Standing Balancing Flow

I have been experimenting in the clouds.

Here I have developed a slight twist on my traditional standing balance opening sequence.

What I did was play with the idea of how to come into trikonasana.

So what you see is that I go from vrksasana (tree pose).  I keep my pelvis square, focus on external rotation at the hip (of raised leg), then extend that leg straight while maintaining that external rotation.

When you extend it straight and then go to put the leg down you end up with the foot diagonally in front of you rather than out to the side.  That is ok.

What is does is keep your pelvis in a nice position, your lower back in a nice position, and maintain the external rotation of the reaching leg.  I do a little weight shifting to get the other leg in position (and that is why the ardha chandrasana is there).

Overall, my trikonasana feels so wonderful coming in like this.