Crescent Lunge (Ashta Chandrasana)

Pronunciation and meaning

Ashta Chandrasana: AHSH-tuh chun-DRAHS-uh-nuh. Ashta stresses the first syllable, and Chandrasana stresses DRAHS.

Chandra means moon and asana means posture, and the name is often translated as crescent moon posture. It is a high lunge: the front knee bends over the ankle, the back knee stays lifted off the floor, and the arms reach up so the body makes a long curve.

How to do Crescent Lunge

1. From Downward-Facing Dog, step your right foot forward between your hands, with the right knee over the right ankle.
2. Keep the back knee lifted. Stand on the ball of the left foot, heel reaching back, and press the back thigh up so the back leg is long and strong.
3. Inhale and rise up, lifting the chest and bringing the shoulders over the hips. Hands can rest on the front thigh or on the hips at first.
4. Reach the arms overhead, shoulder-width apart, and draw the tailbone gently down so the lower back stays long.
5. Stay for five breaths, keeping the front knee tracking over the second toe and the hips level.
6. Exhale, bring the hands down beside the front foot, step back to Downward-Facing Dog, and repeat with the left foot forward.

Make it easier

• Lower the back knee onto a blanket and practise Low Lunge instead if the balance or the back leg is tiring.
• Keep the hands on the hips, or on blocks beside the front foot, rather than lifting the arms.
• Shorten the stance a little if the front knee travels past the ankle.

Pregnancy and after birth

Pregnancy. Adapt. Widen the feet side to side for balance and room for the belly, keep a hand on a wall or chair, and keep the front knee bend moderate. Check with your OB or midwife.

After birth. Adapt. After your doctor or midwife has cleared you, begin with the back knee down in Low Lunge and work up to lifting it. Ease off if you feel pain at the pubic bone or along a caesarean scar.

For more on practising through pregnancy, see Joahnna Lee Yoga.

Common mistakes

• Letting the front knee drift past the ankle or cave inward.
• Bending the back knee and sinking, so the back leg stops working.
• Arching hard through the lower back to lift the arms higher.

Crescent Lunge, also called High Lunge, is a standing pose that turns up often in Vinyasa classes and in Sun Salutation B variations. It works the front leg, lengthens the back leg and asks for steady balance.

The key point is the back knee. In this pose it stays lifted, so the back leg is active from heel to hip. When the back knee rests on the floor, the shape is a different pose, Low Lunge, the kneeling version, which is gentler and easier to hold.

When should you choose crescent lunge over low lunge?

Choose crescent lunge when you want strength and balance, and Low Lunge when you want a calmer stretch for the front of the hip. Many teachers move from Low Lunge into crescent lunge as the class warms up. If the back leg shakes or the knee complains, lowering the knee is always fine. For both lunges side by side, with the move from one to the other, see low lunge vs high lunge.

Where does it lead?

It builds the legs for Warrior I, II and III, and its long back leg is the same one used in Downward-Facing Dog. The hip flexor stretches routine pairs well on rest days.