Weekly Posture

Tadasana
(tah-DAHS-anna)
tada=mountain
asana=posture

When practicing yoga, we tend to give more energy to postures our ego's determine as "more difficult" but every posture in yoga should get the same amount of energy. Yoga postures are designed to bring the mind into stillness by finding a steady and comfortable balance in the body during the pose. The ego may find Tadasana easy but there are many actions the body is doing, simultaneously, to keep us connected between the ground and the sky. Also, this is an important pose because if we can feel the balance of the body in Tadasana, finding the balance in all other standing postures, whether on two feet or one, will be easier to find. Tadasana is sometimes referred to as the "blueprint" of all the standing postures, so let's take a closer look at this pose from the feet to the top of the head.

Begin by placing your feet hips width apart...draw an imaginary line from the outside of your little toe to the outside of your hip, the line should be perpendicular to the Earth. Now look down to make sure the inner edges of your feet are parallel to each other. You want to feel that the weight of your body is being distributed evenly, from the outer to the inner edges of the feet, from the toes to the heels. Now press through the ball of your big toes, pinky toes and center of the heels, strengthen the arches as you gently lift them up towards the sky. This isn't a big movement and shouldn't cause you to tense or tighten anywhere else. This is the beginning of the posture. By starting here, you will begin to feel what rooting into the Earth is all about.

Now let's work our way up the body, aligning everything on top of each other, like stacking bricks. Gently engage your quadriceps, allowing the kneecaps to lift slightly up, creating a firm but gentle support to keep you upright. Next, bring awareness into your pelvic region. You want the spine to move into it's natural curvature, so begin by allowing the pelvis to come into a neutral position. It should feel as though you are slightly sticking your tailbone back behind you, without really sticking your tailbone out...to find this neutrality, allow yourself to spend a few moments rocking the pelvis forward and back and then slowly stopping the movement and resting the pelvis ina place that feels neutral for you.

Next, we bring ourselves to the spine. You always want to visualize that your spine is lengthening up towards the sky. This sensation should begin at the base of the spine, known as the coccyx, and continue through each vertebra to the top, known as the cervical spine and then out through the crown of your head...think of that place known as the "soft spot" in infants. As you lengthen the spine, feel the lift happening at the base of your ribcage as opposed to your shoulders. Because as the spine moves up, you want the top of your shoulders to relax and feel as though they are moving down the back, towards the Earth.

Now bring your attention to the front of your body. You want to feel the chest opening and the sternum lifting towards the sky. This sensation is the result of two other actions. The first action being the stacking of the vertebrae as you lengthen the spine. The second action is to gently squeeze the shoulder blades together. When you perform these two actions together, you will feel the chest open and the sternum lift. However, you are not pushing the chest out, rather, think of it as opening the gates(ribcage) of your heart to allow your love to flow into the universe.

And finally the head and arms. Allow your arms to relax down the sides of your body, and notice that your palms will be slightly open towards the front. This happens because of the shoulder blades gently squeezing together. This action creates a rippling effect of outward rotation down the whole arm and out the finger tips. Allow your head to feel light as it rests gently on top of the spine, letting the chin drop slightly down so that your neck is in a neutral position.



Once the physical body is in alignment, allow your eyes to focus softly on one point in front of you and feel the energy of your inhale travel down your spine, into your legs and feet and deep into the Earth, rooting you. And as you exhale, feel the energy of that exhale travel through the Earth, into your feet, up your legs and spine, into your head, out your crown and into the universe above, rooting you to the heavens. Stay in Tadasana for a few minutes, breathing full, long, slow breaths and feel every muscle, cell and organ come into balance, steadiness and stillness. Observe how the mind is reacting. If your mind creates a thought, let the thought come, acknowledge the thought then let it go, like a cloud floating in the sky. Allow yourself to be unattached to your thoughts.



The beauty of Tadasana is that it's a posture that can be practiced anywhere and most importantly during our practice on our mat it can become a way for us to check in with ourselves, to quietly reflect on how our practice is going, to rest between standing postures as we prepare for the next side or the next posture. Don't let this posture become non-existent or unimportant for you...it's just as powerful as standing on our heads.

Peace for now :)