How to do Tadasana and what are its benefits?
Are you feeling tired and painful sitting for long hours at your office desk? Can’t control the muscles cramps?
Did you know that Tadasana or mountain pose is an antidote to relieve muscle cramps?
I’m super stoked to introduce you to this incredible tadasana. This exercise is pretty easy for the beginners.
So, stay tuned till you get to know all the facts about tadasana followed by the steps to practise at home itself.
Table of contents
What is tadasana or mountain pose?
Tadasana originated from two Sanskrit words Tad means a “Mountain” and Asana meaning “Pose”. The word tadasana has several different names like Tadasana, Samasthiti, and Mountain Pose. Samasthiti is also devised from Sanskrit words Sama meaning ‘Upright’, ‘Straight’, ‘equal’ and ‘balanced’. Sthiti means to ‘stand’ or ‘stay’. [1] However, this exercise is most popularly known as ‘Tadasana’ or ‘Mountain pose’.
Basically, this is a standing pose in yogic studies.
Do you follow any standing yogic exercises?
From back in the day standing yogic poses are very familiar and practised by majority number of people. These standing poses offer miscellaneous benefits to your body. They tone your body, muscles, tummy and will get a nice shape out of them.
Of course who wants to look dowdy and with a hunched spine? No one right?
Tadasana is a very simple and basic standing pose. This standing pose helps to improve posture and balance.
Furthermore, Mountain pose is the base of all other standing exercises and all the standing asanas have emerged from tadasana. So, Tadasana is more a kind of warm-up and foundational pose for all the standing exercises.
It’s not over yet! Mountain pose not only makes a great starting position, it’s also a great resting pose and a perfect way to improve posture. This mountain pose or tadasana is usually performed at the beginning and end of Surya Namaskar.
Once you ace the mountain pose, it will be easier to maintain alignment for all other standing exercises. The muscle movements, alignments and mindset you learn in mountain pose exercise are helpful in doing other standing yoga poses. Mountain pose is actually performed in between other standing exercises to allow the mind and body to take in the benefits of the previous asanas and prepare for the next one.
That’s the reason Mountain pose is treated as an activating pose and it’s important to learn how to do it correctly.
The Drishti or focal point is developing concentrated intention and is located at the tip of a nose. Each yoga asana will be interlinked with a particular Drishti. There are also three ‘Bandhas’ – Uddiyana Bandha, Mula Bandha, and Jalandhara Bandha which are all appropriate for tadasana.
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Tadasana Steps – How to do Tadasana or Mountain pose?
Step 1
Stand erect with your feet slightly apart placed evenly on the ground and your arms at alongside your body. Your feet and shoulders must be aligned with each other. Lift up the crown of your head. Ensure that your body weight must be divided equally to both the feet.
Step 2
Making your thigh muscles firm lift up the kneecaps. While you lift up the kneecaps be sure not to harden your lower belly. As you lift strengthen the inner arches of your inner ankles.
Step 3
Now time to raise your arms. So, firstly stretch your hands in the direction opposite to your chest by interlocking your fingers. Raise your arms or hands upwards above the head.
Step 4
After you raise your arms upwards, turn the palm with interlocked fingers upwards and focus on the right point above your head. Concentrate on your muscle movements and body alignments.
Step 5
By breathing or inhaling deeply, raise your hands distant from your head. Then stand on your toes by putting all your weight on them.
Step 6
Keeping your hands straight above the head, tighten your elbows and look ahead.
Step 7
Inhale while stretching your body, shoulders, chest and arms upwards and exhale deeply while coming down.
Step 8
While inhaling and stretching your body and arms feel the stretch right from your feet to head. Finally, come back to the starting position.
Source: Shilpa Shetty Kundra
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The science behind Tadasana or Mountain Pose
Traditionally people used to strengthen their core by doing exercises which resemble planks (lying on your back or on hands and knees). But working your core from standing exercises is more effective and easy to get desired results.
Is standing that important?
If you have a hunchback by sitting long hours at your office desk or if you’re a laid back person and always lethargic to do things, the standing exercises will help you greatly to attain a good posture.
Back in the day, Americans used to spend long hours by sitting. But the recent researches claim that most of the people are willing to stand up and work up a sweat. There were also several kinds of research conducted on what happens when you sit for long hours and what if you’re spending the time to stand.
And the results of standing were like this,
Standing more could improve blood sugar, cholesterol, cut down fat levels in your blood and increases the amount of good cholesterol. Besides, when you sit for long hours, you will notice lowering of BMI, blood fats, and blood sugars. [2]
Therefore, standing is good is for you because standing exercises will work on the muscles, butt and legs. They keep your spine upright by eliminating hump pose. Also, they eradicate several other health issues like diabetes and heart diseases.
Of course, a good posture is a mandatory thing these days because no one wants to look dowdy or with a hump spine.
There are numerous challenging standing exercises made up of complex movements involving the entire body in yogic studies. One amongst them is Tadasana or the mountain pose.
Tadasana or mountain pose is a basic or simple standing exercise with the feet slightly closed with each other and uplifting the body putting weight equally on two legs. This is a warm-up pose for all the asanas and considered to be the basic posture of all the yogic exercises.
Mountain pose is specially devised to get rid of stiffness when you’re sitting for long hours. That’s because people doing desk jobs feel a lot of stiffness in their body. Thereby, the stiffness will cause a lot of pain. So, a perfect solution to such problems is ‘Tadasana’ or a ‘Mountain pose’.
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Benefits of Tadasana (Mountain Pose)
- Tadasana gives a good and perfect body posture without a hump
- With this exercise, you can increase the height
- No more lethargic feels or hunchbacks
- Your knees, thighs, and ankles will become stronger as you practise mountain pose
- Mountain pose will strengthen the abdomen and legs
- Helps to relieve from sciatica, flat feet, and indigestion
- Can make your spine stretchable
- Tadasana regulates your respiratory, digestive and nervous systems
- This mountain pose also regulates menstrual cycle in women
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Precautions for Tadasana or Mountain Pose
Certainly while doing every exercise we must be cautious. Let’s see what cautionary principles we need to follow while doing tadasana.
- A person suffering from a headache, Insomnia, and blood pressure must be cautious while doing standing poses or mountain pose. They can also consult a yoga instructor for better advice.
- Pregnancy women don’t go for these standing asanas including this simple tadasana
- Don’t extend your knee too much that can cause knee problems because hyperextension will compress the knee joint
- The positioning of feet is very important. Any alterations in feet positioning will have effects on the body parts. [3]
- Don’t overdo. Work how much you can within your limits and abilities
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Beginner’s Tips while doing Tadasana or Mountain Pose
- If you can’t stand firm and erect on your toes for a long time then do this exercise without standing on your toes. That being said, you can gradually maintain the pose on toes by practising.
- As a beginner to this exercise, you might not balance your position by standing with legs together. So, Keep your legs slightly apart and perform tadasana.
- Always concentrate on your alignment and body movements
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Advanced Mountain Pose variations or modifications
Since tadasana or mountain pose is the base of all other asanas, it’s important to maintain proper alignment throughout the asana. You can also try out tadasana in several ways as per your convenience.
- If you’re not having proper balance by standing on your feet which are together, try to separate your legs slightly till you feel comfortable.
- You can intertwine your fingers or simply you can do a prayer pose by resting your hands at the centre of your heart
- Instead of intertwining and uplifting your hands above your head, you can just simply extend your arms upwards by making sure your palms are facing each other. Your arms direction must be perpendicular to the ground and parallel to each other.
- Beginners can practise tadasana with the support of a wall.
- Close your eyes!
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Source: Yoga with Adriene
Here you go!
No more worries about hunchbacks or sitting at your office desks. Tadasana or Mountain Pose is a beacon of hope to attain a good body posture. If you practise this asana in a right way, it will be much easier to do other challenging standing asanas.
We’re about to do more Yoga Asanas, stay tuned for more updates. Also, do comment below which is your favourite Yoga Asana?
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