In Yoga Journal’s Archives series, we share a curated collection of articles originally published in past issues beginning in 1975. This article about Mountain Pose (Tadasana) first appeared in the March-April 1978 issue of Yoga Journal. Find more of our Archives here.

This pose is practiced by standing with the body in a vertical line, weight evenly distributed between the feet, knees held firm, pelvis floating on the legs, spine erect with head balanced over it. The shoulders, tongue and abdomen are relaxed.

In addition to giving the student an awareness of how he or she holds the body in standing, Tadasana can be quite revealing to the trained eye of the teacher/observer. For example, the person who stands with the weight back on the heels is easily knocked off balance; there is no give and take with life; a sudden change could cause the emotions or the body to be thrown off center. According to Alexander Lowen, author of Bioenergetics, “. . . balance is not a static phenomenon, to be balanced requires a constant adjustment of one’s position and necessitates an awareness of the feet.”* This is what Tadasana, the mountain pose, teaches.

The student who stands with the head or the entire body thrust forward may be signaling an attitude of aggressiveness, or perhaps the stance is an attempt to belie what is actually a feeling or self-perception of inner weakness. The student may be attempting to portray the opposite of what he or she is feeling, therefore assuming a rigid and unyielding stance.

A view of the chest can reveal something of the student’s self-image and approach to life. A caved-in chest usually indicates a person who has problems in self-expression; often someone who is unable to take a deep breath of life, to interact in an open way. This student, when asked may admit to a fear of dealing well with others, and may feel unable to enter into relationships easily and fruitfully. Often this attitude is accompanied by a quiet voice and downcast eyes. On the other hand, the student who puffs out the chest like a pigeon may be assuming a pose of defiance, of egoism, or may be imitating the image of a strong, reliable person.

Left photo shows Tadasana, the mountain pose, from the side view. Right photo shows incorrect posture—lumbar spine is arched; chest is too far forward. (Photo: Yoga Journal 1978)

A view of the angle of the head will lead to the same line of thought: If the head is thrust forward or pulled back, it’s as though the student is stating, “I feel tentative.” The misalignment of the head and spine is particularly noteworthy because it can reflect deviations in the relationship of all other parts of the body. It is extremely difficult to keep the head well-positioned if there is improper body alignment.

The eyes especially can signal a problem: According to B.K.S. Iyengar, if the pose is moving toward perfection, the eyes are soft, the vision unfocused and the student, when asked may say that his mind feels quiet. A state of meditation will begin to flow spontaneously as the pose is correctly held.

By observing the student over a period of time and by mentally noting improvements, the teacher will be able to see the effects of other poses on the execution of this one. For example, the teacher can see in Tadasana a reflection of the awareness the student is bringing to all poses, the movement the student is making toward wholeness. If one lacks the body consciousness necessary for performing Tadasana well, it is doubtful that the spatial or right side of the brain is fully integrated. The student may be intellectualizing the position, which will give the pose a mechanistic and rigid look. If, on the other hand, the student is as centered within as he/she appears without, a true integration is taking place. This integration will be felt between the left and right sides of the student’s body, which will imply that consciousness is no longer centered in the brain, but is evenly distributed throughout the body and is flowing between the upper and lower parts.

The concept of grounding is discussed by Lowen and others is most appropriate to a discussion of Tadasana. Many Westerners—primarily because of the cultural warping of the educational process with its emphasis on the verbal and linear aspects of psychological functioning—have had their consciousnesses cast into linear/rational intellectual mold. From an early age we are taught to use the powers of the intellect in order to succeed, to obtain love and admiration, and to do well in that important institution, school. Less and less attention is given to developing the other aspects of our consciousness—the intuitive, the spatial, the emotional, the artistic.

For this reason, among others, people often find it difficult to find the mind-body integration in the movements of yoga. I interpret this as an absence of harmony between the dual aspects; between the adult and the child, between the masculine and the feminine, between the rational and the intuitive. The mind represents the first group of these analogies, the body the second. As a person progresses in bringing awareness to movement, he/she is affecting the marriage of the disparate elements within. As consciousness moves from its confined center in the head to the outer boundaries of the body, the wholeness that has been lacking may have the opportunity of expressing itself.

As consciousness extends into the body, we are better able to experience a sense of grounding, or of our relationship to the earth. This suggests that we not only have an awareness of the legs and feet, but also of the functions of the lower body which connect us to life and remind us of our mortality—excretion, reproduction, digestion. As this relationship to the earth is strengthened, we are better able to experience life, to feel emotions, and to maintain mental balance in the face of emotional upheaval. The balance between upper and lower body inherent in Tadasana underscores the fact that there is really only one body, that it is the intellectual process which has erected a barrier between the two. The barrier is a learned response that blocks the sensations which come from below in order to avoid feeling them or understanding them.

Mr. Iyengar says that yoga makes an extrovert of an introvert and an introvert of an extrovert; this implies that by re-marrying them, after a divorce facilitated by Western education and mores, one brings about a distinct and unique feeling and experience of unity within one’s self.

The final lesson of Tadasana is the lesson of strength, just as the mountain expresses the strength of the earth perhaps its practice will help us to experience this strength inwardly and thus to feel one with self, earth and universe.

The author gratefully acknowledges her teacher, B.K.S. Iyengar and his book, Light on Yoga in the writing of this article.

*Alexander Lowen, Bioenergetics (New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan), 1975.