Tadasana

Tadasana can be a true north for all standing asanas. If you learn how energy flows in Tadasana, and understand the basis of Tadasana in your own being, you can use these insights to find wholeness throughout the rest of your practice. So, let’s start from the base up:

EARTH: FEET & LEGS

Exhale and ground down like earth. Point both feet to 12 oclock. The feet are firmly grounded and the weight distributed between the four corners; the inner heel, the outer heel, just under the big toe and just under your little toe. Stretch the toes out on the surface beneath you. Attempt to keep your inner ankles back, and your outer ankles down, isometricly draw your shins in. Root your thighs, through your ankles, through your feet down and notice what vertebrates back up (apana vayu).

WATER: JOINTS & PELVIS

Flow like water. Soften your joints (all of them-especially your jaw). Attempt to keep the pelvis neutral. Lift the front of the pelvis as the tailbone descends (different than tucking). Since the joints are soft, the knees are bent and a sense of balance can be present in the pelvis, allowing that reverberation to rise up through the pelvis.

FIRE: CORE

Build an inner fire. From the skin to the muscle to the bone, hug in. The front body pulls toward the backbody, giving emphasis to the navel area drawing lightly up and in. Draw the front ribs together, expanding the mid-back. A sense of space opens through the backbody as the front body lights up. That reverberation swirls around the belly (samana vayu).

AIR: LUNGS & HEART

Inhale and pull the collarbone forward and up, allowing the reverberation up and through. Draw the thoracic spine draw in. Relax your shoulders down your back. Upper arm bones lightly back. Shoulder blades move towards the spine and lightly down. (prana vayu)

SPACE: CROWN & EXTENSION BEYOND

That reverberation continues up through the roof of the mouth and the crown of the head. Press the crown of the head to the sky (udana vayu). Expand evenly out from a centerpoint in all direction, so it feels like you can take up more space (vyana vayu).

More on ways energy moves, alignment, the elements and wholeness in my online library.