Tadasana

Pronunciation: (tah-DAWS-ahna)

Translation: Tada means mountain in Sanskrit.

In Tadasana one stands firm and tall like a mountain. Tadasana can be practiced as a place to begin when doing standing poses, in between standing poses, or by itself in order to improve posture and groundedness.  Standing poses are foundational to yoga. 

Tadasana creates an internal focus and an awareness of alignment which extends to other more complicated poses.  Tadasana looks deceptively simple, yet has many subtle points to notice and work on.

Goals

There are two fundamental goals to be achieved in Tadasana.

The first involves posture.  When one stands properly, your weight is mainly borne by your skeletal system rather than your muscles.  In Tadasana one practices aligning your posture so as to maximize the weight borne by your bones while minimizing muscular work.

The second goal is to achieve ever more refined awareness.  Although when viewed from the outside the pose appears stationary, internal work and adjustments never cease.  Tadasana should always be a very inwardly active and focused posture.

Technique

Stand naturally. You stand on your feet and they are the foundation of the pose.  Place your feet together allowing the big toes of the left foot to be in contact with the big toes of the right foot and having both feet’s inner heels in contact with each other.  The feet are kept together in this pose in order to make Tadasana a bit of a balancing pose.  When working the pose you should always keep your weight evenly distributed between the left and the right legs as well as centered on each foot. 

Because of one’s natural tendency to shift, this requires a constant awareness of your weight distribution at all times.  This constant inwardly focused awareness is an essential component of the spiritual path of yoga.

Keep each foot’s inner arch raised. Extend the toes outward and away from each other.  The longer and more spread you have your toes the broader and better support your feet will provide your body.  Be aware of your inner arches in each foot.  If they are not sufficiently raised or if you have “flat feet” you should work on raising your arches.  Do this by rolling the metatarsal bones towards the outside and the outer ankle bones towards the floor while keeping weight on the pad at the root of each big toe.  It helps to also attempt to move the big toes towards each other.

If the configuration of your feet does not allow you to stand with the inner balls of the big toes and inner heels in contact then make any necessary small adjustments so that they are parallel and as close to each other as your body allows.

In Tadasana you should always be aware of your skeletal alignment.  In a well aligned pose your outer ears should be aligned over your outer shoulders, your outer shoulders over your outer hips, your outer hips over your outer knees and your outer knees over your outer ankles.   This alignment contributes to having your weight supported by your skeletal system.

Now start to work on the legs.  However even as you shift your attention from your feet to your legs and subsequently to other parts of your body it is important to stay aware of previous areas.  So, throughout the pose keep your alignment, weight distribution and feet work as described above.

Attempt to align your kneecaps so that they are each in the medial plane of your legs and face forward.  Next, tighten your upper front thigh’s quadriceps muscles so they are firm and pull up your kneecaps.  The upper thighs also turn slightly inward. In this rotation inward, the sit bones widen so that your tailbone has room to be tucked forward between the sit bones.

The pelvis should also be properly aligned.  Extend the long gluteus maximus muscles of your buttocks down towards the back knees without clenching the buttocks together.  Extend your tailbone down toward the floor and forward towards your pubis. Lift the pubis toward the navel. Firm the belly, drawing it in slightly.  Now, keeping the work in the pelvis, raise the front and back of the rib cage equally up from the pelvis.  This extends the space between the lumbar vertebrae in your lower spine.

With an erect extended spine, lift your sternum and expand the chest. Open the armpit/chest area without your shoulder blades going back or coming together. Do not push the lower front ribs forward as you lift the sternum. 

The neck stays extended and straight with wide collarbones. Your shoulders stay descended from the ears with shoulder blades going down your back and with arms by the sides. Extend your fingers toward the floor with palms facing your body.  Balance the crown of the head over the center of your pelvis. Keep your throat soft. Soften the eyes as well.

As you can see, there is much and continual subtle work in this pose.  Stand in Tadasana for 20 to 30 seconds and breathe normally.  Throughout constantly penetrate your awareness your alignment keeping the already achieved alignments while making successively more refined adjustments.

A crucial check with the pose is this: Make sure your shoulders and hips are even. Look in the mirror to see that they are at the same height and make sure that neither shoulder nor hip is “leading.” 

Notice your plumb line. Imagine a line dropped from the ceiling on your side. Keep your ear over your shoulder which should be over the side middle of your hips and the center of the legs where the knees are. The ankle bones should be in line with the center of the outer knees are located. Draw a line down your side and notice how it lines up and try to correct where it doesn’t.  Postural problems, neck, and back pain can be helped by this simple awareness of posture. Consider occasionally using a full length mirror and a person looking at you to give feedback.

People who routinely carry heavy bags often lift that shoulder because of the habit of needing it to be stronger.  Those who are aging (who isn’t?) and those who sit at computers may notice that their ear is forward from their shoulder. Correct this with a lift of the sternum and extension of the spine. The ear goes backward. Doing so will help the body be in alignment and allow gravity to hold the head up naturally instead of muscles doing that work.

You can bring the knowledge and practice of Tadasana alignments into your regular life when you are standing.  Even if you are sitting, try aligning your ear over the center of your shoulder and the shoulder over the center of the side of the hips.

Beginner’s Tip:

Do the pose with your heels to the wall. This will help you have some support and also notice if any body part is out of alignment and “leading.” Feedback from a trained teacher is always useful and you may find things about doing the pose that you didn’t know already.

Benefits

Improves posture and postural awareness for everyday living

Strengthens legs and ankles by toning the leg muscles

Helps relieve and prevent backache and neck ache

Firms abdomen

May relieve sciatica

Reduces flat feet

Contraindications

Headache

Insomnia

Low blood pressure