Tadasana

Tadasana - Standing Mountain Pose

Asana can be translated to mean "take your seat".  Obviously, you're not seated in this & many other poses in this practice.

"Take your seat".  It means get comfortable.  Settle in.  Not just into the pose, but into your body.  Get in sync with your breath & your energy.  In Tadasana, become the embodiment of a moutain.  Deeply rooted in the earth & in the moment.  Solid, grounded, steady & reaching for the sky.

Such a simple pose, when you look at it from the outside.  Yet there's so much going in when you bring your attention & energy fully into the moment & into just what you are doing.

Try it.  Try standing in Mountain Pose for 5 minutes.  It's unexpectedly challenging - again, if you are fully present & committed to bringing all of your energy & attention into the moment.  You start to notice the sensations in your legs & arms change.  You notice how much your mind wants to wander.  You notice your breath.  You notice the air on your body & how the ground feel beneath your feet.

Everything you do can be Mountain Pose.  Washing dishes, brushing your teeth, folding the laundry.  Simple actions, everyday actions.  But when you bring your energy & attention into your breath & into the moment, it changes everything.  You can really notice what you are doing & how it feels.  It's a shift - a different way of doing things.  It becomes a practice of meditation - it's yoga off the mat.