Here’s How to Find Balance and Grace in Yoga’s Dancer’s Pose

Dancer's Prose practices with a band or yoga strap.

Dancer’s Pose (Natarajasana) is a beautiful yoga pose that requires strength, flexibility, and balance. It can be an incredible challenge for many yogis to combine these necessary elements, all while balancing on one leg. But Natarajasana doesn’t need to feel so unattainable. 

With a little bit of technique, counterbalance, and appropriate activation, you will find grace and poise in this stunning asana.

Here’s Your Step-by-Step Guide to Find Balance and Grace in Yoga’s Classic Dancer’s Pose 

Image shows a classic Dancer Pose or Natarajasana starting stance.

All balancing postures require many of the same elements: Drishti (or a focal point), counterbalance, core engagement, breath awareness, and beyond—and Dancer’s Pose is no exception. If you pay attention to a few key elements, you just may be surprised by how accessible Natarajasana starts to feel.

  1. Start Dancer’s Pose in a Stable Mountain Pose (Tadasana)

    Begin standing at the top of your mat in a strong, stable Mountain Pose with your feet roughly hips-distance apart. Ground down evenly into both feet and lift up tall through the crown of your head to find length across your whole spine.

  2. Drishti: Lock Your GazE

    Focus your eyes on one non-moving point in front of you to find a stable drishti (or focal point). Keep your gaze locked on this one point to help stabilize your balance.

  3. Shift Your Weight

    Pour your weight into your right leg and rise to the ball of your left foot. When you feel stable, lift your left foot off the floor and draw your heel toward your seat. 

  4. Hold Your Foot

    Reach your left hand back behind you and catch hold of the big toe side of your foot with your palm facing outward and your thumb facing up. Stretch your right arm straight up toward the sky and lengthen across the right side body.

  5. Kick and Draw Back

    Kick your left foot firmly into your hand and use equal and opposite energy to draw your left hand back against your foot. Let these forces counter each other so that you find stability in the middle. 

    Keep this activation as you allow your torso to naturally hinge forward to counterbalance the weight of your leg kicking back behind you. Reach your right arm forward with the same amount of energy that you kick back with your left leg.

  6. Open Your Heart 

    Draw the tips of your shoulder blades toward each other and peel open your heart. Expand your chest forward toward the top of your mat as you continue to kick your left leg back behind you.Dancer's Pose-Classic version of the Natarajasana yoga pose.

  7. Stabilize and Breathe

    Continue to kick back and pull forward with equal and opposite energy as you expand your heart forward. Ground down firmly into your standing leg as you take long, deep, relaxing breaths.

    Hold for a few full breaths before carefully releasing back out the way you came in and returning to your stable Mountain Pose. Pause for a moment before repeating on the opposite side.

Switch it Up: Step-by-Step Guide for Balance and Grace in Yoga’s Flipped Grip Dancer’s Pose Variation

While the previous instructions help you to balance in a classic Dancer’s Pose, some practitioners may prefer to find a more heart-opening variation with a flipped grip. For this variation, you will want to have a yoga strap or towel nearby to help you enter the position. Many of the instructions to enter this shape will be similar to the last, with a few key differences.

  1. Start in a Stable Mountain Pose

    Begin standing at the top of your mat in a strong, stable Mountain Pose with your feet roughly hips-distance apart. Ground down evenly into both feet and lift up tall through the crown of your head to find length across your whole spine.

  2. Lock Your Gaze In Dancer’s Pose

    Focus your eyes on one non-moving point in front of you to find a stable Drishti (or focal point). Keep your gaze locked on this one point to help stabilize your balance.

    Starting stance of Dancer's Pose but with a yogi standing on a strap that she will incorporate into the practice of the pose.

  3. Step Onto Your Strap

    Place your strap underneath your left foot and hold onto both ends of the strap with your left hand.

    Dancer's Pose with a yoga band incorporated into the practice.

  4. Shift Your Weight

    Pour your weight into your right leg. When you feel stable, lift your left foot off the floor and draw your heel toward your seat. Turn your left elbow toward the sky so that you can swing the strap over your left shoulder.

    Reaching up using a band in the Dancer Pose practice.

  5. Reach Up

    Stretch your right arm straight up toward the sky and lengthen across your right side body.

  6. Kick and Draw Back

    Kick your left foot firmly into your strap and use equal and opposite energy to pull back against the strap with your left hand. Let these forces counter each other so that you find stability in the middle. Lift your left hand straight up toward the sky so that your elbow points forward toward the top of your mat.

    Keep this activation as you allow your torso to naturally hinge forward to counterbalance the weight of your leg kicking back behind you. Reach your right arm forward with the same amount of energy that you kick back with your left leg.

  7. Open Your Heart, Expand Your Chest in Dancer’s Pose

    Draw the tips of your shoulder blades toward each other and peel open your heart. Expand your chest forward toward the top of your mat as you continue to kick your left leg back behind you.

    Kicking back with tje help of a strap in this version of Natarajasna.

  8. Reach Your Right Arm Up to Catch Your Strap

    Stretch your right arm straight up toward the sky and bend your elbow to reach your right hand back to catch a hold of your strap. Continue to kick your left foot into your strap and pull forward against the strap with both hands. 

    Option to walk your hands down the strap to shorten the distance between your hands and your foot, or the option to walk your hands all the way down to catch hold of your foot and release the strap entirely.

  9. Stabilize and Breathe In Yoga’s Dancer Pose

    Continue to kick back and pull forward with equal and opposite energy as you expand your heart forward. Ground down firmly into your standing leg as you take long, deep, relaxing breaths.

    Hold for a few full breaths before carefully releasing and returning back to your stable Mountain Pose. Pause for a moment before repeating on the opposite side.

Find the Grace of a Ballerina in Dancer’s Pose 

Natarajasana is a tricky but still highly attainable posture if you practice with care and technique (and maybe even a little help from some props!). 

By finding a focal point to lock your gaze, actively engaging across your body, and maintaining a slow, steady breath, you just may find that Dancer’s Pose feels more stable and balanced than you previously believed.

Leah Sugerman, E-RYT 500, YACEP, yoga writer

Leah Sugerman is a yoga teacher, writer, and passionate world traveler. An eternally grateful student, she has trained in countless schools and traditions of the practice. She teaches a fusion of the styles she has studied with a strong emphasis on breath, alignment, and anatomical integrity. Leah teaches workshops, retreats, and trainings, both internationally and online. For more information, visit www.leahsugerman.com.

Recent articles

Categories

Upcoming courses

Yoga for
every body

How to Avoid the Top 3 Pitfalls of Forward Bends

With Julie Gudmedstad

Recent articles

Share

Sorry, You have reached your
monthly limit of views

To access, join us for a free 7-day membership trial to support expanding the Pose Library resources to the yoga community.

Sign up for a FREE 7-day trial