Mountain Poseताड़ासन
Tāḍāsana — a beginner standing pose that works the quadriceps, calves, spinal erectors.
30–60SECONDS HELD
One line on the timetable. Mountain Pose is held 30–60 seconds, breathing as follows: even nasal breathing, roughly equal length in and out — and it takes its place inside 6 of the practices posted on this site.
ਸਰੋਤ·YogaPath sequence data — stay times as taught·one breath ≈ 5 s at an even pace·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026
@geetapatelnzFollow
Follow
How to do Mountain Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Stand with the feet either together or hip-width apart, whichever lets you keep both arches lifted.
Spread the toes and press evenly through the big-toe mound, the little-toe mound and the heel of each foot.
Firm the thighs without locking the knees back; let the kneecaps lift rather than jam.
Let the pelvis settle to neutral — neither tucked under nor tipped forward — and lengthen up through the crown.
Let the arms hang with the palms facing forward, shoulders wide, and breathe evenly for the hold.
Hold: 30–60 seconds. Breath: Even nasal breathing, roughly equal length in and out.
Muscles worked
Where the effort and the lengthening land. Primary groups do most of the work; secondary groups assist or are stretched.
What Mountain Pose does
Described mechanically — what the movement does to muscle and joint. Not a list of conditions it treats, because a pose does not treat conditions.
- Trains an even weight distribution across both feet, which most standing poses are built on.
- Loads the arches and the small stabilising muscles of the ankle in a still position.
- Builds an upright spinal position you can feel and repeat away from the mat.
Mountain Pose is one of 18 standing poses in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses built on the feet, where the legs carry the work and the floor is the reference point.
Who should skip Mountain Pose, or change it
- Low blood pressure or a tendency to feel faint standing still — come out and sit if the head goes light.
- Any balance difficulty: stand within reach of a wall.
- Late pregnancy, where a wider stance is usually more comfortable than feet together.
General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts. If you are pregnant, recovering from surgery or managing any health condition, ask your doctor before starting a practice, and learn the pose itself from a qualified teacher who can see you move.
Common mistakes in Mountain Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeLocking the knees back hard, which shunts the work into the joint instead of the thigh.
FixMicro-bend the knees, then firm the quadriceps to straighten them by muscle.
MistakeRibs flaring forward so the low back overarches.
FixDraw the front ribs down until the lower back feels long rather than pinched.
How the energy figure on a yoga timetable is reached
- Nobody has measured a single asana in a metabolic cart, so no per-pose figure is published here — not by this site and not by anyone.
- The pose is matched to the nearest style of practice in the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Mountain Pose sits at code 02150, ਯੋਗਾ, ਹਠ, 2.5 MET.
- That MET value is put through the standard ACSM relationship for a stated reference adult of 70 kg.
- The result is the cost of a practice of that kind for as long as you practise — not the cost of holding this one shape.
- Scale it to yourself: the relationship is linear in body mass, so multiply by your own weight in kilograms and divide by 70.
kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × kg ÷ 200
= 2.5 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200
= 3.06 kcal per minute
The same practice, hour by hour
Read it the way you would read a timetable: pick the length of session you actually sit down for, and that is the figure.
| Time practising | 10 ਮਿੰਟ | 20 ਮਿੰਟ | 30 ਮਿੰਟ | 45 ਮਿੰਟ | 60 ਮਿੰਟ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 31 | 61 | 92 | 138 | 184 |
ਸਰੋਤ·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·code 02150 · 2.5 MET · 70 kg reference adult·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026
The whole activity dataset, including everything that is not yoga, is at BurnLab.
Asked before class
How do you do Mountain Pose?
Stand with the feet either together or hip-width apart, whichever lets you keep both arches lifted. Spread the toes and press evenly through the big-toe mound, the little-toe mound and the heel of each foot. Firm the thighs without locking the knees back; let the kneecaps lift rather than jam. Let the pelvis settle to neutral — neither tucked under nor tipped forward — and lengthen up through the crown. Let the arms hang with the palms facing forward, shoulders wide, and breathe evenly for the hold. Hold for 30–60 seconds.
What does Mountain Pose work?
Primarily the quadriceps, calves, spinal erectors, with the abdominals, gluteus medius, upper back assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: trains an even weight distribution across both feet, which most standing poses are built on.
Who should not do Mountain Pose?
Low blood pressure or a tendency to feel faint standing still — come out and sit if the head goes light. Any balance difficulty: stand within reach of a wall. Late pregnancy, where a wider stance is usually more comfortable than feet together. This is general information, not medical advice — if any of these apply to you, ask your doctor and learn the pose with a qualified teacher rather than from a page.
Is Mountain Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Mountain Pose is a beginner-level pose on this site, which means it is learnable in a first class and has a version that works for most bodies. The cautions above still apply.
How many calories does Mountain Pose burn?
The honest answer is that nobody has measured a single asana. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values for styles of yoga, not for individual poses. Mountain Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02150, yoga, Hatha, at 2.5 MET — about 92 kcal for 30 minutes of that kind of practice for a 70 kg adult. Holding one pose for a minute is a rounding error either way.
The rest of the standing poses on the wall
More standing poses — first at the same level, then the rest of the family.
The pose photograph on this page is an AI-generated illustration of Geeta Patel. Geeta is a synthetic model: not a real teacher, not a real person, and nothing here is her opinion. It was checked against the alignment steps on this page before publishing, and it is not a record of anyone’s practice.
Asana names are traditional. Every step, benefit and caution on this page is written for YogaPath rather than reproduced from any book, studio or other library — see how this site is written ਅਤੇ what it is written from. General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts.
ਸਰੋਤ·Published asana references·asana names, alignment and cautions as taught·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026
