Tadasana Experience: Reflection on Practicing Yoga in a Public Place

This assignment is a personal reflection on a student's experience practicing Tadasana, a specific yoga pose, in a public marketplace. The student details the events that transpired, including the reactions of onlookers and an encounter with law enforcement. The assignment provides a firsthand account of the challenges and unexpected consequences of practicing yoga in a public setting. The student describes the setting, the actions, and the subsequent interactions, emphasizing the emotional impact of the experience and its effect on their future practice. The assignment concludes with a personal statement about the reluctance to repeat such an experience, highlighting the importance of context and environment when practicing yoga. References to Dudeja (2019) and Wang et. all (2016) are included in the text.

Running head: YOGA
Yoga
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1YOGA
Yoga is defined as a group of physical, mental as well as spiritual practices which is
said to originate from India. It is one of the schools of the six philosophical schools of Hindu
philosophical traditions. One such yoga is the Tadasana. Tadasana is also known as the
mountain pose is a standing asana also used as an exercise in modern forms of yoga. It is
considered as a basis for other standing yogas (Dudeja, 2019). However, it is not found in the
medieval Hatha Yoga texts.
Tadasana is said to be a basic standing asana in which individuals stand with their feet
together with the hands at the sides. The thighs and the waist should be lifted while the spines
should be elongated (Wang et. all, 2016). I had the chance of practicing Tadasana in market
place. I will reveal the events that transpired in the following paragraphs.
It was a typical Wednesday morning at the local market place. Needless to say, it was
crowded with the tourists and the working place people. I was busy window hopping, when
suddenly, I felt the urge to practice to practice Tadasana in the middle of the marketplace.
Before I knew what was happening, I found myself standing at the entry to Starbucks, in
perfect Tadasana pose. Now, the streets being crowded, I soon found a lot of curious, irritated
as well as cynical eyes on me. People were pointing at me and whispering to themselves,
probably wondering which asylum I escaped out of. Half an hour of standing in the same
way and random people ogling at me, and I found a sergeant approaching me with the
expression of an angry gorilla. He asked me about my weirdness, and was this a prelude to
some criminal act. No matter how much I try to explain to him about Tadasana, he did not
listen. Finally, after ten minutes later, he seemed to listen to me and accepted my explanation,
but he let me go, with a warning of putting me behind bars the next time he sees my
weirdness in a public place.

2YOGA
Readers can only imagine the relief I felt after I reached home. Since that day, I do
not practice any form of yoga in any public place, no matter how much my brain tries to urge
me. This has been my experience of practicing tadasana in a market place and I do not wish
to repeat it again….at least not in a public place!!

3YOGA
Reference List
Dudeja, J. P. (2019). Benefits of Tadasana, Zhan Zhuang and Other Standing Meditation
Techniques.
Wang, D., & Hagins, M. (2016). Perceived benefits of yoga among urban school students: A
qualitative analysis. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2016.