Five-Pointed Star Pose–The Beginner Pose That Everyone Should Be Practicing

In this post: Whether you are a beginner or advanced yogi, you should be regularly practicing Five-pointed star pose (Utthita Tadasana) to build total body strength.

I’ll admit it. I don’t use Five-pointed star pose, or Utthita Tadasana, as often as I should.

Even though this beginner pose is a great way to strengthen your legs, tone your arms, improve your posture, and build a stronger core; I just don’t think of it as often as I should.

Is it because its simplicity is deceiving, making it seem like a throw-away pose (even though those don’t exist in yoga)?

Or is it because my instructors that I learned from didn’t incorporate it often?

Most likely, it’s because my lazy self sinks into the pose, negating any potential benefits and mentally classifying the pose as “easy.”

Let me tell you from personal experience folks, if you think this pose is too easy; you’re not doing it right. Here’s everything you need to know to make the most out of your Five-pointed star pose.

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Why You Should Do Five-Pointed Star Pose

This standing pose is a great way to improve your posture and strengthen your legs, arms, and core muscles. The core muscles consist of your:

• abdominals,
• spinal muscles like the erector spinae,
• gluteus maximus (the boo-hiney, as my boys call it), and
• adductors (inner thighs).

So, essentially, from your head to your feet, muscles should be constantly working while you do this pose. Feel your fingertips reach away from each other. Notice your spine grow as your feet press into the ground. Feel your belly hug toward your spine.

You should feel energy moving through your body the whole time you practice this pose. Plus, it’s a great way to transition from having your feet wide apart to having your feet together.

After practicing several rounds of breath in this pose, it’s good to practice jumping your feet together. This jump will help you learn to do things like jump to the front of the mat, but it also improves your core strength for poses like Handstand.

How to Do Five-Pointed Star Pose

This pose is a particularly great transition after poses like Goddess pose or Prasarita Padottanasana.

1. Turn so that you’re standing in the middle of your mat lengthwise.
2. Step or hop your feet wide apart so that your feet are wider than your shoulders. If you are using this as a transition pose, you may not have to do this step since you might already be in this position.
3. Turn your feet so that your toes are pointing forward or slightly pigeon-toed.
4. Use ujjayi breathing.
5. Send energy down through the soles of your feet to feel energy rise through your spine.
6. Reach your arms straight by your sides at shoulder height. Now, think of reaching your arms away from each other.
7. You can have your palms face the floor, the ceiling, or forward. Send energy through your fingertips.
8. Hold and breathe for 5-10 breaths.
9. To come out of this pose, you should know what pose you want to move to. If you want your legs together, try quietly jumping your feet together. (It’s harder than it sounds.) If you want to be back at the front of your mat, rotate your body toward the front of your mat and windmill your arms around the front foot. From here, you might do a Plank, Cobra, Downdog to transition.

For Visual Learners…

Here is a video of how to do Five-pointed star pose for visual learners.

Before You Practice Five-Pointed Star Pose, Don’t Forget…

This is a beginner pose, but it is by no means easy. The work you put into Five-pointed star pose will equal the benefits you receive.

Put another way, if you’re sloppy and sink into this pose, you won’t feel any benefit. In fact, you might even injure yourself. However, if you focus and keep your muscular energy, you will notice improved posture and stronger legs, arms, and core muscles.

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When do you use Five-pointed star pose? Let us know in the comments below.