Although the Tadasana is a fairly simple pose that is done as a warm up ahead of a Yoga session, it has several benefits to offer if done regularly. In fact, it may just be the solution to a great deal of your physical distressors which are a by-product of the fast-paced life of today. If we have caught your attention already, keep scrolling to know more!
tada = mountain
asana = seat; posture
What is Tadasana
Courtesy of the digital age that we live in, we all have become more prone to spending a great deal of time in a seated position every day. One such example is that of a desk job, where we spend most of our time going through a myriad of documents and emails, to name a few things. Doing so can put an unnecessary amount of stress on the likes of us, resulting in us having an incorrect posture, long episodes of fatigue, and several other kinds of ailments in the long run. But, it need not be that way.
What if we told you that there is a simple yoga pose that will help you avoid all such issues if it is performed regularly? We assure you that there is. It is known as the Tadasana pose. Also known as the Mountain Pose, the Tadasana (tah-DAHS-ah-na), which is essentially a warm-up pose performed at the beginning of every Hatha Yoga session, is unarguably one of the simplest yoga poses that you can perform. However, the benefits that it can provide to you are anything but minimal. One such benefit that it provides is an enhanced ability of stress management. Let us now take a deeper dive into what this magical pose is about by exploring several aspects of it. Read on to know more.
How To Do Tadasana Mountain Pose
- Tadasana Step 1: Stand with your feet slightly apart so that they are in line with your shoulders. Ensure that your arms are by your side and your body weight is equally divided between your feet.
- Tadasana Step 2: Raise your arms and interlock your fingers. After doing so, raise them above your head while simultaneously breathing in, but ensure that your palms are facing upwards after the end of the motion.
- Tadasana Step 3: Gently lift the sole of your feet while breathing out simultaneously, an action that should put the entirety of your body weight on your toes. In addition, you must simultaneously stretch your arms upwards as well. While you perform the mentioned action, take an extra breath of air in. Hold on to this position for as long as you can. Ideally, you should hold on to it for 20 seconds or above, you must do as much time as you are comfortable with if you are doing this pose for the first time or perhaps after a long break.
- Tadasana Step 4: Once you have spent the amount of time you are comfortable in the pose mentioned above, begin retracting to your starting position by unlocking your fingers and moving your arms in the fashion of clock arms until you reach the hip they correspond to. While you perform the said action, make sure that you simultaneously begin to de-escalate your heels to their natural position and breathe out.
If you are reading there, there is a very good chance that you are looking to find a solution to your stress levels, fatigue and back pains, but are unable to carve out a workout session for you. The best part about the Tadasana (Mountain Pose) is that it only takes up a few minutes of your time in a day and it can be done anywhere, but if done regularly, it will solve a great deal of issues you are facing currently. What’s more, it is made up of a handful of extremely simple steps that can be done anywhere.
Repeat this asana for a total of 7 times. Performing the Tadasana regularly should help the practitioner breathe with lesser obstructions, feel a lower degree of stiffness in the body and feel a heightened sense of awareness of the self.
What Are The Benefits Of Tadasana (Mountain Pose)
- Tadasana - Makes You More Mentally Aware: In addition to making the fatigue you experience on a daily basis go away, the Tadasana pose also makes you more aware of yourself as well as your surroundings. It achieves the same by waking up the sacred Chakras, the byproduct of which is a deeper sense of communication with one’s consciousness, hence broadening mental awareness horizons. What’s more, it is also known for awakening a sense of creativity and intuition, along with causing the de-fogging of the mind.
- Tadasana - Aids In Breathing: Given that the air quality in Tier I and II cities around the world is what it is, the residents of these regions have become very susceptible to respiratory ailments. This is where the Tadasana Mountain Pose can come to the rescue. Religious practitioners of Tadasana pose eventually end up opening their alveolar passages, enabling them to inhale the cleaner air much more deeply and sans obstructions of any nature coming in the way of it.
- Tadasana - Helps You Lose Weight: A lesser known benefit of the pose stems from its ability to increase one’s metabolic rate, causing the practitioner to lose their unwanted weight at a faster pace and hence achieve their weight loss goals if they have any.
- Tadasana - Improves Your Agility Levels: The fast-paced life of today requires an individual to be on their toes in one way or another, either mentally or physically. If you think that you are lacking in this area, you can rectify it by becoming a practitioner of Tadasana Mountain Pose. It achieves the same by opening up all of your sacred chakras, allowing for a deeper sense of communication to exist between your levels of consciousness.
- Tadasana - Increases Your Height: If practised from an early age, Tadasana Mountain Pose can help a practitioner add a few inches later on in life, which is always a welcome development. The reason why Tadasana aids in the same is that the elongation of the spinal area that happens while performing the pose releases growth hormones, hence aiding in the stature of the individual later in life.
When To Practise Tadasana Mountain Pose
The salient feature of the Tadasana Mountain Pose is that it can be performed at any time of the day. You can do it either right after getting out of bed or before going to it. You do not need a lot of energy in yourself in order to be able to perform this. Additionally, unlike in the case of many other Hatha Yoga poses, there is no obligation whatsoever to maintain an empty stomach for at least 4-6 hours prior to performing this Asana. However, if you are doing this pose as a part of your Yoga routine which consists of several other poses, you must ensure that your stomach and bowels have been empty for those 4-6 hours.
Tadasana Mountain Pose Contraindications
While the Tadasana Mountain Pose is a relatively safe yoga pose to execute, there are circumstances in which you should consider getting the opinion of a doctor who specifically treats any health condition that you might have. You should especially consult your doctor before performing the Tadasana pose if you are suffering from any of the following ailments:
- Inability to get proper REM sleep
- Headaches
- Low blood pressure
- Lightheadedness or Dizziness
- Discomfort of any nature in your back, shoulder or any of the joints
Anatomy of Tadasana (Mountain Pose)
In order to appreciate the positives of performing the Tadasana pose in its entirety, one must understand exactly how it works its magic on the practitioner. Read on to learn about its workings in a nutshell.
While performing the Tadasana Mountain Pose, some of your muscles must contract and some must stretch. The muscles that should feel a stretching sensation are as follows:
- Your chest, or pectoral muscles.
- Your abdominals
- Upper thighs
- Upper back (also known as the Trapezius)
- Triceps
- Glutes, and
- Last but not least, the muscles around your spinal region.
As far as the muscles which will contract are concerned, they are as follows:
- Biceps, and
- Lower thighs, or as they are known in the wellness parlance, hamstrings.
All of these muscles will expand and contract in tandem. For example, when performing steps 2 and 3, you will feel a contraction sensation in your triceps and some degree of the same in the chest area as well. While completing step 2 in particular, you will feel more of an expansion in your tricep and chest areas and a contraction in the biceps. You should also feel an expansion in your upper back and spinal area, which is one of the reasons why young practitioners of the tadasana pose tend to see a growth spurt later in life. The action of lifting and then landing your heels will engage your hamstrings, calf muscles, glutes and upper thighs, while the act of breathing will cause an expansion in your abdomen and shoulder area.
The bottom line is, if the muscle groups mentioned above work in a fashion similar to the one described above, you will eventually be able to reap most of the benefits of the pose if done consistently and correctly over time.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About The Tadasana Mountain Pose
Why Is It Called Tadasana?
Tadasana is a word that is Sanskrit in origin. The first half of this word “Tada” means a mountain or anything similar to its stature, while the other half means “Pose”. Combine them together and you get The Mountain Pose. This position in particular gets its name due to the fact that it is considered to be the physical embodiment of standing tall and strong, foreshadowing the effects that it is eventually supposed to have on the practitioner’s body.
What Are The Techniques Of Tadasana?
There are several alternative techniques one can deploy while performing the Tadasana Mountain Pose. For example, the practitioner can do the Tadasana while being seated on the chair (Which is recommended if the practitioner is an expecting mother), while closing one eye in order to put their balance to test or turn their gaze upwards to assess how it affects their alignment. The practitioner may also experiment with arm movements to observe subtle to evident changes in their alignment as well.
How Do I Get Better At Tadasana?
Perhaps the best way to get better at Tadasana is by doing it on a daily basis and making note of every moving part associated with the same with the passage of time. One can also revisit our site and take a glance at the steps of doing Tadasana once again as a revision and eventually closing the learning curve over time.
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