Tadasana is one of the most significant yoga poses you can learn because it is the building block to learning every other pose in yoga! First appearing in the Vyayama Dipika in 1896, Tadasana helped open the door to various yoga flows in Western culture.
Tadasana developed from Asana, an umbrella term for practicing yoga poses. In Sanskrit, Asana means seat or posture. Originally, Asanas were seated yoga positions intended for meditation. Asanas were first mentioned in the “Yoga Sutras,” written around the third century CE.
Asanas combine physical movements with breathing exercises and are part of a branch of yoga known as Hatha yoga. Asanas sparked the development of sun salutations or Suryanamaskara in Sanskrit.
Sun salutations are a combination of physical movements linked to 12 different Asanas. The completion of a set of 12 Asanas is dedicated to the sun deity Surya. In addition to Hatha yoga, Asanas and sun salutations are also part of the Vinyasa yoga flow.
This brings us to Tadasana. Tadasana, as previously mentioned, developed from various Asanas. Tadasana is a single pose that acts as the foundation for a majority of the yoga poses that you can learn.
Tadasana comes from Sanskrit “Tada,” meaning mountain, and “sama,” meaning upright or unmoved. Thus, Tadasana is commonly known as the mountain pose, a pose where you stand up straight, erect, and sturdy as a mountain.
The Tadasana pose is meant to promote sturdiness, stability, strength, and power. It also sets the foundation for the rest of your yoga practice and helps you focus on your breath.
The best way to get the most out of your Tadasana pose is to imagine a current of energy flowing in the floor beneath you, and allow that energy to travel up from your feet, through the length of your body, and back out into the world through your crown. This visualization helps yogis feel connected to the earth, secure, stable, and strong.
It’s also important to note that Tadasana is a great way to practice mindfulness. Mindfulness not only improves your quality of life, it increases the melatonin levels in your body, helping you relax and reduce stress! That’s why Tadasana is such a vital pose to practice before bed.
Keep reading below to find out how else Tadasana can improve your physical and mental health.
As previously mentioned, Tadasana has been practiced for centuries because it can benefit your health in many ways. If you're someone who wants to improve their overall quality of life, practicing Tadasana once a day will help you feel grounded and at peace. In addition, Tadasana:
Tadasana just might be just what the doctor ordered! But why are the above-mentioned benefits so significant?
Notice how Tadasana promotes mindfulness. Mindfulness is a state of being where someone is fully present and objectively unreactive to their external environment. When a person is mindful, they know exactly where they are and what they’re doing, and they allow their thoughts to pass through their minds non-judgementally.
Mindfulness functions to awaken us to our physical and mental processes as they occur, so we can be our most aware and peaceful selves. Studies have shown that mindfulness can reduce symptoms of various brain disorders and can even reduce aging and brain decline.
Thus, Tadasana promotes all-around health, as it reduces stress, improves sleep, improves cognitive functioning, strengthens your muscles, and helps you achieve a state of mindfulness. If you want to learn Tadasana, check out the step-by-step instructions below.
Tadasana, or mountain pose, is a standing position that emulates the shape of a mountain. As mentioned above, Tadasana is when you stand erect and sturdy and focus on your breath. Here’s how to practice Tadasana:
As you can see, anyone can practice Tadasana. The simplicity of the pose is what helps make it so relaxing and the perfect way to end a long day.
Another great way to finish a long day is with NightCap, my personal favorite evening cocktail. NightCap is special because it contains healthful ingredients that improve your quality of sleep, helping you wake up energized and maintain focus throughout the following day.
Speaking of improving your quality of sleep, keep reading to find out how Tadasana can help you sleep deeply the whole night through and improve your cognitive functioning throughout the day.
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Tadasana helps you sleep more deeply because it stretches your hips, thighs, and spine, allowing your body to enter into a state of relaxation. In addition, by balancing your body in the Tadasana pose, feelings of stress decrease, and the mind becomes more mindful, helping you get a deeper sleep.
And the benefits don’t stop there! Tadasana helps regulate your digestive system, which also helps you get a better night’s rest! Since your body can focus more on its REM cycle rather than on the digestive process while you get your shut-eye, Tadasana is the perfect pose to practice before bed.
As previously mentioned, NightCap is an evening cocktail loaded with health benefits. NightCap is made from Magnesium, Zinc, L-Glycine, and Rutaecarpine.
NightCap’s ingredients are naturally produced minerals that promote your physical and mental health in various ways. Click here to read more about NightCap’s ingredients and how they can benefit you, especially when coupled with practicing Tadasana!
In case you needed yet another reason to practice Tadasana, check out how consistently scheduling the pose into your routine can help prevent injury.
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If you’re an athlete or someone who pushes your body too hard, practicing Tadasana can neutralize the effects caused by overworking yourself. Because Tadasana strengthens muscles that support your knees, it’s the perfect pose for injury prevention!
In addition, because Tadasana encourages you to check on your body, it’s a great way to bring notice to soreness and strains on your muscles. Tadasana can help you prevent injury just by increasing your awareness and knowing when to let yourself rest!
Another way that Tadasana can prevent injuries is by stretching your muscles, allowing for more range of motion. With more range of motion, you are less likely to accidentally pull a muscle or sprain a tendon!
Balance practice has also been proven to reduce the risk of injury, and Tadasana is all about balance. Balance encourages awareness of how your body moves through space, allowing you to be more careful when you decide to get physically active.
Lastly, practicing Tadasana can reduce your cortisol levels, which are linked to stress. Studies show that most injuries occur under stress. Additionally, stress is linked to slower injury recovery, so practicing Tadasana, even when you’re injured, can help your body recover more quickly.
Tadasana is a great pose for those in physical pain because it encourages awareness which helps take the mind away from negative thoughts.
If you’re unable to stand, you can still emulate the sentiments and benefits induced by Tadasana by sitting upright and grounding yourself to the floor. If you imagine energy flowing beneath you in the earth and up through the tailbone and the length of your body, you can still reap the benefits of Tadasana!
Another great way to emulate Tadasana if you can’t stand is to visualize yourself as a sturdy, standing mountain even as you sit. Essentially, a seated-Tadasana is a form of meditation.
Thus, even if you are physically unable to stand, you can still practice your own version of Tadasana at home!
Now that you’re a Tadasana expert, you’re ready to reap all the benefits of practicing the pose! Don’t forget to visualize yourself connecting with the energy flowing from the earth and up through you, and you’ll be a force to be reckoned with!
If you’re looking to reduce stress, improve your sleep quality, and improve your cognitive functioning, don’t forget to check out NightCap, the perfect refresher after an effective Tadasana practice! Together, NightCap and Tadasana are a stellar combination with health benefits you don’t want to miss out on.