Primarily based on the English identify, you may suppose that the chair pose in yoga is as straightforward as sitting down in your favourite recliner. This pose (utkatasana in Sanskrit) mimics the place of sitting in a chair, however because the chair is lacking, you need to depend on the energy of your decrease physique to maintain from falling to the bottom.
In actual fact, the Sanskrit phrase “utkata” has plenty of meanings, together with fierce, highly effective, and awkward. (The precise translation of utkatasana is definitely “highly effective pose.”) And when executed accurately, utkatasana chair pose is all of these issues mixed, particularly if it’s held for a number of breaths.
Chair Pose (Utkatasana): Step-by-Step Directions
Right here’s the right way to do utkatasana with correct type, so you will get the entire advantages from it and progress in your yoga apply.
Arrange
- Stand in mountain pose (tadasana), so your toes are collectively and your heels are barely separated.
Stepping into the pose
- On an inhale, increase your arms above your head subsequent to your ears in order that your palms are dealing with each other. Then bend your knees to decrease your hips down and again, like you’re sitting in a child-sized chair.
Alignment
- Hold your arms prolonged together with your shoulders press down and biceps by your ears. Hold your chin barely tucked and your chest lifted to keep up a straight line by way of your backbone.
- Bend your knees deeply in order that your thighs are parallel to the mat. Put your weight again into your heels, in order that you may elevate all 10 toes.
Posture Ideas for Chair Pose
- When you have tight shoulders or lats, extending the arms may be troublesome. Simply attain your arms up so far as is feasible.
- For those who look down, you must be capable of see your toes in chair pose. For those who can’t, rock your weight again into your heels.
- Pull your stomach button into your backbone, which can assist take the curve out of your decrease again.
Learn how to Make Chair Pose Simpler
- Begin out with a wider stance (about hip width) and don’t bend your knees as a lot.
- If reaching your arms overhead is troublesome, you possibly can at all times attain straight out in entrance of you, or convey your fingers collectively in a prayer place (Anjali Mudra) at your chest.
Learn how to Make Chair Pose Tougher
- Add an higher physique twist for revolved chair pose (parivrtta utkatasana).
- Bend your knees extra, so that you sit deeper into the pose.
- As you attain your arms up alongside your ears, contact your palms collectively and gaze as much as the sky as you elevate your chest.
- Maintain the pose for a number of breaths.
Chair Pose Advantages