Standing Unsteadily is a Problem; Here's a Yoga Pose to Help!
Humans rely on walking with two feet, which is actually very unstable because the center of gravity is high and the head is heavy, with a small contact area with the ground. To maintain this unstable upright state, muscles in the body coordinate constantly, but modern people’s long-term maintenance of bad postures disrupts the coordination between muscles. Some muscles are too tight, some muscles are too loose, which puts a lot of pressure on the joints. Therefore, standing straight and stable is particularly important, it allows the body to find the correct awareness.
When people talk about yoga, many people think of acrobatic-like body flexibility. In fact, yoga has many basic postures that can help the body regain stability, softness and strength. It doesn't matter if the body is stiff, and it doesn't matter if the strength is insufficient. Through yoga, you can become better. Don't be too ambitious, building a foundation is the most important thing.
Mountain pose is the foundation of yoga. It helps the body find a stable standing state. For everyone, it should be learned in particular, whether you want to learn yoga or not. For people who are learning yoga, it is naturally more important. The mountain pose may look very simple, but to do it correctly, you need to rely on your inner strength and comprehensively coordinate. Practicing mountain pose can tighten the entire body's muscle lines, the abdominal muscles and the gluteal muscles, while opening the neck, shoulders and chest cavity, strengthen the arch of the foot, the ankle, the knee and the thigh. Simply put, mountain pose calls on all the muscles in your body.
If you can't do the mountain pose well, then your yoga foundation is not stable enough. To truly practice yoga well, you must do the mountain pose first. Let's now talk in detail about the practice of mountain pose.
With both feet opened the same width as the hips, put your palms down in front of your hips, your feet pressing firmly onto the ground, stand up straight, and look forward with your eyes. This is basically making the mountain pose. However, making the shape doesn't mean the mountain pose is done well. There are many details inside, let’s talk about them one by one.
To make the weight of the body evenly fall on both feet, we first need to find the 4 points on the soles of the feet, and let these 4 points stably press towards the floor.
If you can't feel it, you can first let your toes tap first, then let your toes fall and spread open, instead of your toes desperately grabbing the floor.
Let’s look at the position of our knees. Our knee joints should be raised upwards. Let the muscles on the front side of the thigh contract, but don’t over-extend the back of the knee, that’s not good for the knee health. Push the buttocks and the intersection of the thigh and the leg back, instead of pushing the knee back, which can keep the thigh in the correct position.
Let’s come to the position of the abdomen. Push the navel inward, as if pushing it to the spine inside. Also, let the sacrum curl inward, the sacrum is in the middle position between the two ischial tuberosities, which is the lower end of the spine. We can use yoga blocks to find the feeling of the sacrum inward contraction, double legs clamp a yoga block, hands clasp at the waist, the hips consciously push back, then the inner thigh strength clamps the yoga block to move the hips downward, so the sacrum curls forward.
When practicing mountain pose, some people will overly protrude their chest, leading to the excessive forward protrusion of their thoracic spine, which will cause excessive pressure on the lower back. In fact, mountain pose is not to protrude the chest, but to have a upward force in the chest, contract the core strength, push the heart and chest inward, let the ribs return to the inside of the body, the chest will naturally be in a slightly protruding state.
Check the two sides of the waist are aligned, the two sides of the shoulders are also aligned, slightly pull down the chin, then find the midline of the body. The midline of the body is the nose tip, chin, heart, navel, and perineum form a straight line. When doing the mountain pose, the feeling of the body is relaxed, but the body’s inner power is maintained. Use the front side of the thigh, contract the inner side of the thigh, use the abdominal muscles, maintain the extension of the spine, shrink the ribs inward, and shrink the ribs inward, so the body is very stable.
