Standing In One Place
By Leeann Carey


One simple yoga pose that teaches us how to improve posture, encourages better breathing, and helps us to stand in our power.

So you’re standing in line at the bank or in a circle with friends. You shift your weight back and forth from one foot to the other. Perhaps your lower back starts to hurt or your neck and shoulders feel tense. It’s hard standing in one place, especially if we’ve formed poor postural habits over time.

Mountain Pose is most likely the first yoga pose you will learn in a group yoga class. If you want to improve your posture, ease your lower back, and free neck and shoulder tension, consider practicing Mountain Pose for 2 minutes with utter awareness of the breath and architecture of the pose. Equal weight distribution in the feet will help to access firm (not tense) legs. Firm legs helps to manage a neutral pelvis which eases the lower back. Proper placement of the arms and shoulders reduces tension on the neck and supports natural alignment for better breathing.

This understated yoga pose not only teaches you how to effectively and efficiently use your muscles that support healthy postural habits, but it also serves as an opportunity to connect with our humanness. There we are standing upright in our bodies, supported by gravity and in relationship to all the space around us. This pose mirrors the way we hold ourselves inwardly, and is reflected outwardly in our stance.

See who you become moment by moment by stretching your awareness into each little piece of the pose — physically, mentally and energetically. Here’s how to do it.

Variation I to Explore Firm Legs
Mountain-Pose-Variation-I

  • Take the pose on the ground in a supine position with your feet up against a wall. This positioning will offer your body feedback of weight and energy distribution in the pose.
  • Balance your weight equally through all the edges of the feet, and lift the kneecaps to help firm your quadricep (top thighs) muscles.
  • Notice whether or not your knees “lock” (push back) when lifting the knee caps. Exploring this action on the ground allows you to feel what happens to the back of the knees when locked as opposed to lifted. And it informs the back of the knee and the rim of the buttocks. When the knee locks it may force a hyperextension, and harden and flatten the rim of the buttocks, which can put tension on the lower back.

Variation II to Explore Legs and Pelvis
Mountain-Pose-Variation-II
  • Take the pose standing, with a yoga block or book between your inner upper thighs. Keep your feet parallel with the toes pointing forward.
  • Use your adductor (inner thighs) muscles to gently squeeze the block, and notice how much squeeze is necessary to feel the power of your legs — from the feet all the way up into the upper legs and pelvis.
  • Shift your weight forward into the balls of the feet and notice how that informs the placement of the block, pelvic position and feeling quality in your lower back.
  • This time shift your weight back into the heels of your feet and notice how that informs the placement of the block, pelvic position and feeling quality of your lower back.
  • Play back and forth as well as placing more weight onto the left foot and then the right. There will not be one perfect position that is right for everyone. Just find the place where it is even and there is steadiness throughout.
Everyone is unique. Some of us will find equal balance in the center of the feet while others may need to put more weight onto the right, left, front or back of the feet to find balance. The inquiry is to become interested in who you are and what adjustments make sense for your body.

Mountain-Pose-Variation-II-(b)
  • Take the pose with a yoga belt or tie around the upper thighs and both abduct (move the legs out as if trying to break the belt) and adduct the legs (move the legs in as if trying to loosen away from the belt). Explore both actions and notice how they inform your feet and pelvic positions. Your discoveries will point to how weight distribution of the feet affects the legs, pelvis and lower back while standing.

Variation III to Explore Arms and Mid/Upper Back
Mountain-Pose-Variation-III
  • Take the pose with a yoga belt around your torso and outer hands.
  • Move your hands so that they are in front of the legs, behind the legs and finally, alongside the thighs.
In each position, feel the placement of the shoulders in relation to your chest, and feeling quality in your throat and neck. This exploration will inform you how arm positioning affects your upper back, shoulders and head position while standing. Simply stated, shoulders back and down, chest open and head balanced directly over the spine encourages smooth and steady breathing.

Mountain Pose on Your Own
Mountain-Pose
  • Stand hip distance apart with feet parallel and toes pointing forward, using the skills of proper weight distribution, lower body access and open chest and shoulders.
  • With the help from the information you discovered about yourself in one or all of the variations, find your most mindful Mountain Pose.
  • Stand tall at the mountaintop of your awareness, breathing and feeling your way through.
The next time you are standing in line somewhere or casually with a group of friends, call forth the qualities of Mountain Pose, and integrate them into standing still. You will feel the power of standing, breathing and being present in your body. And you can take this awareness and skills into all other areas and activities of your day.




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