Rishikul Yogshala Rishikesh

A One-Stop Shop For The Mountain Pose

Mountain Pose Yoga(tadasana)

Tadasana looks like a simple movement, but it is a crucial pose for your yoga practice. This pose plays a foundational role for a lot of poses that include standing. 

From the outside, this looks like a straightforward pose, but when you pay close attention it is much more than a simple asana. In Tadasana or mountain pose, you stand up straight with your arms on the side, both feet facing forward and planted on the ground, and palms facing forward.

The Tadasana pose promotes good posture because it keeps your shoulders open, down, and away from your ears. It also improves stability. This empowering yoga posture is the cornerstone of standing poses. When you are in the middle of your practice, standing Tadasana pose will allow you to assess how your body feels after an asana so that you can move to another asana. 

It’s like a physical barometer. It keeps you aware of your body posture and prompts you to bring your shoulders down, soften your knees, and pull your shoulder blades toward your spine. If done regularly, it can become an embodiment of peace and inner stability. 

To learn more about the mountain pose and other yoga poses, we’d recommend enrolling into our 500 hours yoga teacher training program TTC where we teach the technicalities of the asanas and also provide a yoga teacher certificate at the end of the program.

Before that, let’s dive into some of the benefits of the mountain pose.

Mountain Pose Benefits 

First of all, it improves your posture and awareness of your body. 

Just like other standing poses, it can fight fatigue and boost your energy.

If you sit in front of your computer for long periods of time, the tadasana yoga pose can make your body feel more aligned and counter the effects of extended sitting. 

How to do Tadasana Yoga Pose?

Stand firmly on the ground with your feet parallel to each other within a few inches of distance. Another way to stand is to touch the bases of your big toes and your heels slightly apart. 

Raise your toes and spread them on the floor. Sway gently from side to side and back and forth. 

Reduce the swing and come to a standstill and balance yourself firmly on the ground.

Feel the energy drawing from your feet right to your core.

Raise the top of your sternum to the ceiling but don’t move your lower ribs. 

Broaden your collarbones and draw your shoulder blades toward each other and away from your ears. 

Let your palms face forward.

Keep your chin parallel to the floor, your crown directly over the center of your pelvis, and keep your throat soft. Breathe.

What to do If You Are a Beginner?

The first thing to keep in mind is your stance, which is extremely important. 

Next is balance. You have to position your feet as they are when you walk but leave them a few inches apart.

Keep your knees in front and keep your core slightly strong to maintain the pose’s integrity. However, to maintain strength, don’t lock your joints. 

Open up your shoulders and then your chest, but don’t tighten up your shoulders and keep them away from your ears. 

Ask a friend or a partner to check the alignment of your shoulder, ear, outer ankle, and outer hip.

Lengthen your neck and see a fixed spot in front of you. Inhale and exhale normally. 

Common Mistakes 

Expert yoga instructors advise that you should not flatten your lumbar spinal curve by tucking in your tailbone. By doing this, you push your hips forward and it further stops you from aligning your feet to the crown of your head. 

Don’t distribute your weight unevenly because it will interfere with the structural stability of your feet’s joints. 

Don’t let your defeated, fatigued, or depressed state of mind affect your posture. If you are defeated, fatigued, or depressed, you might stand with your shoulders dropped down and your chest collapsed. 

If you are mindful of your posture and you open your chest and draw your shoulders back, it can help you counteract a slumped and defeated posture both in the mind and the body. 

Tips for Mountain Yoga Pose

If you are unsure about your posture and want to check your alignment, stand with your heels and shoulder blades against a wall. 

Ensure that your knees are directly over your ankles and your hips are over your knees. 

Stand three to five inches apart if you want better balance.

Ensure that your pelvis is aligned with your tailbone for a neutral position, which allows a natural curve of the spine. 

Mountain Yoga Pose Tips for Teachers

If you are a yoga instructor and you teach a class these mountain pose yoga tips help your students get the best out of this pose:

Tell them to be aware of any habit of rounding their shoulders or collapsing their chest. They shouldn’t stand stiff as a mannequin either. 

Instruct them to stand tall, soften their shoulders, pull their shoulder blades together, and keep their shoulders away from their ears. 

Remind them to keep their feet pointing straight and distribute their weight evenly on both their feet. Teach them about supination or pronation, which is rolling the feet toward the outer edge of the foot or toward the arch. 

Tell them to not lock their knees out in mountain pose. Also, instruct them to soften their knees and breathe normally. 

Mountain Pose Variations

The mountain pose in yoga looks like a simple posture, but there is more than one way of doing it. Regardless of the reason behind doing it, be it addressing physical pain or improving your posture, these Mountain pose variations can support your body’s specific needs. Here are some variations: 

Mountain Pose with Feet Hip-distance Apart

This one is not so different from the usual mountain pose. All you have to do is stand with your feet hip distance apart. The remaining part is the same. Draw your shoulder blades toward each other and away from your ears and let your palms face forward. It gives you a more stable base. 

Mountain Pose Against a Wall

Even though this variation is the same as the basic mountain pose, but here you have to bring your back against a wall. You don’t have to touch all parts of your body to the wall. A better way to do this is to put a yoga block between your shoulder blades and the wall for more stability. 

Mountain Pose in a Chair

It can be done in a seated position as well. Find a chair that allows you to sit comfortably with your feet forward and directly under your knees, making a 90-degree angle. 

Sit forward and don’t slouch.

Achieve a neutral spine by lengthening your crown.

If you are short, use a yoga block to align your knees with your hips. Put a pillow behind your back for support. 

If you are tall, ditch the chair and sit on a folded blanket.

Concluding Thoughts

The Mountain pose is a perfect in-between pose during a yoga session. While you are in between your practice, this pose can tell you whether to move forward with your practice or not. You can assess if your body is feeling great and if not, you should stop. That’s the power of the Mountain pose in yoga

Mountain Pose FAQs

1. What is Mountain Pose good for?

The yoga mountain pose or Tadasana is a classic pose that works as a foundation of all standing poses. It may look like a simple pose, but it has various benefits. It can rectify muscle imbalances, improve posture, and make you aware of your body and mind.

2. Why is it called Mountain Pose?

The Mountain pose is called Tadasana or Samasthiti in Sanskrit. Tada means mountain and Asana means pose. So, you are standing tall like a mountain in Tadasana.

3. How do you describe Mountain Pose?

It is a simple standing pose with your feet together and your body vertically upright and strong. Here, your shoulder blades are pulled backward and away from your ears and your knees are softened. Also, it is a starting pose for all other standing poses in yoga and is the most basic posture.

4. Who should not do Mountain Pose?

People with migraine, vertigo, and low or high blood pressure should not do the Mountain pose. These ailments can cause dizziness and this pose can bring more pain or discomfort.