Tadasana

Mountain Pose, Tadasana Tada means mountain, and every standing pose in this gallery starts from it. The feet ground evenly, the legs are active and the spine stands tall. This photo shows its reaching variation, Upward Salute or Urdhva Hastasana, with the arms sweeping overhead as they do at the start of a Sun Salutation; in plain Mountain the arms rest by the sides. It looks like plain standing, but it teaches the alignment the other poses borrow. Stand with the feet hip-width apart, weight spread across heels and balls of the feet, and let the shoulders drop away from the ears as the arms rise.