Pose: Mountain Pose
Tadasana
Stand up straight! Who doesn’t want to walk into a room full of people and feel confident as they stand tall, hold their head up high, and exude a commanding presence? While confidence building may take some work– you don’t tape those daily affirmations to your bathroom mirror for nothing– your attention commanding posture doesn’t have to be difficult.
So, standing up straight is actually a pose, you ask? Yes, in fact, there is more to it than you think. This is a pose all in itself, but most commonly used as the starting position of all standing asanas (poses).
Mountain Pose Benefits:
Improves posture (and hopefully confidence)
Relieves sciatica
Helps to bring focus back to your yoga practice and to your body
Firms the thighs
Strengthens the abs
Mountain Pose How To:
- Stand Tall—arms by your sides with palms facing forward, centering yourself and finding your equilibrium of balance.
- Bring the big toes together and let the heels sit slightly a part spreading the toes. Ground down through your feet.
- Flex the thighs, lifting the knee caps up.
- Reaching up through the spine, feeling as if there is a string attached to the crown of your head and it pulling you up toward the sky.
- Relax the shoulders down away from your ears and squeeze the shoulder blades back creating space between the collarbones.
- Keep the chest lifted, take the arch out of your low back by drawing the sit bones toward your heels (it will feel like a gentle tucking forward of the pelvis).
Mountain Pose Caution:
Do not do this pose if you are suffering from severe headaches or low blood pressure.
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