Tadasana (Mountain Pose)

Tadasana

Pranamasana

Tadasana

“tada” = mountain

Mountain Pose

Samasthiti

“sama” = same, even or equal

sthiti = state, condition or stability

Equal Standing

Pranamasana

Some sources (including Dharma Mittra in Asanas: 608 Yoga Poses) call Tadasana with Anjali Mudra (Hands at Heart) by the name “Pranamasana”

SAMASTHITI & TADASANA ARE THE SAME

Samasthiti (Equal Standing) is a command to attention, to stand in balanced stillness. It is the practice of standing with equal, steady, and still attention. Tadasana (Mountain Pose) is the posture that invokes Samasthiti. These poses are not different. They are the same. – Maty Ezraty

* * *

In Sanskrit, the command for attention is sama-sthiti… Samasthiti means “standing still and straight.” Throughout the practice [of Surya Namaskar] , there will continually be the command of sama-sthiti. This means to return to Mountain Posture or attention position. – Beryl Bender Birch 

Notes

• Often referred to as the most basic, foundational and fundamental pose; the blueprint or building block from which other poses are based
• “This pose, and coming back to this stillness after other poses, is one of the very best ways of becoming acquainted with stillness.” (Erich Schiffman, Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness 1996 p 94)

See Also

• Asana Categories
• General Alignment Principles
• Alignment Cueing