In short: upward salute is mountain pose with the arms raised overhead: feet grounded, legs active, arms reaching up beside the ears and the whole body lengthening from the floor to the fingertips. It is the first movement of most sun salutations. The aim is length, not a backbend: keep the front ribs soft and let the arms go wider if the shoulders are tight.
Raising the arms sounds easy, yet it shows quickly whether the shoulders move freely and whether the lower back arches to make up for them. Upward salute is a good place to learn that difference. Below we explain the name, how the shoulders work in the pose, the precautions and where it appears in a practice.
The name and its relatives
The Sanskrit name is Ūrdhva Hastāsana: ūrdhva means upward, hasta hand and āsana posture, so “raised hands pose”. Yoga Journal and Yoga International both use the name for this shape, and Yoga Journal notes it is sometimes also called Talasana, the palm tree pose. In Light on Yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar describes the arms stretched overhead with the palms joined as the ideal form of mountain pose, and starts chair pose and warrior I from it, without giving it a separate name.
Names differ between schools. AshtangaYoga.info, in its picture list of Sun Salutation A, labels this first movement Ūrdhva Vṛkṣāsana (upward tree). The 12-position sun salutation taught by the Bihar School of Yoga, the Sivananda centres and the Art of Living uses a deliberate backward bend at this point, called Hasta Uttānāsana; that shape has its own page, raised arms with backbend. The Bihar School also calls a different arms-up exercise, rising onto the toes, “Tadasana (the palm tree pose)”.
Making upward salute work
Build it from the ground: set up a steady mountain pose first, with the weight spread over both feet. As you inhale, sweep the arms up, shoulder-width apart, palms facing each other. Let the shoulder blades move up and outward as the arms rise; that rotation is what lets the arms go overhead without pinching. Forcing the shoulders down while the arms are up works against it.
The most common compensation is in the ribs and lower back: when the shoulders run out of range, the front ribs flare and the lower back arches. Yoga Journal’s teaching cue is to soften the front ribs down toward the hip bones. If that is hard with the arms beside the ears, open the arms into a wide V or bring them slightly forward. Join the palms and look at the thumbs only if the arms stay straight and the neck stays easy.
Precautions in plain words
With a shoulder injury or pain when lifting the arms, keep the arms lower, in a V, or rest the hands on the hips. If looking up strains the neck, keep the gaze forward. People who feel dizzy when raising the arms quickly can move more slowly and breathe evenly. Ask a teacher or physiotherapist about overhead movement after shoulder surgery.
Preparation and what comes next
Mountain pose is the only preparation needed. In a sun salutation upward salute leads into standing forward fold on the exhale, and in Sun Salutation B the same arm position is held while the knees bend into chair pose. Warrior I and high lunge use the same arms with the legs in a lunge.
Where it is taught
It opens Sun Salutation A in Ashtanga and most vinyasa classes (see our sun salutation guide), and it is used in hatha and Iyengar classes as a standing stretch. A chair version, arms raised while seated, fits easily into chair yoga.
