What is Tadasana?
Tadasana also known as Mountain pose, is a sanskrit word ‘tada’ meaning ‘palm’ or ‘mountain’ and ‘asana’ meaning ‘posture’ or ‘seat’. This asana, which is the starting and ending ending pose of Surya Namaskar, represents standing strong like a palm tree or like a mountain. Tadasana is also known as "samasthiasana, where ‘sama’ means unmoved, aloof and ‘sthiti’ means standing firm and upright. Tadasana is the basis or foundation of all the yoga poses and makes the spine and vertebra strong and improves its flexibility. Though this asana looks simple, it works on the muscles of the core, back, legs, feet and glutes and has many health benefits.
When to practice Tadasana?
Unlike other yoga asanas, it is not necessary to have an empty stomach to perform Tadasana. This yoga asana can be performed at any time of the day. But if you are doing a full yoga session, where you will be performing other yoga asanas before and after Tadasana, make sure that you have your meals 3-4 hours before your yoga session. Also make sure that your bowels are clean, so that you do not have to take any breaks in between.
How to do Tadasana?
As while performing any other yoga asana or physical activity, comfort, awareness and precautions are the most important things to be considered. Below are the steps to perform Tadasana.
- Stand straight with your feet touching each other. Make sure your back is straight and upright. The arms should be slightly pressed against the sides and the palms facing inwards.
- Balance your weight evenly on both the feet.
- Breathing in, raise your arms in front, keeping them parallel to the shoulders.
- Lock the fingers of both the hands with one another and move your wrist outward.
- Again, breathe in and lift your arms above the head.
- As you lift your arms up, slowly lift your heels off the floor, balancing the weight of your body on the toes carefully.
- Hold on to this position for 10 seconds to half a minute. You can extend the time as per your comfort and practice.
- Slowly move your heels down and touch the floor.
- Breathe out and relax the fingers.
- Bring the arms down slowly and get into the starting position.
- Relax and repeat.
Benefits of Tadasana
Tadasana is one of the basic yoga asanas with a lot of health benefits. Below are the few of the many health benefits it offers.
Enhances the posture:
As per a study, Tadasana is known to improve posture and body awareness. It strengthens the legs, enhances the core and maintains good body alignment. Performing Tadasana regularly helps to maintain a healthy spine and may help to correct faulty spinal posture. It may also help to reduce the lower back pain caused due to nerve compression. It is a great asana for people having sedentary lifestyles or people with desk jobs.
Assist in increasing height:
Practicing Tadasana in the teenage years may help increase a few inches, in both boys and girls. Height is dependent on genetics, nutritional intake and lifestyle. Tadasana enhances muscular strength and thus elongates the spine, which in turn may give a feeling of increased height. However, this yoga asana is not a solution for stunted height.
Boosts mental awareness:
As we know, performing yoga is not just about improving flexibility, but also about practicing mindfulness. Tadasana improves mental awareness and helps you to connect to your inner consciousness. Regular practice of Tadasana allows one to feel calm, composed and may also help to beat depression by enhancing positivity. It may also be beneficial in increasing alertness and concentration.
Promotes breathing:
Tadasana may help to open and clear up the lungs that are clogged up due to pollution or any kind of respiratory problems. It may help to open the alveolar passages inside the lungs which in turn may allow a person to breathe freely and deeply without any kind of obstruction.
Weight loss:
Tadasana is known to improve metabolism, which helps to burn more calories and thus assist in weight loss. But just performing Tadasana or any kind of physical activity is not enough. It should be supplemented with a balanced diet, hydration and adequate sleep.
Precautions
Here are some precautions to be taken while or before you start performing Tadasana:
- Beginners should begin slowly and avoid practicing Tadasana for too long, as it may cause strain on the muscles.
- While performing this yoga asana, make sure that you have distributed your weight on both the feet, so that you balance well.
- Tadasana should be done carefully by people:
- With varicose veins as the may get engorged and twisted.
- With Arthritis as it involves inflammation and pain.
- With Vertigo as it may aggravate the condition
People with the above mentioned conditions should not lift up their heels off the ground while performing Tadasana.
- A pregnant female should keep a wider stance while performing this asana for stability and should be careful while lifting the heels.
- People with conditions like Insomnia, low blood pressure, frequent headaches, joint, back or shoulder pain should perform Tadasana only after consulting a doctor.
- Very important, never start doing Tadasana or any other yoga asana on your own. Learn and perform Tadasana by an experienced yoga instructor. This will help to avoid any postural mistakes.
Conclusion
Tadasana is a basic yoga pose or asana which provides a lot of physical and emotional benefits. It not only helps to improve posture and balance but also calms the body and the mind. Tadasana can assist in performing other yoga asanas in a better way and benefit in smooth bodily movements. This Yoga asana can be easily performed anytime, anywhere and by anyone. But it is always better to perform yoga asanas under the guidance of a trained yoga teacher, especially for people with underlying health conditions. Make sure that you perform Tadasana regularly to get the best benefits.
