Half Moon Pose

How to do Half Moon Pose

1. 1Begin in Extended Triangle Pose on your right side with a soft micro-bend in your front knee.
2. 2Place your left hand on your left hip, shift your gaze to the floor, and step your back foot forward about twelve inches.
3. 3Place your right fingertips or a block ten to twelve inches ahead of your right pinky toe.
4. 4Shift your weight onto your right foot and straighten your standing leg as you lift your left leg parallel to the floor.
5. 5Flex your lifted left foot actively, pointing your toes straight out to the left side to energize the leg.
6. 6Stack your left hip directly over your right hip and rotate your chest open toward the left wall.
7. 7Extend your left arm straight up toward the ceiling, creating one continuous vertical line through both arms.
8. 8Hold for five smooth breaths, then softly bend your standing knee and step your back foot lightly down to exit.

Benefits

• Strengthens the ankles, calves, quadriceps, and glutes of the standing leg.
• Develops deep core stability by engaging the transverse abdominis and lateral obliques.
• Improves hip mobility by actively abducting and externally rotating the lifted leg.
• Stretches the hamstrings, inner groins, and pectoral muscles.
• Enhances proprioception, coordination, and overall balance.

Common mistakes and cues

• Dumping weight into the bottom hand

  Avoid resting heavily on your bottom fingertips; instead, press through your standing foot and engage your core to keep the torso lifted.

• Dropping the lifted leg

  Do not let the back leg sag toward the floor; keep your foot flexed and engage the outer hip to maintain hip height.

• Closing the pelvis

  Avoid pointing your top hip down toward the mat; actively stack your top hip over the bottom hip to maintain the lateral opening.

• Locking the standing knee

  Maintain a micro-bend in the standing knee to protect the joint capsule and keep the stabilizing muscles activated.

Modifications and props

• Hand on a block

  Place a yoga block on its tallest setting under your bottom hand to bring the floor closer and keep your spine elongated.

• Back against a wall

  Lean the back of your shoulders and lifted heel against a wall for external balance support while learning hip stacking.

• Foot pressed to a wall

  Press the sole of your lifted foot against a wall at hip height to stabilize the pose and clarify leg engagement.

• Gaze downward

  Keep your gaze fixed on the floor slightly ahead of your standing foot if looking up disrupts your balance or strains your neck.

Cautions

• Neck pain

  Keep your head in a neutral position looking straight ahead or down at the floor rather than turning your gaze upward.

• Low blood pressure

  Transition slowly out of the pose to avoid dizziness or sudden drops in balance.

• Recent hamstring or groin injury

  Avoid deep hip stacking or full extension of the standing leg while acute muscle strains are healing.

If you are working with an injury, pregnancy or a medical condition, check with a qualified professional before practising this pose.

Practise this for

Classes that teach this pose

Upcoming Vinyasa classes where this shape shows up.

Teachers and studios for this practice

Related poses