Tadasana - Mountain Pose.

1st posture to be learned. Basic standing pose.

Stand with feet together, big toes, heels and ankle bones touching. Keep the knees straight and pull up the thigh muslces. Stretch the legs up, extend the spine and lift the front of the body. Take the shoulders back, shoulder blades in and allow the arms to hang loosely at the sides of the trunk.

Relax the hands and keep the plams facing the hips. Extend the neck up and relax the face. Look straight ahead. Concentrate on centering the body: blance the weight evenly on both fee; create awareness in the soles of the feet and stretch them equally. Be conscious of extending the right and left sides of the body evenly. Keep the chest open.

Stay in the posture for 30-60 seconds when practicing Tadasana on its own; less when doing it as part of an asana sequence.