One of my favorite pose is Half Moon (Ardha Chandrasana – see pose here). It looks deceptively simple… anyone who sees this pose for the first time probably won’t believe how difficult it is to do. I know I was duped when I saw someone doing this pose.
This is one pose that I find pretty empowering and yet graceful at the same time.
To do this pose fully, one needs to have good core, strong legs, hips and shoulders need to be relatively open too. Plus there are some “tricks” or techniques that can help. Oh yah… you need to have some sense of balance too ( there will be days when you just can’t balance with your face facing the ceiling – especially when you have little sleep the night before 
)
Today we had fun yoga doing the Half-Moon walk… ( it’s no Michael Jackson’s Moon Walk… ) All of us in class lined up against one wall in the studio. Then we started off by placing our right arm down and then go into half moon. Then we lowered the left leg down and swing to the front and step down. Next, left hand followed and ground down and then up we go into half moon the other side.
Hmm.. I do think we looked like a row of elephants walking around… hahah… but it was fun!
Some Tips I Observed :
1. Hips should be facing the side of the wall.
2. The hand on the floor should be slightly to the same side, above the grounded foot’s pinkie toe. Stay on your fingers to create lift. When you are in the pose, imagine your fingers are like the roots of a tree, grounded to help support you. Do not shift all your weight on this hand though. Imagine you are a lever, you are using the lifted leg as the weight to keep your front body lifted and balance. When I am going into the pose, I find that the action of tucking the arm of the hand on the floor back into the socket of the shoulders, helps to stabilize the pose alot for me.
3. Keep the lifted leg engaged by pushing through your balls of the foot towards the back of the room. This helps to shift most of the weight to this leg and helps to create lift for your body. Engage your core.
4. Keep looking down if you cannot balance well yet. It’s ok! 
5. Keep breathing, ok?!
6. You can also try practicing with your back up against the wall. It helps to see whether your hips are opened to the side fully.
Anyone got any other tips to share?
~Namaste!
