Pairs with
Pose · A
Half Moon Pose
Ardha Candrāsana
Balanced on one leg with the torso tipped sideways and the other leg lifted, the body opens into a shape with three clear directions in it. Half Moon is Triangle taken off the floor, and everything that Triangle forgives — a collapsed waist, a hip that has rolled forward — Half Moon makes you pay for immediately.
The shape, with joint angles
The angles are measured on the drawn skeleton and change with the variant you pick. Treat them as a starting reference, not a target to force.
Specification
| Sanskrit | Ardha Candrāsana |
|---|---|
| Also called | Ardha chandrasana |
| Level | Intermediate |
| Loads | Balance · Hips · Side body · Ankles |
| Props | Mat · Block · Wall |
| Typical hold | 20 sec |
| Gaze | |
| Published | 25 October 2026 · By The Asana Desk |
Getting in
- 01
Start in Triangle with the right foot forward and a block under the right hand, or beside the right foot.
- 02
Bend the right knee and step the left foot in about half a stance width, so the weight can shift.
- 03
Shift the weight onto the right leg, then lift the left foot off the floor.
- 04
Straighten the right leg and stack the right hip directly over the right ankle.
- 05
Extend the left leg out to the side, roughly parallel to the floor, with the toes pointing forward.
- 06
Stack the hips vertically, open the chest toward the ceiling, and take the top arm straight up.
- 07
Hold for 20 seconds, then bend the standing knee to come down and change sides.
Working notes
Three directions, one pose
| What collapses | What it looks like | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The waist | The top arm bends to compensate | Block higher under the bottom hand |
| The hip | The top hip rolls forward and the pelvis tips | Lower the lifted leg and stack the hips again |
| The standing knee | It locks and the balance becomes brittle | Keep a micro-bend and press the foot down |
| The gaze | The head drops and the whole line follows | Fix the gaze at floor level ahead of the foot |
The standing leg goes down, the lifted leg goes out, the torso goes sideways and the top arm goes up. Because the shape is spread across so many directions, any single collapse is visible in the silhouette: a dropped waist shows as a bent top arm, a rolled hip shows as a lifted back heel.
The pose is also unusually good at revealing a strength difference between sides. Almost nobody has the same hold on both legs, and that asymmetry is more useful information than the pose itself.
The block is the pose
Half Moon with the bottom hand on the floor requires both a long hamstring and an open hip on the standing side, and for most people the cost of getting there is a collapsed waist on the other side. A block at its highest setting keeps both sides of the waist long, which is the actual work of the pose.
Raise the block before you lower the hand. A half moon on a high block with a long waist is the pose; a half moon with the palm flat on the mat and the ribs crumpled is a photograph of something else.
Self-checks
- Is the standing leg straight with the hip stacked over the ankle?
- Are both sides of the waist long?
- Is the lifted leg parallel or above, with the toes pointing forward rather than up?
- Is the top arm genuinely vertical?
Safety
Skip or heavily modify the pose if any of these apply to you. When in doubt, ask a teacher who can see you move, or a clinician who knows your history.
- Acute lower back pain: skip the pose, or do it with the back against a wall and the lifted leg low.
- Recent hamstring strain on the standing leg: do not straighten the standing leg fully.
- Balance disorders or vertigo: use the wall and keep the gaze fixed at floor level.
- Recent ankle injury on the standing leg: use the wall and keep the hold to ten seconds.
- High blood pressure: do not let the head drop below the heart; keep the gaze level.
This page is informational only. It is not medical advice and no pose here is a treatment for any condition.
- Block at its highest setting under the bottom hand — the standard setup.
- Back to a wall so the lifted foot can rest on the wall for support.
- Lifted leg lower than parallel, with the knee bent, if the hamstring is the limit.
- Bottom hand on the hip rather than the floor, to work the balance without the sideways bend.
Useful propsMat · Block · Wall
- One block, used at the highest setting, changes this pose from a strain into a shape most people can hold.
- A wall behind the lifted foot lets you learn the balance and the hip position at the same time.
- Skip neither prop on the first attempts; use both.
- Acute lower back pain: skip the pose, or do it with the back against a wall and the lifted leg low.
- Recent hamstring strain on the standing leg: do not straighten the standing leg fully.
- Balance disorders or vertigo: use the wall and keep the gaze fixed at floor level.
- Recent ankle injury on the standing leg: use the wall and keep the hold to ten seconds.
- High blood pressure: do not let the head drop below the heart; keep the gaze level.
Inhale to shift and lift the leg, exhale to stack the hips; then steady breathing for the hold.
- A long, quiet exhale settles the balance faster than any muscular correction.
- If the breath is ragged, the waist has collapsed; come up and reset the block.
- Come down on an exhale with the standing knee bent first.