I'll be honest that I never thought too much of Dandasana, thinking of it mainly as "just sitting there" or as something you did between other poses. I least I thought that until one particular class. This was when I was living in Atlanta, and I'd gone to one of my usual classes with Kathleen Pringle at Stillwater Yoga. It turned out that Kathleen wasn't teaching that night. Instead, there was a teacher visiting from India who would be teaching the class. (Who it was, I have no idea. This is before I even really knew what Iyengar Yoga was, I just knew Kathleen was an amazing teacher, so I kept going back.)

After the invocation, we began in Dandasana. And, we continued in Dandasana for most of the class. We used different props, different techniques, yes, but most of the time we were sitting in Dandasana. Far from just sitting there, that was one of the most challenging classes I've ever taken! When I finally had to stand up to go home at the end of class, I'd used my legs so much "just sitting" that they were like jelly. And I definitely felt that class for the next few days. Safe to say that I never looked at Dandasana the same again.

Many years later, and now a teacher myself, I fully appreciate that Dandasana is quite a challenging pose with so much to offer. In the classical alignment, you are sitting straight, legs together and straight in front of you, hands by your sides, heels of hands through fingers pressing into the floor. "Sitting straight" sounds deceptively simple. Your legs need to be extremely active to generate the necessary lift in your spine. This pose also requires significant strength in your core and legs and significant flexibility in your hamstrings.

Now, if your Dandasana looks less like the one on the left and more like the photo on the right (rounded lower back, shoulders coming forward, neck straining to look forward), there's a way to work with that - sit on height, enough height that you can sit easily with good posture and a lifted spine. Depending on how tight your hamstrings are, that may even mean sitting on a chair, at least at first:

Why does this work? As you can see above, you've changed the angle of your legs to your torso. (Also, in these photos, you might begin to get an idea of how tight hamstrings (backs of your legs) can lead to a tight lower back and/or lower back pain.) That said, working on the core strength and hamstring flexibility necessary for Dandasana can ultimately help ease lower back pain.

Dandasana is so much more than just sitting there. I hope you try working in Dandasana and see for yourself what a challenging, yet ultimately rewarding, pose it can be.

Pose details:

Dandasana - Staff Pose (danda = staff; asana = pose)

Improves posture; strengthens core and legs; brings relief for gastric issues