Sue Ransom Yoga

Whether you’ve been practicing for a while or are just beginning your yoga journey, it can be useful to reflect on various postures. Mountain pose (tadasana in Sanskrit) is a foundational symmetrical standing pose (asana) you’ll constantly come into in your yoga practice, and is the foundation for all the standing poses, so let’s take a look.

What goes on In your feet is reflected further up your body, so, for instance, if your toes are scrunched up this will have a ripple effect. It can be good to do a little stimulation of the feet before coming into this pose like lifting all your toes and fanning them in from little to big, lifting your heels and rising onto the balls of your feet, and perhaps a little walking around your mat carefully placing the outside of your feet down first and rolling inwards to activate the arches.

With awareness on your feet, arches engaged and toes nicely relaxed, you can build upwards from there having at least a micro-bend in your knees to avoid them locking, perhaps tilting your pelvis backwards and forwards a few times in an exaggerated way to then come into the mid-point of balance. I love the comparison Donna Farhi makes in her book, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit, likening the spine to a tree growing from a pot. If the pot is at an angle, it’s difficult for the trunk to grow straight. Similarly, if your pelvis is tilted backwards, forwards or sideways, it’s difficult for the spine to rise in a healthy alignment. So, pointing your sit bones to the earth, invite yourself to grow a little taller and, as you elevate, feel your core muscles gently engaging. It can feel nice to roll shoulders back and down and having palms facing forwards helps to keep them that way.  Too often we can fall into habits of slouched shoulders, rounded upper back, and head forward particularly with the temptation of devices. So draw your head back towards your body, making sure the back of your neck’s nice and long and your chin a little tucked in. Whew! A lot to think about.

We’re aiming for a classic plumb line in this posture, with your head over your heart, over your hips. If you stand sideways by a mirror you’ll ideally be able to draw an imaginary line from ear to shoulder, hip, knee and ankle. Stand tall, firmly rooted and grounded and elevating to the sky. And be still (quite a challenge). You might like to close your eyes and let yourself notice all the little nuances of movement and the adjustments of feet and core muscles that keep you in the pose. If you’re new to yoga it can feel a little stiff and awkward.

There are many benefits to the pose. We’re designed to move but it’s good to be aware of how this good, functional alignment feels, and to keep returning to it. To this delicious symmetry.  It’s not only a foundation posture for our physical practice, but a foundation for quieting the mind.

Mountain pose is a great pose to use as a yoga snack, without a full practice. Try it when you’re at the beach looking out over the sea, in the supermarket queue, when you’re waiting for the kettle to boil…. Treat it like a comma – a mini pause in your day where you’re still for a few moments. If you’ve been practicing yoga for a while, try holding this asana for several minutes and see how it feels in body and mind…

And back where we began it’s actually a great pose for your feet helping to strengthen all the muscles (and therefore protect the plantar fascia) so often underused as we push our feet into shoes and forget about them.

Enjoy…

Best to check with your health care professional before practicing yoga. I share yoga in beautiful Tasman Bay near Nelson, New Zealand. Please contact me for more information about weekly group sessions, private sessions, workshops and to book.