Tadasana (Mountain Pose). Samasthiti

<h2> Tadasana. Mountain Pose. Samasthiti</h2>'Tada' means mountain, 'sama' - upright, straight, motionless, 'sthiti' - standing still, stillness. Tadasana is therefore the pose in which one stands firm and straight, like a mountain. It is one of the simplest and at the same time one of the most fundamental poses in the practice of yoga asanas. Tadasana: the technique 1. Stand up straight, feet together, the big toes and the heels touching each other. Make sure the weight of the body rests neither on the heel nor on the ball of the foot, but on the centre of the arch.2. Do not tense the big toes; extend them from their base and keep them relaxed (This is the position of the big toes in all the standing poses).3. Keep the ankles in line with each other.4. Tighten the knees, draw the kneecaps up and engage the quadriceps. 5. Firm the thighs and tighten the buttocks.6. Keep the back straight, lift the chest, broaden the rib cage. Do not push the abdomen forward; lift it up instead.7. Keep the neck vertical and the head facing forward; do not lean forward or back. Look straight ahead.8. Keep the arms alongside the body, extending them downwards; the palms face the thighs and are in line with them. Do not raise the shoulders. Keep the fingers together.9. Stand still for 20 or 30 seconds and breathe normally.Every standing asana begins and ends with this Mountain Pose, arms down by the sides. The effects of practising Tadasana Before attempting to balance on the head, it is important to be able to stand upright on the feet. People pay no attention to correct posture. Some stand with the weight of the body on one leg only, or with one leg set right out to the side. Others rest only on the heels, or on the outer or inner edges of the feet. You can see it in the way the heels and soles of their shoes wear down. From the habit of standing incorrectly, without distributing the body weight evenly over the whole foot, we acquire particular deformities that get in the way of the spine's flexibility.Even when the feet are kept apart, it is better for the toes and heels to be parallel rather than at an angle to each other. In that case the thighs engage, the abdomen draws in and the chest comes forward. This gives a feeling of lightness in the body, and the mind becomes alert. If we stand with the whole weight of the body on the heels, we feel how the pull changes: the thighs go slack, the abdomen pushes forward, the trunk leans back, the spine feels strained, and as a result we tire quickly while the mind grows dull. It is therefore essential to learn to stand correctly.