Yoga Month: Tada-asana (The Mountain Pose)

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Good Morning!

 

September is yoga awareness month. I am dedicating my writings to the

power of yoga! Yoga has been a huge influence in my life and has

given back to me in so many ways! So this week, I am introducing the

power of yoga and how it may have an influence over you.

 

Tada-asana (The Mountain Pose)

 

Tadasana is one of the easiest asana poses, but yet the deeper you

look and feel its effects, the more you will realize just how

powerful it can be. Try this pose. For all, it is a very grounding

and stabalizing pose. For beginners, it is a good way to " sense " your

energy around you and experience how rooted you can become. For

advanced students, try this pose from a new perspective. What is the

purpose of the mountain pose to you? Really try concentrating on the

true technique below:

 

Stand with the feet together. Extend your toes; don't grip the floor

or mat. Balance evenly on the front and the back and the sides of the

feet. Be active in the thighs to lift the knees. Do not push the

knees back.

 

Rotate the pelvis back to take tailbone toward the floor. Feel the

spine lengthen out of the sacrum, stretching each vertebra away from

the vertebra below it. Lift the sternum. The shoulders stay relaxed

and down.

 

Rotate the upper arms outward. The palms of the hands face the

thighs. As the neck stretches upward, keep the neck, throat, and jaw

relaxed. The chin is parallel to the floor. Visualize a straight line

running from your chin, to your sternum, to your pubic bone. Soften

your gaze; quiet your hearing; relax your jaw.

 

Breathe evenly and comfortably through your nose.

 

 

Comments:

Many common ailments and discomforts can be traced to poor posture.

If the spine is not properly aligned or if there is tightness or

stiffness in the back, the result is often an imbalance in the body.

When this imbalance becomes chronic many kinds of disorders arise in

the organs, glands and nervous system. Performing the tada-asana

allows one to observe one's posture closely and clearly recognize

those problems which get masked or ignored by day-to-day activities.

As the posture is held and the breath, mind and body is quieted

various effects will surface to indicate difficulties with the spine.

Favoring one foot over the other, shifting back and forth, drooped

shoulders, tightness in the neck and upper or lower back.

The proper execution and continual practice of the tada-asana along

with other postures helps to retrain the body to stand correctly and

reverse the negative effects of poor posture.

 

When the tada-asana is performed properly and the mind is focused and

free of distraction, the body is experienced as being rooted firmly

to the earth and as steady and motionless as a mountain.

 

 

Andrew Pacholyk, MS, L.Ac

http://www.peacefulmind.com/yoga_therapy.htm

Therapies for healing

mind, body, spirit