Benefits of Tadasana Yoga: Types, Steps and Precautions

Tadasana is a classic yoga pose that is the foundation of all yoga asanas. It provides immense benefits to its practitioners. It provides strength and flexibility and enables us to manage our emotions better. If you are suffering from any chronic disease or recovering after surgery, practising yoga can be beneficial if you add it to your daily routine.

Read on to know crucial details about this asana.

What Is Tadasana?

Tadasana is a Sanskrit word. While tada means mountain, asana means posture or pose. So, we get the phrase Mountain Pose by combining these two Sanskrit words. It is the foundation or base for all standing poses in yoga.

Tadasana is an excellent pose for standing or resting. Additionally, you can practise this asana to improve your posture as well. Moreover, it is the starting and finishing position for many important asanas like the Surya Namaskar.

What Are the Health Benefits of Tadasana?

Listed below are the various health benefits of practising tadasana:

1. Improves Flexibility

If you consistently practise Tadasana, you will experience improved flexibility. If you practise it correctly, you will realise that you can bend your back further and with ease. Moreover, it also helps you build up your strength and stability.

2. Helps in Managing Back Pain

This asana is beneficial if you are suffering from back pain. You can mitigate your spinal and neck pain by correctly and regularly performing Tadasana. If you practise yoga under a qualified instructor who is well aware of all your medical issues, you will get better guidance in managing them.

3. Improves Breathing

A great benefit of tadasana yoga is that it opens the lungs and helps you breathe in more deeply. Considering the fact that we live amidst air pollution in the twenty-first century, this benefit cannot be undermined. This is because Tadasana helps in unclogging our lungs.

4. Boosts Energy Levels

This yoga posture helps rejuvenate our mind, body and soul. One can use Tadasana to cultivate stillness and strength and prepare the mind and body for the next asana.

5. Promotes Weight Loss

Tadasana is also responsible for improving metabolism. This asana helps the practitioner burn more calories. So, if you wish to lose weight, you can try practising yogas utilising Tadasana.

6. Improves Mental Awareness

Yoga plays a vital role in boosting our mental awareness. This is because it lays equal stress upon our physical and psychological well-being. Tadasana helps us connect with our in-depth consciousness and assists us in improving our mental awareness. It makes us more composed, calm and alert.

7. Provides Relief from Sciatica Pain

The pain that radiates from the Sciatic nerve is called Sciatica pain. The pain pierces the lower back through the hips and buttocks down each leg. Generally, Sciatica pain affects only one side of the body. If you are suffering from Sciatica pain, try practising Tadasana correctly, and it will mitigate pain and strengthen the muscles.

8. Develops Better Balance

While practising Tadasana, you need to stand tall and straight. Therefore, this yoga posture ensures that you improve your sense of balance.

9. Effective in Treating COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)

COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) is an inflammatory lung disease which is chronic in nature. It hampers airflow from the lungs, which causes cough, mucus, and wheezing and makes breathing difficult. If people practise Tadasana, it will reduce stress and anxiety and improve strength and balance. COPD patients can also gain a sense of stability.

10. Helpful in Parkinson’s Disease

Consistently practising Tadasana helps in strengthening the lower body. As a result, one can benefit from improved posture and balance. Patients who have Parkinson's disease can greatly benefit from practising this asana regularly.

11. Reduces Pain Related to Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS)

If you are suffering from Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), you can try practising Tadasana. It has shown some effectiveness in reducing AS-related pain. Moreover, it improves posture and flexibility.

Other Benefits of Practising Tadasana

Practising Tadasana correctly improves the strength of your legs and abdomen. Moreover, it improves functional fitness.
Tadasana also ensures the effective functioning of the digestive tract.
Yoga poses like Tadasana improve your mood and help defeat depression.
It mitigates pain from flat feet.
Learning how to do Tadasana opens the door for more advanced yoga techniques.

How to Perform Tadasana?

Given below is a step-by-step guide for performing the Tadasana pose:

Step 1: Stand with your feet placed slightly apart. Your body weight needs to be equally balanced on both your feet.

Step 2: Gradually lift your toes and balls of the feet. Place them back in their original position. Rock side to side and back and forth. Stop swaying and gradually come to a standstill position.

While doing this, make sure your weight is evenly balanced across both your feet. You can experience the energy getting transferred from the feet to the entire body through the core.

Step 3: Lift up your chest towards the ceiling but do not push your lower front ribs forward. Widen the shoulders. Make sure that the shoulder blades are drawn towards one another. These should be drawn down the back and away from your ears.

Step 4: Hang your arms down beside your torso and let them relax. The palms can face inwards or outwards.

Step 5: Place the crown of your head directly above your pelvis. It needs to be balanced well.

Step 6: The underside of your chin should be placed parallel to the floor. Place the tongue wide and flat on the floor of the mouth.

Step 7: Relax your throat, soften your eyes and breathe.

What Are the Top Tips for Practising Tadasana?

Listed below are a few tips that will help you practise the Mountain Pose optimally:

Activate Your Core Gently: Remember that your stance is critical. Try to activate your core gently. This will maintain a strong stance and retain the integrity of the pose. Additionally, it will prevent you from locking your joints.
Focus on Proper Alignment: It is a good idea to align your ears, shoulders, neck and hips above the ankle. The body weight should be evenly placed on both feet. Make sure you do not collapse into the arches of your feet. Moreover, do not turn your feet in other directions than the ones specified.
Feel the Transfer of Energy: It would help if you tried to imagine a line of energy moving from your feet, through your legs and spine to your head. Then, you can feel the transfer of energy more effectively.
Focus on Your Feet: Some people like placing their feet together. However, others prefer keeping their feet at hip-width apart. The ideal position depends on where the practitioner is comfortable balancing his/her body weight adequately.
Close Your Eyes: It is a good idea to close your eyes while performing Tadasana yoga. Closing your eyes leads to a loss of visual reference that aids in balance. As a result, you have to rely entirely on your body to maintain balance and posture.
Use a Wall: If you find it challenging to maintain balance or find a centre, you can use a wall as support. It would help you get into the proper position.

What Are the Precautions and Contraindications for Tadasana?

tadasana precautions — (source: omstars)

Before you practise Tadasana, you need to keep in mind the following precautions and contraindications:

Remember that proper form and technique are absolutely essential for reaping benefits from Tadasana.
If you have a pre-existing condition for which you feel you need to seek professional help, consult a medical practitioner before you try this exercise.
Beginners, who have never practised Tadasana before, should do it with extra caution. Moreover, if they find it challenging to maintain a connection between their body and their breath, they must do this pose under the guidance of a certified yoga instructor.
Additionally, people who have weak physical strength should seek the guidance of a yoga instructor before practising Tadasana.
While practising it, you must stop immediately if you suffer from a headache.
If by any chance you consume blood thinning medications, consult a doctor before doing this yoga pose.
Wear comfortable clothes and shoes before going through the steps of Tadasana.
Do not consume heavy meals before doing yoga.
Make sure that you are adequately hydrated before doing Tadasana.
Patients who have undergone spinal, ankle knee or hip surgeries or surgeries should avoid practising this yoga pose. Practising Tadasana requires them to keep standing for a long time. This might aggravate injuries.
Patients with migraine and vertigo issues must refrain from performing the mountain pose.
Moreover, people with low or high blood pressure should avoid performing this yoga pose.
Pregnant women should avoid Tadasana. This is because their body might experience imbalance due to the weight of the womb.
Tadasana may also not be an ideal yoga pose for senior citizens as they might experience weakness.
While it is true that practising Tadasana might be effective for treating spinal disorders like scoliosis, kyphosis and herniated discs, people who are affected by these disorders should take into account essential factors before practising Tadasana. For example, they should not also suffer from high blood pressure, migraines, or vertigo.
If anyone finds it difficult to stand for a long time, Tadasana is not an ideal yoga pose for them.
People who suffer from locked knees should not practise this asana

What Are the Easy Modifications of Mountain Pose?

While this yoga asana may seem easy, it requires optimal body posture and muscle strength. Hence, follow the easy modifications to utilise maximum benefits:

Block Between the Wall and Upper/Middle Back: If your chest falls down easily while performing this asana, place a block between your middle of the back and the wall. This will help you support your lower back and tone your hips.
Block Between the Wall and Lower Back: You may struggle keeping your hips and lower back raised. In such cases, place a block on the wall and support it with your lower back. This will help toning your hips.
Spread Your Legs: Maintain a foot distance between your feet if you fail to maintain balance with toes or feet together. Keep reducing the distance over time as per your convenience.
Use a Folded Mat: As you have to hold the pose for some time you may feel a burning sensation. Keep a mat or blanket below your feet and ensure it is firm.
Keep Your Eyes Open: In case you are not confident enough to try out tadasana with closed eyes, keep them open.

To sum up, Tadasana or the Mountain Pose, is not just a foundation of all other yoga poses. It is also an effective exercise on its own as it successfully strengthens the lower part of the body. Furthermore, it improves one’s self-awareness. So, do not wait longer. Incorporate Tadasana into your daily routine to lead a healthy life.

FAQs About Tadasana

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Can a beginner improve his balance by practising Tadasana?

A beginner can improve his/her balance by practising Tadasana. If you are a beginner, a good idea is to position the feet at hip-width apart. This will help you improve your balance.