at hip’s distance apart. Look at your big toes and the toes next to the big toes. Draw an imaginary line from the crease between these toes to your ankles. Then adjust your feet so that these lines are parallel to one another. Stand back up and look down your legs for those two imaginary lines. They should be directly under your hip bones. Rock back and forth on your feet. Rock your weight side to side. Feel down through your feet and find the four points of connection: the inside toe ball mount, the outside toe ball mount, the inside of the heel and the outside of the heel. When you feel all four corners of your feet engaged with the floor, lift your toes and feel the arches engage. Then slowly lower the toes back down to the floor. Learn the feeling of being grounded through the bones of the feet.
Draw the kneecaps up the thighs. Engage the muscles of the outer hips, the gluteus medius muscles. Feel the legs come into alignment, where all is pointed directly forward. Learn the feeling of being stable.
Lift the pelvic floor. Feel the tailbone drop, and imagine all the muscles surrounding the abdomen hugging into the spine like a tightening corset. Learn the feeling of being lifted and strong.
Place the fingertips of both hands on the center breastbone and draw them outward to the shoulder joints, opening through the chest. Then place the fingertips of both hands on the crown of your head and draw them downwards over the ears to the outsides of the shoulder joints. Feel the shoulders drop downwards. Allow the hands to fall loosely, palms facing the thighs, and feel all the tension in your neck and shoulders drip out your fingertips. Learn the feeling of being open and relaxed.
Imagine a rope running through the center of your spine that exends all the way down to the center of the earth and all the way up through the back of the head to the sun. With each inhalation, imagine the rope is tugging your spine longer, lifting you through the back of the head toward the sun. Relax with each exalation. With each inhalation, feel the energy of Mother Earth flowing up through your body to the sun. With each exhalation, feel the sun’s energy flowing down through your crown to Mother Earth. Learn the feeling of being radiant.
Stay with this pose for a while. Let it bake in to your muscles. When life throws you some sucker punches, and you begin to draw in on yourself, protecting yourself, you will have the muscle memory of this pose to remind you of what it feels like:
To be:
Grounded
Stable
Lifted
Strong
Open
Relaxed
and Radiant.