Good Morning! 
  
September is yoga awareness month. I am dedicating my writings to the 
power of yoga! Yoga has been a huge influence in my life and has 
given back to me in so many ways! So this week, I am introducing the 
power of yoga and how it may have an influence over you. 
  
Tada-asana (The Mountain Pose) 
  
Tadasana is one of the easiest asana poses, but yet the deeper you 
look and feel its effects, the more you will realize just how 
powerful it can be. Try this pose. For all, it is a very grounding 
and stabalizing pose. For beginners, it is a good way to  " sense "  your 
energy around you and experience how rooted you can become. For 
advanced students, try this pose from a new perspective. What is the 
purpose of the mountain pose to you? Really try concentrating on the 
true technique below: 
  
Stand with the feet together. Extend your toes; don't grip the floor 
or mat. Balance evenly on the front and the back and the sides of the 
feet. Be active in the thighs to lift the knees. Do not push the 
knees back. 
  
Rotate the pelvis back to take tailbone toward the floor. Feel the 
spine lengthen out of the sacrum, stretching each vertebra away from 
the vertebra below it. Lift the sternum. The shoulders stay relaxed 
and down. 
  
Rotate the upper arms outward. The palms of the hands face the 
thighs. As the neck stretches upward, keep the neck, throat, and jaw 
relaxed. The chin is parallel to the floor. Visualize a straight line 
running from your chin, to your sternum, to your pubic bone. Soften 
your gaze; quiet your hearing; relax your jaw. 
  
Breathe evenly and comfortably through your nose. 
  
  
Comments: 
Many common ailments and discomforts can be traced to poor posture. 
If the spine is not properly aligned or if there is tightness or 
stiffness in the back, the result is often an imbalance in the body. 
When this imbalance becomes chronic many kinds of disorders arise in 
the organs, glands and nervous system. Performing the tada-asana 
allows one to observe one's posture closely and clearly recognize 
those problems which get masked or ignored by day-to-day activities. 
As the posture is held and the breath, mind and body is quieted 
various effects will surface to indicate difficulties with the spine. 
Favoring one foot over the other, shifting back and forth, drooped 
shoulders, tightness in the neck and upper or lower back. 
The proper execution and continual practice of the tada-asana along 
with other postures helps to retrain the body to stand correctly and 
reverse the negative effects of poor posture. 
  
When the tada-asana is performed properly and the mind is focused and 
free of distraction, the body is experienced as being rooted firmly 
to the earth and as steady and motionless as a mountain. 
  
  
Andrew Pacholyk, MS, L.Ac 
http://www.peacefulmind.com/yoga_therapy.htm 
Therapies for healing 
mind, body, spirit