This month, we're reaching toward possibility with Upward Salute, or Urdhva Hastasana. This humble, uplifting pose is energizing, grounding, and deceptively powerful. “Urdhva” means “raised” or “upward,” and “Hastasana” translates to “hands pose.” So yes, your arms go up--but the full experience travels through your entire body, from the soles of your feet to the tips of your fingers.

Why We Practice It

Upward Salute is a pose I return to when I need a reset. It’s the first full-body stretch of a Sun Salutation, and there’s a reason we come back to it again and again. Reaching both arms overhead lengthens the spine, opens the chest, and gently stretches the sides of the body, all while asking you to root down through your feet. There’s something quietly profound about this balance of earthing and aspiring. How can I be both grounded and expansive at once?

Tips for Your Practice

• Start from the ground up. Press evenly through all four corners of your feet before you lift your arms. A stable foundation makes the whole pose feel more spacious.

• Keep a soft bend in your knees. This protects your lower back and helps you engage through your legs rather than locking out your joints.

• Soften your shoulders. As you raise your arms, notice if your shoulders creep toward your ears. Draw them gently down and back to create length in your neck.

• Breathe into expansion. With each inhale, find more length from waist to fingertips. With each exhale, let any tension soften away.

• If your shoulders are tight, keep your arms shoulder-width apart rather than bringing the palms together overhead. Both options are completely valid.

• For a gentle side body stretch, take the pose into a slight lateral lean — right and then left — to open the muscles between your ribs.

• If you’re practicing in a chair, Upward Salute translates beautifully: sit tall, root through your sitting bones, and lift your arms with the same intention.

March carries the energy of transition--winter loosening its grip, the first hints of spring, longer light returning. Upward Salute meets that energy beautifully. It invites you to rise, to open, and to greet whatever is arriving. Adapt it, breathe into it, and let this pose be a reminder that sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is simply lift your hands toward the sky.