utkatasana | chair pose

By: ciela wynter

How to ease into Utkatasana or Chair pose.

Some postures like the utkatasana chair pose yoga position may come naturally to you, with minimal difficulty in terms of flexibility or strength. However, even after years of exercise, certain postures may seem difficult.

While doing the chair pose yoga stand with your feet hip-width apart and ground into the earth with the legs. Sink into the heaviness and make sure you have plenty of room for your belly.

Lengthen up from the side body and stretch from the heart, or your intention, and connect to a deeper pulse that draws you up as you inhale and slightly release on the exhale.

Also read >>> gate pose, stretch your side body (parighasana)

utkatasana-chair-pose-yoga-asanas how to

There is a sweet buoyancy available that brings you into the flow. If more support is needed, one can place their forearms onto their thighs and open up through the sit bones, spreading the sacrum wide. A sweet variation is to extend the right arm up toward the sky on the inhale, gazing toward the fingertips of your right hand, then slowly releasing to your side as the left arm raises.

utkatasana-chair-pose-yoga-asanas how to

Continue as an invocation to the goddess Quan Yin; she represents mercy and compassion while protecting women and children, keeping them healthy during extreme pain and suffering. Leading by example, may we all embrace her infinite patience and serenity as we stumble along on the journey of spiritual wisdom.

Prenatal yoga offers mama the fluid dance between poses that we might otherwise overlook. The way I approach the pose Utkatasana is a blend between opposing forces. It is important to feel the earthy connection through the legs, which grounds the body and creates a base of support and stability while the upper body can expand, lengthen and rise out of the pelvic floor.

utkatasana-chair-pose-yoga-asanas how to

The yoga chair posture can help a pregnant woman rest into what feels heavy and shift awareness to a fluid movement in the arms, or an opening into the heart with the breath. I enjoy the stability and creativity offered by Utkatasana.

There is also an obvious sense of deep fire moving into the legs and into the root, which is purifying and useful to release what is no longer serving the body: negativity or fear.

One of the most practical of the postures for labor preparation, Utkatasana builds strength and encourages a softening in the pelvic flesh. There are many variations in which to explore the various intentions available in the pose.

Also read >>> Best Online Yoga Teacher Training Certification 2021

Who?

As a Wyoming native, yoga is the consistent language through which I have found a deep connection to nature within my own body. For so many years, I have been living, thriving, falling, and spiraling on the yogic path, and I am so grateful.

Teaching yoga is an honor and a view into the continuous mirror of humility. I have learned that the more I can step out of the way of the flow, the more useful I am to the whole, which facilitates an offering of myself and my heart in the service of others.

When my life became my practice, I tapped into living in the possible and that inspires me to share from my inner perspective. Prenatal yoga specifically has taught me the power and the presence within the transformation of a woman into motherhood.

Beyond the asana, chair position yoga is a showing up with what is. I am constantly impressed and awed by the women who come to the yoga class being in their process and exude a graceful quality of honesty and courage.