Standing Mountain is a traditional yoga pose that is a quick way of mentally “coming to sit”—coming to a state of alert relaxed attention. The pose is grounded in the earth through the feet, but has a sense of uplift in the upper part of the body and the head.
This is a practice I often do while I am waiting for a bus or a train, or standing in line, as it is a good way of practicing coming into the body at any time. It is also a useful grounding exercise if you are feeling worried or nervous, for example before attending an interview, or waiting for a medical or dental appointment.
Standing Mountain can also be used as “punctuation” or a pause in movement practices, such as walking or yoga. It can be done at any time and anywhere you can stand, and no one need be aware you are doing it.
If you are standing firm and solid, you will feel more physically stable—noticing the sensations of contact with the floor/ground will take you out of your head and into your body.
Stand softly with your feet parallel and hip-width apart, without locking your knees. It can be helpful to take a deep breath in and then, as you breathe out, let the knees soften slightly.
Your arms relaxed at your sides, imagine a silken thread running from the base of the spine, up through the back and the back of the neck and out through the crown of the head… Picture someone pulling gently on this thread so there is a small shift, a sense of the crown of the head lifting to the sky and the chin relaxing down.
You can extend the practice by scanning through the body, perhaps starting with the feet, noticing the soles of the feet in contact with the earth… noticing the toes… Are they relaxed or gripping? Just monitor how they are without any sense of wanting or needing the body to be in a particular state… scanning through the feet, the ankles… the shins and calves… noticing the knees… the thighs and up into the torso…
Now become aware of the pelvis, the belly, the lower back… moving up the spine to notice the shoulders… coming round to the chest… and moving up the neck into the face, the scalp, the whole head…
Stand tall… grounded, connected, taking a stance of alert attention…
TIP People often make their hip width too big or too small. To find your correct hip width, stand with your feet parallel and together. Now, keeping your heels fixed, move both sets of toes outward until they reach what would be “ten to two” on a clock. Then, bring each heel into line with the toes.