Take a Seat

Sometimes there are so many possible posts swirling around in my head it's hard to choose what to write about. Today is like that, so my mind told me to "take a seat."

That would normally mean something like "take a moment to figure it out," but today, it means I'm talking about Chair Pose (Utkatasana!)

Chair is one of those poses that people love to hate. Depending on how long you're asked to hold it, the release from the pose feels sweeter than any time you're doing it. I think that's a bit of a shame, because it has a lot more to offer than just its ending.

First of all, "chair" is not really the name of the pose. In Sanskrit it's Utkatasana, which translates roughly to "fierce," which I frankly think is far more illustrative of the pose than "chair." Sure, Chair looks like you're about to sit back into a chair, but that's about the extent of the relationship. Just like us Westerners to obliterate the meaning of the name of the pose in favor of how it looks externally, but whatever.

Wanna know how I like to do it?

• Place the feet together, big toes touching. The heels can be a bit farther apart for stability. Alternatively, feet can be hip distance apart.

• Zip up the core muscles in front. It feels a bit like you're zipping up a pair of jeans from the pubic bone all the way to the lower ribs.

• Pull the pelvic floor in and up.

• Inhale the arms overhead with the pinkies spinning just slightly inwards. Some days my fingers are spread wide, and others I keep the fingers together, but my hands are always active. A great variation for those with shoulders that talk to them with arms over =head is to cactus the arms or bring the hands to heart center.

• Sink the hips back and down, bending the knees and paying attention to them. It's much more important to keep your knees happy than to put yourself into a particular yoga pose!

• As you deepen towards the ground, keep the feet fully grounded. Try not to allow the heels in particular to lift (unless that's a deliberate variation you're going for!) The grounding of the feet here becomes my focus. Spread the toes widely for stability.

• As you breathe in, lengthen the torso. As you breathe out, see if you can deepen into the pose. That may not mean that you get any closer to the ground! Sometimes it's an energetic deepening, or a feeling of more ease in the shape you've chosen.

• Stay as long as you feel some balance between effort and ease. If it becomes a snoozefest where you aren't feeling any effort, adjust your body to feel what you're looking for. If you are in all-out effort and there's no sense of comfort anywhere to be seen, adjust your body to find a better balance.

• I come out of the pose in different ways, but generally I rise to stand on an inhale, but fold forward on an exhale. So depending on where you're headed, get your breath in the place where it needs to be so that the following shape has the same benefit of breath that Chair did.

Be easy on yourself for Chair. Seriously! It can be a physically demanding pose, and it's definitely a mental challenge (don't get caught up in labeling yourself as a result of what the pose looks or feels like!)

Hope that's helpful. The next time you "take a seat," see if any of these suggestions makes your Chair more comfortable!