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Mountain Pose/Tadasana

2/19/2023

Tadasana, or Mountain Pose, is the foundational standing pose, and the principles of alignment you learn through its practice apply to many of the other standing postures. At a quick glance, you might think that someone in this posture is “just standing there,” but there’s more going on than meets the eye. In the properly aligned and executed posture, many muscles are activated, and the practitioner is balancing the engaged muscles with areas of ease.

Sanskrit:
Tadasana (tah-DAHS-ah-na)
Tada = mountain
Asana = commonly translated as pose; but more literally means seat (as in “take the seat/energy of a mountain”)

You may also hear this pose referred to as Samastithi (suh-muh-sthi-ti)

Sama = Equal, same
Stithi = Standing

Benefits of Tadasana:
This pose improves posture and muscle tone by bringing the body into correct alignment. It helps you develop concentration, coordination, stability, strength, poise, and balance. When you are standing in Tadasana, you are taking on the energy of a mountain—majestic, tall, and stable.

How to practice:

Stand with your feet parallel and hip-width apart.
Press down through the soles of your feet, at the “four corners.” Distribute your weight evenly side to side, between the inner and outer edges, and between the ball and heel of each foot.
Lightly engage your quadriceps. Press the top of the thigh back to reduce hyperextension at the knee.
Extend your tailbone down to elongate your lumbar spine and lengthen your waist. You’ll feel your belly firm as you do this.
Roll your shoulders up, back, and down. Reach down through your fingertips, and press up through the crown, lengthening the neck.
Reach out through your fingertips as you raise your arms into a V position overhead. Keep your arms extended just outside the ears.
Lengthen the body from hip to armpit, pulling up out of the waist.
To release, reach out through your fingertips, and lower your arms to your sides. Relax your torso and legs.

Possible Modifications or Variations:

Keep your arms down or hands in prayer position (anjali mudra) at heart center.
Hands on the waist, pulling your elbows back to open the chest.
Bring big toes together, with a slight space between the heels.

Precautions
With heart conditions or high blood pressure, keep arms below the head, using one of the modifications above.

As always, if a posture causes pain, come out of it immediately. Ask a qualified yoga teacher for assistance.

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Sanskrit 101

2/7/2023

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You want more flexibility or some stress relief, so you decide to try yoga. You’re thinking it will be similar to any other fitness class at the gym, perhaps. Then the teacher starts talking about “pranayama” or “tadasana” or “nadis”, and you look around to see if other people are as confused as you.

Sanskrit is the language of yoga and many other philosophies and disciplines, such as Ayurveda and Tantra. Yoga is an ancient practice, and Sanskrit is an ancient language, even older than Latin. The written version of Sanskrit is at least 3,500 years old, and the oral tradition is much older.

When you practice, or “study,” yoga, you will undoubtedly be exposed to at least a few Sanskrit words. The word Yoga itself, is, in fact, Sanskrit. Here’s a beginner’s guide to some of the terms you are most likely to encounter in Yoga class. Once you hear them a few times, they won’t seem so intimidating!

Yoga - from the root “yuj” meaning yoke or connect. Often interpreted as the “union” of mind, body, and spirit.

Asana - most literally translated as “seat.” In ancient times, yoga postures were limited to seated meditation postures. In contemporary use, asana refers to any of the poses or postures. Note that asana is usually a suffix. For instance, tadasana is tada (mountain) plus asana (pose); mountain pose.

Prana - life force energy; the energy that animates our physical bodies.

Om (or AUM) - is a sacred sound often chanted at the beginning and/or end of class. It is said to resonate at the vibration of the universe and represents the sound of creation.

Mantra - a word or phrase recited, usually during meditation, to help focus the mind.

Dharma - refers to one’s path, purpose, or duty in life.

Karma - Karma is more involved than the “what comes around goes around” or “Karma is a b*&^%” meaning we often hear. Karma is more about the energy that corresponds to our actions. It is believed that our actions influence our circumstances in our current lifetime as well as in future lifetimes.

Mudra - literally “seal” or “symbol,” and typically used to refer to hand positions or, less often, full body positions that are used to direct prana or focus one’s attention.

Bandha - literally “lock” or “bond,” refers to internal energetic and muscular locks. There are three main bandhas. Mula bandha is the root lock, created by lifting and contracting the pelvic floor muscles; uddiyana bandha is pulling the abdominal muscles in and up; and jalandhara bandha is the throat lock. Maha bandha (the great lock) is when all three are locked simultaneously.

Namaste - a respectful greeting. “I bow to you.” Usually accompanied by Anjali/Namaste mudra (hands together at the heart in a prayer-like position).

Ashtanga - literally “eight-limbed” and in classical yoga, used in reference to the eight limbs of yoga:

Yama (moral discipline)
Niyama (self-restraint)
Asana (posture)
Pranayama (breath/energy control)
Pratyahara (sense withdrawal)
Dharana (focus/concentration)
Dhyana (flow state/meditation)
Samadhi (pure awareness/bliss)

Note there is also a popular style of yoga, created by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, that adopted the name “Ashtanga.”

Sutra - like “suture,” meaning thread. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is a classic yoga text, full of aphorisms or “threads” of information that encompass the foundational philosophy of yoga.

Nadi - energy channel

Shanti - peace

Bhakti - one of the paths to yoga (union); the path of devotion

Japa - to mutter

Mala - garland, usually referring to to a strand of 108 beads strung together to use for mantra meditation

Citta - the mind or consciousness

Vritti - fluctuations

Drishti - focal point

Chakra - wheel of energy

Kirtan - call and response style of chanting or singing as a practice of devotion.

Karuna - compassion

Watch for another Sanskrit post with words to help decipher pose names.

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Mountain Pose/Tadasana

Sanskrit 101

Dena D. Beratta

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