Asana · Practise on your own
Dandasana
Staff pose
Staff pose. Seated upright with both legs straight, the base of every seated pose in the series.
Awaiting subject reviewWritten from our source material and not yet checked by a teacher of this practice. Read it as reference, and learn the practice from someone who teaches it.
- Meaning
- danda = staff, stick; asana = seat or posture
- Family
- Seated
- Level
- Beginner
- Gaze
- Nose
Take care
Sit higher on a blanket if the hamstrings pull the pelvis back.
How it is done
- 1
Breathe out
Sit with the legs together and straight in front, feet flexed.
- 2
Breathe freely
Press the palms into the floor beside the hips and lift the chest, the spine upright like a staff.
- 3
Breathe freely
Draw the chin slightly down and stay for five breaths.
Holding it
Five breaths.
Making it easier
Sit on a folded blanket and bend the knees a little if the low back rounds.
What the tradition says it does
- Builds an upright seated posture
- Wakes up the legs and back
Sources and tradition
- YOG Union App Content Map, 2 November 2026, p. 4
- Ashtanga Primary Series as commonly taught in the Mysore style; sequence order and counts await subject review