Stand

Gaze

Start by looking straight ahead. And keep looking straight ahead. Gaze shapes posture. Focus on how you feel and nothing else.

Align

We build this pose from your feet then working up.

Stand barefoot or in socks. Feeling your feet on a hard floor helps. Stand with your feet at a natural angle and natural width apart that feels comfortable. Each day a different width will feel right.

Feel three points of contact under each foot: on the ball of the foot behind the big toe, on the ball of the foot behind the little toe, and at the heel. If you can, lift your toes softly and keep them up softly to help better feel your feet on the floor.

Have your weight even on all six points of contact under your two feet.

Soften your knees slightly and feel the muscles of the front of your thighs take the load of your weight.

Turn your thighs out just slightly and feel muscles in the sides of your butt engage. Turn out rather than bow or widen your thighs.

Push your pubic bone forward slightly and feel muscles at the back of your butt engage.

Gently firm your abdominal muscles.

Let your shoulders relax and drop down and back without effort.

Let your arms hang straight down and turn your palms to slightly face forward.

Hold still and calm in the pose.

Feel

This pose depends on holding the feel of specific points and holding muscles engaged.

• Feel 3 points of contact under each foot and feel your weight press evenly on all 6 points of contact under both your feet.
• Feel the muscles at the front of your thighs hold the load of your weight.
• Feel the muscles at the sides of your butt stay engaged to turn your thighs out slightly.
• Feel the muscles at the back of your butt stay engaged to push your pubic bone forward slightly.
• Feel your abdominal muscles hold gently firm.
• Feel your torso tall.
• Feel your shoulders relax down and back.
• Feel your arms relax and hang down.
• Feel the line of your weight from your head to your shoulders to your pelvis to your feet.

Touch

Use touch as needed to help refine the pose for yourself.

Rest your thumbs on the sides of your butt and feel as you engage your muscles to turn your thighs out slightly.

Rest your hands on the back of your butt and feel as you engage your muscles to push your pubic bone forward slightly.

Vary

Practicing feeling our feet helps improve how we move. If you can do this pose standing, please do so.

We can also do the pose kneeling with the line of the hip joints behind the knee joints. But it needs a lot of guidance.

About

I fit poses to you, the right pose, or part of a pose, or adapt a pose to you. And I develop new poses to fit the needs and abilities of my students.

I have taught the standing mountain pose from the recent Mysore lineage of yoga and seen it poorly fit inexperienced and older students. And I have also taught the gentler wuji standing pose from tai chi.

I bring yoga to what wuji teaches.