Tree Pose Pose Reference

Three small errors give away a drawing made without looking. The hip of the standing leg juts out sideways, so the pelvis tilts and the figure seems to lean on a wall that is not there. The bent knee drifts forward instead of opening to the side, which collapses the triangle the leg should make. And the shoulders creep up around the ears as the arms rise, shortening the neck. Each one is easy to check against the mannequin before you commit to lines.

In the correct version the left leg is straight and vertical, and the whole body balances on that one foot. The right foot presses into the inner left thigh, the right knee opens out to the side, and the hips stay level, so the bent leg forms a clean triangle beside the standing one. Above, the palms meet overhead with the arms framing the head, and the spine stays long from pelvis to hands. The line of action is a single vertical through the palms, the spine and the standing heel; the head sits at about 157 cm and the centre of mass at about 110 cm.

The front view shows the triangle of the bent leg and the frame of the arms, and lets you check that the hips are level. The side view is the honest one for the knee: an open knee points toward or away from the camera and overlaps the hip, while a knee that has swung forward sticks out in front of the body. In profile the raised arms should sit beside the ears, not in front of the face. The back view shows the sole of the right foot against the thigh, the high angle reveals how far the knee opens, and the low angle stretches the vertical so the figure looks taller and more rooted.

Tree pose fits yoga studio illustrations, wellness and meditation themes, a calm character on a mountaintop at dawn, a class schedule graphic or simple single-leg balance studies. In Edit this pose, bring the palms down together in front of the chest for a gentler variation, or slide the right foot down to the calf; keep it off the side of the knee, which is how the pose is usually taught.