Rich in sym­bo­lism, ta­da­sa­na comes from the Sans­krit words tada (moun­tain) and asana (pos­tu­re, or seat). Moun­tain Pose is the es­sence of sta­bi­li­ty and founda­ti­on, and as such, con­tains the buil­ding blocks for every other pos­tu­re in yoga.

The pos­tu­re its­elf pro­mo­tes the still­ness, strength, re­la­xed power, and sta­bi­li­ty we as­so­ci­a­te with moun­tains.



An author ex­plains the in­se­pa­ra­ble re­la­ti­on­ship bet­ween moun­tains and ri­vers, both re­pre­sen­ted by the In­di­an god Hi­mavat, who re­pres­ents the Hi­ma­la­yas and is also con­side­red the father of Ganga Devi, the god­dess of the Gan­ges, India’s most sa­cred river.

“When we stand in ta­da­sa­na, the head, being ne­a­rest to hea­ven, is where we re­cei­ve the bles­sings that flow th­rough the rest of our body like a river,” she says.



The even stance of Moun­tain Pose—the leng­the­ned spine and steady base—sets the tone for prac­ti­ce.



In India, there is a moun­tain cal­led Mount Kai­las with two lakes—one shaped like the sun and the other like a cre­s­cent moon, which re­pres­ents hatha (ha = sun, tha = moon) yoga. Mount Kai­las is con­side­red the se­venth chakra—sa­has­ra­ra. The two lakes have been li­kened to the two streams of en­er­gy (ida and pin­ga­la nadis) that rise up one cen­tral chan­nel (sus­hum­na nadi) mo­ving to­ward the hig­hest level of con­scious­ness. Mount Kai­las is con­side­red a sa­cred moun­tain.



When we stand in ta­da­sa­na, we are equal­ly groun­ded and ari­sing. Our base is firm, yet we reach up­ward to­ward the hea­vens. Our spine is si­tu­a­ted as it would be du­ring me­di­ta­ti­on, ideal for the free flow of prana (life force) th­roug­hout the body. Take the time to con­nect to this en­er­gy in ta­da­sa­na. Doing so can help you to main­tain it th­roug­hout your prac­ti­ce.