Tadasana is often thought of as ‘just a standing stance’ from where you begin your surya namaskar. In reality, it is one of the first postures you should master, as it teaches the right alignment for the body starting from feet upwards. Tadasana stance is followed for all other standing postures, hence it is of utmost importance that we learn it well. In fact, the alignment for chaturanga dandasana will be the same as tadasan, except it is in the horizontal plane. Sounds strange? But it is true.
In Ashtanga yoga, tadasan is known as Samasthithi: with slight variation in the feet and hand positioning.
How is Tadasan done?
Here are the quick alignment tips for tadasan:
- Place feet together, big toes touching and heels slightly apart. The outer edge of the feet is parallel to the longer edge of the mat. (Beginners can start by keeping the feet hip width apart).
- Press the center of the heel, mound of the pinky toe and big toe firmly to the ground. Spread the toes, lengthen them forward and then press down, rather than scrunch.
- Take a moment to close the eyes and ensure equal weight distribution in both feet.
- Lift the arches of the feet. You can do this by lifting the ankles up. This will be difficult for beginners, so you can lift the toes up and see how that works to lift the arch of the feet.
- Firm the thighs by lifting the kneecaps up. This helps to engage the quadriceps muscles.
- Lengthen the tailbone towards the ground.
- Engage the lower belly lightly by gently lifting it in towards the spine and up and towards the heart centre.
- Lift and expand your heart centre (chest region) by lifting the sternum up.
- Widen your collarbones.
- Relax the shoulders and take them away from your ears.
- Bring awareness to the shoulder blades and release them down the back.
- Lengthen the neck along with the rest of the spine upward while the chin stays parallel to the ground.
- Imagine a line of energy passing from the feet all the way up to the crown of your head pulling you up.
- Arms by the sides of the body or in Anjali Mudra in front of your chest.
Why Tadasan?
Tadasan teaches us to stand firmly on our two feet. The right posture in tadasana induces optimal energy flow within the body. It is important to stay in this pose and observe and reflect internally and correct the alignment before beginning your practice.
It all starts with the feet:
Feet form the foundation of the body and carry our entire weight everyday. Misalignment of the feet as we walk can cause problems like knee and ankle pain just to name a few. We see people walking with their feet outward or inward. When activities like running, weights, aerobics or yoga are performed without correct feet placement, it can aggravate the injuries further.
In addition, many of us tend to put more weight on one foot while standing or even walking or performing exercises.
Tadasan is an excellent posture, which helps us understand these imbalances and correct them through consistent practice; starting from aligning the feet correctly.
Pressing down the three points of the feet in Tadasan will support the arches of the feet and activate all the feet muscles optimally. Lifting the arches help pull the energy upward. Learn how Tadasan can help with flat feet here. People with tight hamstrings can initially keep the feet hip width apart .
As Leslie Kaminoff says “Nothing can be built on a shaky foundation. The practice of standing postures in general, and tadasana in particular, is one of the best ways to restore the natural aliveness, strength, and adaptability of the feet. Once your foundation is improved, it’s much easier to put the rest of your house in order.”
Engaging the quadriceps:
The quadriceps muscles in the front of our thighs need to be engaged while standing to ensure we don’t hang out on our knee joints and hyper extend them. (Hyper extend is a word you will often hear from yoga instructors who follow alignment principles.)
The cue usually given to engage the quads is to “lift the knee caps up”. Many practitioners will find it difficult to do this, purely because their knees are hyper extended or weak quads. These students can strengthen their quads by doing supine leg lifts and leg exercises under strict guidance of a certified instructor.
Hips don’t lie:
There is a lot going on in the hip region. With excessive sitting and current lifestyle in general, people tend to have tight hips. We frequently observe excessive anterior or posterior pelvic tilts. In simple English, you will see them standing with their buttocks jutting back, or the belly jutting forward. Both are not ideal and tadasan aims to correct it by encouraging standing with a neutral pelvis.
The alignment cue given in tadasan is to lengthen tailbone towards the ground /feet which also helps to increase the inter-vertebral space in the lower back.
Heart centre and upper torso:
We aim to expand the heart centre and widen the collar bones in Tadasan. At the same time, the shoulders are relaxed and away from the ears and the shoulder blades are taken back and down. This has relevance once again in our current lifestyle. It helps to reverse the ill effects of the slouchy shoulder and excessive rounding of the upper back; which we develop, due to sitting for long hours and working on the laptop.
Slightly engaging the lower belly along with the lengthening in the lower back helps to gently awaken the core muscles, thus energizing the body.
The ever prevalent text neck where the head comes much forward to the neck is another common issue even kids have these days. Adopting the right posture in tadasana and keeping the spine, neck and head in one line helps correct this in the long run.
The idea behind tadasan is to gently activate and awaken all the muscles in the body, including the ones that are underused. We retrain our body to use the right muscles and align them in the proper way. When the bones and muscles are aligned properly, the energy or prana flows freely and through consistent practice, we build the ‘mind muscle connection’, thereby correcting our imbalances. So next time when your yoga teacher says tadasana, take a moment to close your eyes, observe the alignment, root down and find stillness in the pose.
Written by:
Hema Laxman, RYT 200
Owner, Flamingo Yoga & Wellness
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