In her poem “August,” poet Dorothy Parker famously wrote, “Summer, do your worst.” The month can bring a challenging spate of heat and humidity, sapping energy, spirit and initiative all at once. And yet, despite the continued haze of summer, schools resume their activities, professional and recreational organizations return to their regular programming, and there is an expectation of a return to productivity. Thus, the season seems to invite one approach, while the daily schedule calls for something else altogether. One can feel pulled in opposite directions.

Competing messages in life are commonplace. A felt sense of center and the feeling of balance between effort and ease can often be hard to find. Yet yoga practice can inform these situations. One-legged standing poses such as tree pose, or vrksasana, can challenge balance, composure and concentration. Sustaining high-effort poses such as chair pose can help foster resilience and grit in the face of adversity and discomfort. And one little cue—often mentioned as students settle into standing or sitting upright—can guide practitioners to centeredness and even ease in daily life. That cue is sama-sthiti. 

“Equal-Sided” Steadiness

Sama-sthiti is a compound Sanskrit word with multiple complex and cumulative meanings, but it’s often simply translated as “equal steadiness” or “equal-sided standing.” In some yoga traditions, such as Iyengar-style yoga classes, it is cultivated and taught with exacting alignment cues. In ashtanga classes, on the other hand, it is usually used in conjunction with other postures, more as a sense of steadiness within a posture rather than a posture itself. In this context, it’s not so much taught as something in the physical body but as a sense of equality and steadiness that is allowed to expand and develop in the student. 
 
As a root, “sama” refers to equality and balance. It is used to describe equanimous mental states, breath patterns, efforts, perspectives and approaches; it always indicates a sense of balance. It confers both the intention for as well as the achievement or establishment of that balance. Sanskrit functions this way: The root of a word gathers meaning over time, shaped by the many ways it has been used in different texts and contexts.

“Sthiti” refers to steadiness and firmness. It confers a sense of being established. Solidity. Like sama, it can be applied to states of mind, moral values, sense of self/ego, states of the body and even places of practice. It invokes Ayurvedic qualities of stability and solidity, too. 
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, Book Two, number 46, can be roughly translated as “The posture should be steady and comfortable,” and “sthira” appears again to convey that steadiness and firmness. 

Students often experience sthira in the symmetrical upright pose called “mountain pose,” or tadasana. If so, they’re encouraged to find a sense of balance, both in the tissues of the body and through muscular engagement. They’re also guided to experience sthira in their perception of the body—from front to back and from side to side—as well as through the center-plum line that extends both from the base of the pelvis downward and up through the crown of the skull and beyond. 

Through the cuing of sthira, many teachers encourage their students to cultivate a felt-sense of balanced, equal effort, which lays the groundwork for the feeling of a balanced, equal self. Patanjali’s yoga sutra promises sukham—“ease” as well as “sweetness”—that is, the sweetness and comfort that blossom from the steadiness.

Build Sama-sthiti in your Mountain Pose

It is often easiest to build a sense of equal balance and centeredness in an upright position such as that found in mountain pose—having no balancing, twisting or asymmetries to contend with. Even so, it can be deceptively difficult both to build well and to sustain—and it doesn’t help that it looks like it should be easy! Try these steps to build mountain pose and find sama-sthiti. 

1. Come into a place of “uprightedness.” Traditionally, this is a standing pose, but if you’re practicing in a chair, it can be accomplished by sitting firmly with feet supported if possible. 
2. Begin to establish your mountain pose from the ground up by connecting with the bottom of your feet. Imagining a triangle shape works well for many practitioners—for each foot, imagine connecting the center of the heel with the ball of the foot on either side. Others prefer sensing the four “corners” of the foot—the inner and outer heel and the inside and outside of the ball of the foot. Roll through these points, shifting weight around the base of each foot before settling into active stillness. Raise the toes and spread them wide, and then lay them down again, releasing any gripping. 
3. If you’re in a standing position, engage the large muscles of the thighs, being mindful not to clench the buttocks muscles. Notice how the engaged thighs lift the kneecaps. Spiral your inner thighs inward and backward, which helps bring the pelvis over the feet.
4. If you’re in a seated position, connect with your sit bones, establishing your seat as a second kind of footing or base. Soften through the lower back and bring the pelvis, shoulder girdle and base of the skull into one line. 
5. Whatever position you’re taking, retract your chin as the shoulder girdle comes over the pelvis. As you draw the chin toward the sternum and as the base of the skull moves upward and backward, you might imagine creating a double chin on purpose. Notice the effect on your lower ribs, too, knitting them together and down, even as you cultivate an upward sensation in the lower belly—and uprightedness throughout the body. 
6. Lift through the crown of the skull and maintain an even breath. Sustain for eight to ten breaths, cultivating sama-sthiti. Notice your effort to balance front and back body, side bodies, the weight in the feet and the bony pelvis, shoulder and jaw girdles. 
7. Release your tadasana. You might need to shimmy, take hip circles, or open and close the jaw wide to release any tension that might have accumulated through the held posture. Notice what releases. 

Cultivating Balance and Centeredness Off the Mat

Ideally, the benefits of the yoga practice travel with the student as they leave the mat. If sama-sthiti was available on the mat, it’d be a nice outcome of the practice for that sense of centeredness and even ease to be available in daily life, too. Consider these questions about daily life and begin to build a sense of centeredness off the mat: 

When do you find yourself most off-balance and uncentered? Is there a place or context in your life when you’re aware of being pulled off-center and out of ease? Try using the mindfulness available through tadasana to be aware of your surroundings with a degree of distance from the context, and to see that you are separate from it, cultivating a kind of equanimous witnessing.
The next time you notice you’re feeling out of balance, look down at your feet. Can you begin to build from your feet into some version or portion of your tadasana? If so, notice how it affects your experience of what’s happening in the moment.

Patricia Schmidt, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, YACEP, is a certified yoga therapist specializing in pelvic health, accessible yoga and yoga for cancer support. She is a Franklin Method trainer, Roll Model method teacher and somatic movement specialist. To learn more, visit PLSYoga.com.