Tadasana (Mountain Pose) – A seemingly easy and basic pose that we sometimes forget to “work”

Its a standing pose, yes… but it also requires us to engage all our muscles when doing the posture.   

Pose: 

Standing tall with feet slightly apart, with both hands on each side, palms facing forward. 

Cues: 


Keeping the spine long
Feet parallel to each other and evenly grounded. Quadriceps engaged.
Activate also the adductors muscles.
Chest should be opened
Core engaged, belly sucked in.
Widen the collarbones.
Shoulders should be parallel to the ground. No slouching.
No overarch the back and squeeze the gluteals, keeping the tail bone down.
Gaze through the nose
Keep your neck long.
Chin neither tucked in or lifted
Breathing is relaxed.
5 Breaths

Benefits:

Improves posture and body awareness, strengthening legs and establish alignment.

It is a good pose to introduce to the beginners to help their awareness of the body.  One way of helping a beginner to engage the adductor muscles is by squeezing a yoga block between the inner thighs.  This would allow any beginner to recognise the muscle group and remember the sensation.  


How can we prepare for such an easy pose, one might ask. 

Standing with feet slightly apart, interlace the fingers.
Inhale raised the interlaced fingers above the crown, lengthening the spine, legs and arms
Exhale, release and relax
10 reps