Queen Sita, the wife of King Rama, was kidnapped by Demon king that offered her all the best luxury in the world. But Sita refused to spend even 1 night in the King Demon’s magnificent palace.
Sita instead sat, with her back against an ashoka tree and waited. She concentrated her mind on Rama with one-pointed focus. Every thought, every breath, every beat of her heart said “Rama…find me. Rama. Rama.”
She sent her love and longing into the trees, and imagined their leaves emanating Rama’s name to the atmosphere reaching Rama. Sita was the daughter of the Earth, and deep within she felt kinship with rooted, growing things.
Silently, the ashoka trees spoke to Sita: “Stay still, little sister. Be calm and steady, like us. Seasons change, we know, we know. This captivity is not forever. Stay still, and remember Rama.”
Rama felt Sita was alive and sent Hunaman to look for her. And he found her and brought her back to Rama.
Ashoka tree is the symbol of love. The fire, passion, love within us that keeps us on inspired to build and move mountains. We grow that fire guided by our inner Wisdom without forgetting about it and who we are.
We attend to that fire with the patience of the trees standing firm through all the changes as the trees go through, such as day and night, climate and season.
How to Practice Vriksasana
- Take few breaths in Tadasana (Mountain Pose).
- Exhale – Take the left heal off the ground with the toes still on the ground, bending the knee and externally rotating it to the left.
- Inhale – Place the foot on the inner ankle or the inner side of the lower or upper right leg. The right leg, the standing leg is strong and straight.
- Exhale – Elongate the sides of the body, bring the rib points together.
- Inhale – Bring the hands up straight in Hastasana or Urdhva Namaskar.
- Feel the energy from the heal pushing the ground , through the right leg, hips, spine, neck, head and to the finger tips. The more you root with the right foot, more the left foot pushes the right inner thigh (or leg or ankle) more you elongate and expands towards the heavens with the chest up and the arms as the tree branches towards the sky. Feel the love in your heart that lifts you up further.