Strength and Better posture in Sitting with Staff Pose- Dandasana

Fallon Horan in Dandasana at her class at Forevergreen Nature Preserve (Next Series Friday's at 6pm June 2022)

Dandasana is known as the staff pose and is a foundational seated posture. Danda means staff and asana posture or seat are combined to form the term dandasana. If you have taken a flow class you may have heard the term combined with another word Chaturanga Dandasana or the 4 limb staff pose that is often shorted to simply chaturanga . 

Dandasana is the basis of all seated postures. The staff position is often used as a preparation for other postures, yet alone it holds its own beauty in strength and power and subtle nuance. 

Staff Strengthens
Ankles 
Shins
Quadriceps (top of the thighs)
Spinal muscles
Pelvic floor and core muscles 
Triceps
Lower fibers of the traps

Staff Stretches
The soles of the feet
Calves
Hamstrings
Glutes
Back of the neck
Wrists flexors
Biceps and anterior arm and forearm

Subtle Anatomy
This pose activates the root lock (mula bandha), belly lock (udiyana bandha) and chin lock (jalandahara bandha), collectively known as the great lock (maha bandha). This contains and circulates the energy within the torso. The hand lock (hasta bandha) may also be engaged if the palm is flat on the floor with activity evenly spread across the hand to engage the arches of the palms.

How to do Dandasana:

• Sit with the legs fully extended out in front of you with the legs together. Flex the feet and pull the toes back towards the shins (dorsiflexion of the feet with toe extension). Press the back of the claves and thighs firmly into the ground.
• Sit up on the sitting bones (ischial tuberosities). Sit tall as you elongate the spine. Press the hands down onto the floor. (placement will be determined by the length of the arm to torso ratio: if the arms are shorter than the torso length the heel of the palm might not reach whereas if the arms are longer than the torso the hands may have to align further forward or back to accommodate the arm length.) 
• Broaden across the top of the chest as the shoulder blades squeeze down and into the middle of the back (depression and retraction of the shoulder blades).
• Pull up and in on the muscles of the pelvic floor and abdomen.
• Pull the chin in towards the base of the throat. 

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