Chair pose shows up in almost every vinyasa and ashtanga class you’ll ever take. It looks simple on paper — bend the knees, reach the arms, sit back into an invisible chair — and then you hold it for five breaths and your quads start talking.

This is a full teaching guide to chair pose, or utkatasana in Sanskrit. Where the name comes from and what it actually means. How to cue it from the ground up. What usually goes wrong and how to fix it in real time. Variations, modifications, and the honest version of what the pose is doing in the body.

It’s written for two people: the teacher who wants better cues, and the student who wants to understand what she’s being asked to do and why.

Table of Contents

• What is chair pose?
• What does utkatasana actually mean?
• Where did chair pose come from?
• Is there a story behind chair pose?
• Yoga cues and alignment tips for teaching chair pose
• Should your knees go past your toes?
• Common chair pose mistakes and how to fix them
• Variations of chair pose
• How to modify chair pose for different bodies
• Benefits of chair pose
• FAQ

What Is Chair Pose?

Chair pose is a standing yoga posture where you bend your knees, sit your hips back and down, and reach your arms overhead — as if lowering yourself into a chair that isn’t there. It’s called utkatasana in Sanskrit, pronounced oot-kah-TAH-suh-nuh.

It builds strength and stability in the legs and core, creates heat in the body, and asks for focus and balance in a way that a lot of standing poses don’t. Most of the work is happening in the quadriceps, glutes, calves, and ankles, with the deep core and back muscles working to keep the spine long while the hips travel back.

It’s also one of the most-cued and least-explained poses in a general class. Which is exactly why it’s worth slowing down on.

What Does Utkatasana Actually Mean?

Utkatasana does not mean “chair pose.” The Sanskrit word utkata means fierce, powerful, proud, intense, immense, or difficult — so the more literal translation is fierce pose or powerful pose. “Chair” is a modern English nickname that describes what the shape looks like, not what the name says.

You’ll hear all of these in different rooms:

• Chair pose — the common English name
• Fierce pose or powerful pose — closer to the Sanskrit
• Awkward pose — what it’s called in the Bikram sequence
• Utkatasana — Sanskrit, from utkata (fierce, powerful) + asana (seat or posture)

That same root shows up in the pose next door. Utkata konasana — usually taught in English as goddess pose — is fierce angle pose. Same fierceness, wider stance. If you have ever wondered why goddess pose and chair pose feel like cousins, that’s why: they’re named for the same quality, not the same shape.

This is worth saying out loud in class, because the English name quietly changes what a student thinks she’s doing. “Sit down in a chair” is a passive instruction. “Hold a fierce, powerful shape” is not. The Sanskrit is asking for something the nickname doesn’t.

Where Did Chair Pose Come From?

The standing version of chair pose we practice today is relatively modern, but the name is centuries old — and it originally described a squat, not a standing pose. The lineage runs roughly like this:

15th century — Hatha Yoga Pradipika. The earliest clear textual mention of utkatasana isn’t in a list of postures at all. It appears in the chapter on cleansing practices, in the instructions for basti — a yogic colon-cleansing technique performed while squatting in navel-deep water. Utkatasana here simply names the squat you hold while you do it. Not glamorous. Very useful for keeping our stories about “ancient poses” honest.

17th century — Gheranda Samhita. Utkatasana appears as one of the 32 asanas taught in the text’s second chapter, described as balancing on the big toes with the heels lifted and the seat resting back onto the heels. Still a squat — a toe-balancing one.

19th century — Sritattvanidhi. This illustrated Mysore manuscript describes utkatasana with the soles of the feet on the ground and the knees drawn up toward the ears, and names it the haughty. A deep squat again, and again named for attitude rather than furniture.

20th century — Krishnamacharya and the Mysore Palace. The upright, standing, arms-overhead chair pose that shows up in modern vinyasa and ashtanga is generally traced to Krishnamacharya’s teaching in Mysore, where the older squatting utkatasana was reworked into the standing form we inherited.

So when someone tells you chair pose is a 500-year-old posture, the honest answer is: the name is at least that old, and it used to mean something different. The shape in your class is closer to a hundred years old than a thousand. That doesn’t make it less valuable. It makes it a living tradition rather than a museum piece — which is a much more interesting thing to teach.

Is There a Story Behind Chair Pose?

No classical text assigns chair pose to a particular deity the way the warrior poses are tied to Virabhadra. What exists is a teaching story — one that connects utkatasana to the throne, and to the Ramayana.

The story goes like this. In the India where these texts were written, chairs were not ordinary household objects. Most people sat on the floor or the ground. Elevated seats were for royalty — thrones, raised so a king or queen could be seen, and could see. That act of seeing and being seen has its own name, darshan, and it’s central to how people related to both rulers and deities.

The Ramayana — the epic of Rama’s exile, his fourteen years away from home, and his eventual return to Ayodhya to be crowned — is, read a certain way, a story about a throne. Who sits in it. Who was denied it. What it costs to come back and claim it.

Worth knowing if you teach this: Hindu tradition classifies the Ramayana as itihāsa, which translates roughly as “so it happened.” It’s held as history, and it’s living scripture for a great many people practicing today. That’s a good reason to speak about it with the same care you’d want extended to anything you hold sacred.

Told alongside utkatasana, the frame lands: this is not an easy chair. It’s a throne. You are not sinking into it, you are holding yourself in it. And utkata — fierce, proud, powerful — is exactly the quality the story is about.

One honesty note: This connection is a teaching layer, not a textual origin. The old manuals that name utkatasana don’t mention Rama, and the pose they describe is a squat used for cleansing practices and seated work. The throne story came later, from teachers and writers finding meaning in the shape.

That’s not a reason to drop it. Yoga has always accumulated meaning this way. It’s a reason to say it accurately. “There’s a story teachers tell about this pose” is a completely different sentence from “this pose comes from the Ramayana,” and only one of them will survive a student who goes home and reads about it.

If you want to offer it in class, offer it as what it is:

“There’s an old idea that chairs in India were for royalty — that a chair meant a throne. Some teachers tell this pose that way: not sinking into a seat, but holding yourself in one. See what happens if you practice it like that for the next five breaths.”

Then let her decide what to do with it.

Yoga Cues and Alignment Tips for Teaching Chair Pose

Teach chair pose from the ground up — feet first, then knees, then hips, then spine, then arms. Just as you would build a house starting with the foundation, it’s important to build a steady posture from its base. Students feel the difference immediately, because the pose stops being a shape they’re holding and becomes a structure that holds them.

Here’s the sequence, in cueing order:

• Stand with feet together. Big toes touching, heels slightly apart.
• Knees point over the second toes. This is the alignment that protects the knee — the joint tracking in the direction the foot is pointing.
• Weight distributed back toward the heels. She should be able to lift her toes, or at least feel that she could.
• Sit the hips low. Send the hips back and down, the way you would toward a real seat behind you.
• Lengthen the spine by drawing the lower abdomen in and up. This is what keeps the low back from collapsing as the hips drop.
• Arms reach overhead with palms facing one another. Biceps beside the ears, if the shoulders allow.
• Shoulders soften away from the ears.
• Gaze straight ahead — healthiest for the neck. No craning up to look at the hands.

A note on the arms. If chair pose creates too much tension and stress in your student’s shoulders, suggest she take the hands slightly wider than the shoulders, or “goal post” the arms — elbows bent, upper arms out to the sides. This is not a lesser version. For a lot of shoulders, it’s the version that lets the legs actually do the work instead of the whole pose getting hijacked by the upper body.

A note on feet together. Feet together is the classic ashtanga expression, and it’s harder — narrower base, more balance demand, more adductor work. Feet hip-width apart is not a beginner’s compromise. It’s a different pose with a different job: more stable, more accessible for wider hips, and easier to load the glutes. Offer both, and say what each one is for.

Should Your Knees Go Past Your Toes?

Probably yes, at least a little — and the “knees must never pass the toes” rule is more rigid than the evidence supports. In a small 2003 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, researchers compared barbell squats with knee travel restricted by a physical barrier against squats with no restriction. Blocking the knees from moving forward reduced torque at the knee — and dramatically increased torque at the hip, along with more forward lean of the trunk. The authors concluded that appropriate loading may actually require the knees to move slightly past the toes.

Hold that finding loosely. It’s seven trained men doing loaded barbell squats, not women holding an unloaded yoga pose for five breaths. But the mechanical principle transfers: when you forbid one joint from moving, the load doesn’t vanish. It relocates. Usually to the hips and low back.

What this means for how you cue chair pose:

• Keep cueing weight back toward the heels. That’s still the right instruction — it loads the posterior chain and keeps her from tipping forward onto the toes.
• Stop policing the knee line. A knee that travels slightly past the toes in a bodyweight pose is not an injury waiting to happen.
• Keep cueing knee tracking. Direction matters far more than distance. A knee collapsing inward toward the midline is the alignment worth correcting; a knee moving forward over the foot generally isn’t.
• Watch the ankles. Limited ankle dorsiflexion is often what’s driving a student to lean forward or lift her heels. That’s an ankle conversation, not a knee one.

Common Chair Pose Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Most chair pose problems come from the pose migrating upward — out of the legs, where the work belongs, and into the low back, shoulders, or neck. Here’s what you’ll actually see in a room, and what to say about it.

That last one is worth its own beat. Chair pose is where a lot of women meet the moment they decide whether to grip or to breathe — and where a teacher can offer a genuinely useful choice: come up a little higher, and keep breathing. Depth is not the point. Staying present in effort is.

Teaching this well takes more than a good cue list.

Knowing why a cue works, when to drop it, and how to read a body that doesn’t match the textbook is the difference between leading a class and teaching one. That’s the core of Ambuja Yoga’s 200-hour teacher training, Inner Alchemy: Root & Radiance — a women-centered training built around anatomy, nervous system science, and the real bodies in your room.

Learn about the training →

Variations of Chair Pose

Chair pose adapts easily — you can twist it, lift the heels, bind the arms, narrow or widen the stance, or take it to a wall. Each variation changes the job of the pose, so choose based on what you want a student to feel.

• Revolved chair (parivrtta utkatasana). Add a twist. Several arm options work: hands at heart center in prayer, or arms spread wide. Those two are my favorites. Cue the twist from the ribs rather than the arms, and keep the knees level with each other — the knee opposite of the direction you’re twisting will want to slide forward.
• Heels lifted. Press up high onto the balls of the feet and lift the heels. Adds a real balance and calf demand, and quickly shows a student how much she’s been relying on her heels for stability.
• Hands bound behind the hips. This option opens the shoulders and chest. Interlace behind the back, straighten the arms, draw the knuckles down and away. Good counter to a day at a desk.
• Feet hip-width with a block between the inner thighs. This version of utkatasana helps engage and strengthen the inner thighs (adductors). Squeeze the block and notice how the pelvic floor and deep core come online with it.
• Palms touching overhead. Bring the palms of the hands together above the head. A small change that asks more of the shoulders and upper back.
• Ardha utkatasana (half chair). Bend the knees closer to a right angle so the thighs come nearer to parallel with the floor and the torso inclines forward over them. This is the harder, more athletic expression — not a half-effort version.
• Chair at the wall. Back against the wall, feet a step out, slide down. Removes the balance demand entirely so the legs can work without the fear of tipping. Excellent for beginners, for larger bodies, and for anyone rebuilding leg strength.
• Chair with an actual chair. Set a real chair behind her and let her touch down and lift off it. Best teaching tool there is for the “hips back, not down” cue.
• Chair with a block between the hands. Hold a block between the palms overhead and press in. Instantly recruits the upper back and stops the arms from splaying.
• One-legged chair (figure four / eka pada utkatasana). Ankle crossed over the opposite thigh, sit back. Big balance and hip demand — a strong option for students who want more.
• Utkata konasana (goddess pose). Not a chair pose variation exactly, but the same utkata root and a natural pairing. Wide stance, feet turned out, knees bent and tracking over the toes.

How to Modify Chair Pose for Different Bodies

Chair pose is highly modifiable, and the right modification depends on what’s limiting — knees, shoulders, ankles, low back, or joint stability. Some starting points:

• Sensitive knees. Reduce the depth. A shallow bend held with good tracking is more useful than a deep bend held with a collapsing knee. Feet hip-width often feels better than feet together.
• Shoulder limitation or overhead pain. Goal-post arms, hands wider than shoulders, or hands at heart center. Nothing about the leg work requires the arms overhead.
• Limited ankle dorsiflexion. A folded blanket or a low wedge under the heels. This is one of the fastest, most satisfying fixes in a yoga room — the trunk comes upright immediately.
• Low back discomfort. Come higher, and cue the lower belly in and up before the arms go overhead. Usually the arms are the culprit.
• Hypermobile students. Watch for the low back doing the work of the shoulders, and for a locked, hanging quality at the elbows. Cue muscular engagement before depth — hug the muscle to the bone, keep a soft elbow, and work at eighty to ninety percent of available range rather than the end of it. Hypermobile bodies tend to have poorer joint position sense, so she genuinely may not feel where the end of the range is.
• Pregnancy. Widen the stance for a stable base, reduce the depth, and skip the closed twist in revolved chair — take it open instead, with the hand reaching back rather than crossing the belly.
• Larger bodies. Feet hip-width or wider. The wall version is often more useful than the free-standing one, and there is no reason to treat it as a lesser expression.
• Perimenopause and beyond. Chair pose is load-bearing leg and hip work, which matters more as estrogen declines and bone and muscle loss accelerate. Longer warm-ups, and keep the strengthening in. This is not the season to take it out.

“She gives you options for how to get into a pose, and she commands the room in a very gentle way that you feel safe. She makes the room a place where you can practice in your own space and not worry about anyone else.” — Bridget Carroll, Rooted & Wild, Sedona

Benefits of Chair Pose

Chair pose builds lower-body and core strength, improves ankle and hip stability, and generates heat — those are its most defensible benefits. Specifically:

• Builds strength and stability in the lower body, including the hip flexors, quads, ankles, and calves
• Tones the muscles of the legs
• Strengthens the core muscles of the trunk
• Opens the chest and shoulders
• Loads the legs and hips in a weight-bearing way, which supports bone and muscle maintenance over time
• Creates heat, which is why it shows up early in vinyasa sequences
• Requires focus and balance, which is its own kind of practice

What tradition adds. Older and more traditional sources describe utkatasana as stimulating the heart, diaphragm, and abdominal organs, and associate it with the svadhisthana chakra and qualities of creativity and determination. These are worth knowing and worth teaching as tradition. They aren’t clinical claims, and it’s cleaner to say so — “in this tradition, this pose is associated with…” rather than “this pose stimulates your organs.”

Students trust a teacher who marks the difference between what’s measurable and what’s inherited. It costs nothing to be precise, and it buys a lot.

“I appreciated the pose modifications for beginners and for more advanced yogis.” — Stefanie D., Back to Nature, Oregon

Chair Pose FAQ

What does utkatasana mean? Utkatasana comes from the Sanskrit utkata, meaning fierce, powerful, proud, or intense, and asana, meaning seat or posture. A more literal translation is fierce pose or powerful pose. “Chair pose” is a modern English nickname based on the shape.

How do you pronounce utkatasana? Utkatasana is pronounced oot-kah-TAH-suh-nuh, with the emphasis on the third syllable.

Is chair pose the same as awkward pose? Yes and no. Awkward pose is the name used for utkatasana in the Bikram sequence, though the Bikram version is taught as a three-part series with different leg positions rather than the single standing shape used in vinyasa and ashtanga.

What muscles does chair pose work? Chair pose primarily works the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, calves, and ankle stabilizers, with the deep core and spinal muscles working to keep the torso long. The shoulders and upper back work to hold the arms overhead.

Should your knees go past your toes in chair pose? A small amount of forward knee travel is generally fine in an unloaded pose. Research on squats found that physically blocking the knees from moving forward reduced knee torque but sharply increased load at the hips and low back. Knee tracking direction matters more than knee travel distance — a knee collapsing inward is the alignment worth correcting.

How long should you hold chair pose? Five breaths is standard in vinyasa and ashtanga sequences, which usually works out to roughly thirty seconds. For strength-building purposes, longer holds of forty-five seconds to a minute are useful, as long as the student can keep breathing and maintain knee tracking.

Is chair pose safe for bad knees? Chair pose can often be adapted for sensitive knees by reducing the depth of the bend, taking the feet hip-width apart, and making sure the knees track over the second toes rather than collapsing inward. Anyone with a diagnosed knee condition or ongoing pain should check with a physical therapist or physician.

What are the best variations of chair pose? Common chair pose variations include revolved chair with a twist, chair with the heels lifted, chair with the hands bound behind the hips, chair with a block between the inner thighs, palms touching overhead, half chair with the thighs closer to parallel, and chair practiced against a wall for extra support.

About the Author

Autumn Adams is the founder of Ambuja Yoga and an E-RYT 500, YACEP-certified teacher based in Bend, Oregon. She has been leading women’s yoga retreats since 2014 — 13 years, 40+ retreats, and 700+ women across Oregon, North Carolina, Sedona, Patagonia, Mallorca, Greece, and Thailand. She is the author of The Little Book of Mudra Meditations and the host of The Aligned Yogi Podcast, and her work has been featured in Insider, Shape, Zappos, and Asia Spa. More about Autumn →

Practice This in a Room Full of Women

Chair pose is a good one to keep working on at home. It’s a different thing entirely to practice it somewhere with no rush attached — outside, in a body that finally got some sleep, with women who are also figuring out what they want the next chapter to feel like.

That’s what Ambuja Yoga retreats are for. Small groups, real food, actual nature, and yoga that meets the body you brought.

See upcoming retreats →

Not ready for that yet? Get on the email list for teaching notes, practice breakdowns like this one, and first word when new retreat dates open.

The post How to Teach Chair Pose: Alignment, Teahing Cues, and Variations appeared first on Ambuja Yoga.

Posture issues and back pain are often caused by poor biomechanics and muscular imbalances due to habitual patterns of movement (or lack of movement), imbalances of strength and flexibility, injury, and sometimes genetic predisposition.

In this blog post, I will be focusing mostly on gentle yoga stretches for good posture. These good posture exercises help release tension and tightness in the muscles that often become tight, shortened or overstretched when we spend much of our time standing, sitting, or walking with poor posture.

1.) Yoga For A Stiff Back: Cat Cow

Cow Pose

Cat-Cow is one of the best exercises to improve posture. I include cat-cows in every single yoga class I teach. Why? Because it stretches the postural muscles, encourages the healthy movement of the pelvis and requires the core to gently engage. Cat-cow also helps release tension in the neck and shoulders.

Cat Pose

To practice Cat-Cow, come into a tabletop position on hands and knees with your knees directly underneath your hips and your hands directly underneath your shoulders. To start, find length through your spine, draw your lower belly in and up to support your lower back and lengthen your tailbone straight back behind you. Take a few rounds of breath here and experience the length of your spine and the subtle engagement of your core.

Use an inhale breath to lift your tailbone up towards the sky, draw your belly down, pull your chest forward between your upper arms and finally turn your gaze forward and slightly up while you maintain your core engagement. This will draw your spine into a gentle backbend. You want to think of articulating through each vertebra. On your exhale breath, tuck your tailbone under, pull your navel to your spine as you round your back; Continue to round your back, puff up the space between your shoulder blades, and draw your gaze toward your knees.

Continue this movement for 10-12 rounds of breath.

2.) Yoga for Rounded Shoulders: Supported Supta Baddha Konasana

Reclined Cobbler’s Pose

Reclined cobbler’s pose is one of my favorite yoga poses because it is deeply restorative, reestablishes the lumbar curve, opens the chest, and softens the muscles of the groin and inner thighs. The forward head, shoulders rounded forward, spine rounded forward posture is quite prevalent in today’s society. This forward head, “C” shaped posture is reinforced in our workplaces (computer hunch), our cars, and our homes (super soft couches that you sink into).

When we allow our shoulders to round forward, the muscles in of our chest get tight, weak and shortened, the muscles between the shoulder blades become weak and overstretched, and the muscles of our neck and upper shoulders become tight and prone to strain. If you notice your shoulders rounding forward during your workday, take a minute and do some shoulder rolls.

To practice supta baddha konasana, or reclined cobbler’s pose, you will want a bolster (or a couple of pillows or a rolled blanket), a blanket or folded towel, and two yoga blocks (or cushions of the same size).

Place your bolster or rolled blanket lengthwise behind you and take your folded blanket or towel at the far end of your bolster (this will support your head and neck).

Take a seat with your sacrum at the short end of your bolster, carefully lower yourself down onto your bolster, support your head with the blanket/towel (optional), and bring the soles of your feet to touch as if you were coming into butterfly pose, your knees drop out to the side like the pages of a book. If you feel like you need support for your legs, slide your blocks or extra cushions underneath your thighs/knees. Settle into the posture and allow your entire body to relax. Hold 4-7 minutes.

3.) Yoga For a Flattened Lumbar Spine: Supported Bridge Pose

Supported Bridge Pose

Supported Bridge Pose benefits your lower back by re-establishing the lumbar curve. The lumbar curve is often flattened in those who sit for the majority of the day. Some individuals will have a deep lumbar curve typical of what you would see in gymnasts. A deep lumbar curve compromises the integrity of the vertebrae and discs of the lower back.

For supported bridge pose you will want to have a bolster, block or a firm pillow.

Lay down on your back and bring your feet as close to your bum as you can with your feet and knees both hips-width distance. Stretch your fingertips down toward your heels. From this pose, press into your feet and lift your hips, belly, and chest up toward the ceiling on an inhale. On an exhale breath reverse the motion. Begin at the top and roll your spine down one vertebra at a time. Repeat 3-7 times. The active version of bridge pose strengthens the glutes, back, abdomen and legs.

On your last active bridge pose slide your bolster, block, or pillow underneath your sacrum, so your hips and lower back are supported. Keep your legs bent for a few minutes. If the posture still feels okay after a few minutes you can play with lengthening your legs long along the floor. This will lengthen your hip flexors, but please be mindful of your lower back. If you experience any lower back pain then bend your knees and bring your feet back down to the earth.

Hold the pose for 5 minutes.

4.) Two Exercises for Better Posture and Health of The Lower Back & Pelvis: Low Lunge & Half Splits

Low lunge, or anjaneyasana, is a foundational yoga pose. When linked with Half Splits or Ardha Hanumanasana, it is a great yoga exercise to improve posture because it opens the quadriceps, hip flexors, and hamstrings. Low lunge with the torso upright also trains the paraspinal muscles (the muscles that run along your spine on either side) and abdominal muscles to hold the torso stable.

You might like to have two yoga blocks to practice the low lunge and half splits

Come into a standing forward fold with your feet hips-width distance at the top of your yoga mat. Bend your knees enough to bring your hands down to your mat. Step your right foot towards the back edge of your mat and bring your right knee down. Make sure that your left knee is directly above your left ankle. To begin, bring your torso upright and if you feel stable take your arms up overhead.

Bring your awareness to your lower back and notice if you’re collapsing; if you are, your lumbar curve will be deeper and your belly will have softened forward. If this is you, draw your lower belly in and up. You can think of lifting your pubic bone up toward your ribs, which will teach you to use your core muscles to support your lumbar spine. Hold this posture five to ten rounds of breath and then release your hands to the ground (or onto your blocks).

Half Splits or Ardha Hanumanasana

For half splits you will wiggle your left foot an inch or two forward and then shift your hips back, so your right hip stacks over your left hip. With your left leg extended long out in front of you flex your foot and dray your toes back toward your shin. This posture lengthens your hamstrings. Hold this pose 5-10 rounds of breath.

When the hamstrings become shortened they pull on the pelvis via the sit bones (ischial tuberosities) and this pulling posteriorly tilts the pelvis and flattens the curve of the lower back.

5.) Supine pelvic tilts

Anterior pelvic tilt.

Supine pelvic tilts are incredibly helpful when it comes to rehabbing low back injuries and teach the muscles of the abdomen, pelvic floor, and inner thighs to engage.

You will want one yoga block to practice supine pelvic tilts.

Lay down on your back like you’re setting up for bridge pose (see exercise #3). Put your feet close to your bum to start. Place your block between your thighs on its narrowest setting.

Posterior pelvic tilt.

Level 1. Keep your feet on the mat. Bring your hands to your lower abdomen and pubic bone, so you can feel the movement. Inhale a full deep breath and as you exhale curl your tailbone up off the mat and draw your navel toward your spine. Your lumbar spine will press into the mat beneath you. As you inhale, reverse the tilt: tailbone down, belly lifts and there is a space underneath your lower back. Make sure to squeeze into your block during this exercise. Repeat 10-20 times.

Level 2, position 1

Level 2. This is more of a core strengthener than a pelvic tilt, but it’s equally important. Stay on your back, keep your block between your thighs, bring your shins to parallel with the floor. From here, superglue your lower back to the mat and lower your heels down to tap the mat on an inhale. As you exhale, lift your legs back up to the starting posture. Repeat 10-20 times.

Level 2. position 2

6.) Yoga For Better Posture: Release Tension in Your Back With Simple Supine Twist

Simple Supine Twist not only helps release tension in your lower back, it also helps reduce stress and improve relaxation. It’s also really easy and you can even do it in bed.

To practice simple supine twist, make your way onto your back. Draw your knees to your chest and give them a little hug in. Then release your arms out to the side, so they go straight out from your shoulders. Release your knees to the right and turn your gaze toward your left shoulder if it feels okay on your neck. Hold for a couple of minutes and switch sides.

7.) Improve Your Posture With A Chest & Shoulder Opener: Downward Facing Dog Using A Wall, Table Or Chair

Downward Facing Dog at a wall or table is a gentler version of the traditional yoga posture. It helps those who have tighter/shorter hamstrings, tighter lower back or tighter shoulders get the benefits of the posture. Downward Facing Dog stretches the hamstrings, back, and shoulders. The posture also helps people find a long spine and core engagement.

To practice Downward Facing Dog on the wall, face the wall and bring the palms of your hands to shoulder width distance on the wall in front of you. Walk your feet back until your back becomes straight. You might need to slide the hands down a bit. You will create an upside down “L” shape with your body. Your spine is lengthened long and your navel draws in to support your lower back. Hold the posture for 10 rounds of breath.

8.) Reduce Your Swayback: Child’s Pose

Child’s pose is wonderful for those who have tight lower backs. There are two versions of child’s pose: one that works deeper into the hips with the knees wide, and one that works deeper flexion into the spine with the knees together.

You don’t need any props to practice child’s pose. Come down into a tabletop position, bring your knees to touch and your big toes to touch and press your hips back toward your heels. Rest your forehead on the mat or on a yoga block or pillow if your head doesn’t reach the floor. Hold for 2-4 minutes.

I hope you find this blog post helpful. If you would like to learn more about strengthening poses specifically related to the postural muscles, read my post on back strengthening yoga poses. If you have lower back pain, please take a look at my four-part series on back pain, where I discuss restorative yoga for better posture as well as active yoga postures to help strengthen your core and back.

The post The Best Yoga for Better Posture appeared first on Ambuja Yoga.

This is the first of hopefully many posts about mudras. My hope is that every other Monday I will offer a different mudra and offer ways to incorporate it into your practice, perhaps in asana, meditation or in combination with a mantra. One of my favorite resources is Mudras: Yoga in Your Hands by Gertrud Hirschi. Her instructions are clear and descriptive. If you’re in the market to pick up a mudra book, I recommend hers.

In this post, we’ll explore the difference between chin and jnana mudra. These two mudras are often used interchangeably and honestly, they’re almost identical, so it makes sense that there is a bit of confusion.

Chin Mudra

Chin Mudra is one of the most common mudras… even non-yogis have seen this mudra in contemporary art and culture. Chin means “consciousness” in Sanskrit and this mudra is often called the “psychic mudra of consciousness” or “the gesture of the teacher”.

To practice chin mudra while seated guide the tip of your index finger to the pad of your thumb, turn the palms up and rest the backs of your hands on your knees. Chin mudra can also be practiced in asana. I enjoy practicing chin mudra in dancer’s pose and reverse warrior among others.

According to the yoga tradition, the middle finger, ring, and pinky finger represent the three classic qualities of all of nature (the Three Gunas). The middle finger symbolizes sattva (purity, wisdom and illumincation), the ring finger rajas (action, passion and chaos) and the pinky finger tamas (inertia, lethargy and darkness). In this mudra, we unite the individual soul (index finger) with the supreme soul (thumb).

In the classical yoga text of Patanjali, The Yoga Sutras, the yogi is on a path of transcendence through these states (the gunas) and progresses from darkness into light and from ignorance to wisdom.

Benefits of Chin Mudra

• Creates a Pranic circuit, which maintains and redirects the prana, or life force, within your body
• Increases concentration
• Lifts dull energy, improves stamina
• Elevates mood (Yoga Journal)
• Those who practice chin mudra may even find that they have better sleep patterns
• Relieves stress and tension (Source: YogaWiz)

Jnana Mudra (Gyan Mudra)

Jnana means wisdom or knowledge in Sanskrit and mudra means seal or gesture. The thumb represents the supreme soul and the index finger the individual soul. This mudra represents the wisdom of knowing the individual soul is one with the supreme soul. The three extended fingers represent the three gunas which must be overcome: sattva (middle finger), rajas (ring finger) and tamas (little finger).

Jnana Mudra is nearly identical to chin mudra except the palms are turned down. Jnana mudra is typically performed in meditation due to it’s calming and grounding nature

Benefits of Jnana Mudra

• Creates a Pranic circuit, which maintains and redirects the “Prana” within your body
• Calms and stabilizes the mind
• This mudra has a grounding energy
• “Jnana Mudra symbolizes destruction of ego, as the index finger is held down and conquered by the thumb.” (Source: Yoga Wiz)
• Creates mental peace and alleviates nervous tension
• Boosts memory

Incorporate these hand mudras into your practice and let me know how it goes.

Love and Light,

Autumn

*Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. These earnings help make the maintenance of this blog possible. You can rest assured that I only link to products I know and love.

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WHAT ARE THE BANDHAS?

Bandhas are the activation and engagement of muscle fibers, in strategic areas in the body, that support in the toning and lifting of the systems of the body against the natural laws of gravity. Bandhas are used to stabilize the spine AND to draw kundalini upward.

3 Main Bandhas:

1. Moola bandha (mula bandha)- The root lock
2. Uddiyana bandha- Upward flying lock
3. Jalandhara bandha- The throat lock

2 Secondary Bandhas:

1. Hasta bandha- hand lock
2. Pada bandha- foot lock

MULA BANDHA- “THE ROOT LOCK” (PERINEUM OR CERVIX RETRACTION LOCK)

Mula bandha forces the prana upward and prevents it from escaping out the lower outlets.

Mula Bandha Basics:

1. Begin by practicing in a seated posture.
2. Isolate the different parts of the pelvic floor (front-stopping pee, back-stopping poo, middle- pulling in and up (without engaging front or back))
3. Lift from the perineum (male) or cervix (female); similar-ish to a kegel

Activating and engaging mula bandha tones and supports the internal organs of the lower abdominal cavity and brings much needed awareness to the space between the pubis (front) and the coccyx (back). This connection between front body and back body is usually saved for the psoas muscle, which due to habitual patterns of hip flexion in what we do for work and play is one of the major causes of lower back pain. Continuous awareness of the space between the pubis and coccyx and sitting bones in yoga poses and transitions can help alleviate already existing tightness, tension and/or lower back pain and can reduce the potential of lower back injury.

Gross (clench) vs. Subtle (lift) action

Practicing with a more gross, clenching sensation is okay when you’re learning to identify the muscles necessary to perform the bandhas, but in a regular asana practice the engagement is much more subtle… perhaps 20%.

Get Familiar With Your Pelvic Floor

Physiologically, this bandha is a diamond shape hammock of muscles that spans the space between the bones of the pubis in the front, the two ischium (sitting bones) on the sides and the coccyx in the back. These are your coccygeus, iliococcygeus, and the pubococcygeus muscles – known together as your Levator Ani, which form a part of the pelvic floor.

UDDIYANA BANDHA (THE ABDOMINAL RETRACTION LOCK)

Uddiyana bandha unites apana and prana at the navel center, the bandha described is called the rising or flying bandha.

Uddiyana Bandha Basics

1. To learn Uddiyana Bandha practice in either a seated posture (with spine long) or standing posture with feet hip width and hands on thighs.
2. Inhale fully inflating belly and lungs then exhale fully and forcefully until empty.
3. With the breath held out draw your diaphragm in and up to hollow out the belly.
4. Release your breath and uddiyana bandha when you cannot hold the breath comfortably any longer.
5. Never exhale or inhale AS you move the body into the lock. Breathe after or before movement as appropriate.

Uddiyana Bandha increases vitality, toning effect on the visceral organs, muscles, nerves and glands, stimulates blood circulation and absorption. The heart is gently massaged and squeezed by the upward pressure of the diaphragm. The suction or negative pressure in the thorax draws venous blood up from the abdomen into the heart and at the same time, arterial blood is drawn into the internal organs.

Chakras most affected are:

Manipura (solar plexus), Anahata (heart), & Vishuddi (throat).

*contraindications: stomach or intestinal ulcers, uncontrolled high blood pressure, heart disease, glaucoma or raised intracranial pressure

JALANDHARA BANDHA (THROAT LOCK)

Jalandhara prevents an upward leakage of prana. Jalandhara regulates the circulatory and respiratory systems, stimulates the thyroid to balance metabolism, and is said to cure diseases of the throat.

Jalandhara bandha basics:

1. Can be practiced in most postures.
2. Full expression: shoulders up, chin to chest and jawline back.

Chakras most affected are:

Vishuddi (throat)

*contraindications: uncontrolled high blood pressure and heart disease

MAHA BANDHA (THE GREAT LOCK)

Maha bandha, or the Great Lock, is a combination of mula bandha, uddiyana bandha, and jalandhara bandha. Maha bandha should only be practiced under the guidance of an experienced teacher.

Don’t worry if bandhas continue to feel foreign. As you continue your yoga practice you will become more aware of the inner workings of your body.

Resources:

Pelvic Floor Dysfunction No More!

https://yogainternational.com/article/view/uddiyana-bandha-step-by-step

http://www.yogajournal.com/pose/net-bearer-bond/

https://www.jenreviews.com/yoga/

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Step 1: Let’s take a moment to look at each pose separately

Cobra Pose Sanskrit: Bhujangasana

Bhujangasana or Cobra Pose strengthens the muscles of the back, legs, and arms. It is often taught toward the beginning of a vinyasa flow class or as a preliminary backbend to deeper backbends.

Here are 7 Tips to Improve Alignment in Bhujangasana

1. Lie on the floor on your belly with hands underneath your shoulders and fingertips just back behind your collar bones.
2. Either squeeze your legs together or take them so they’re hips width distance. Press your toe nails into the mat and engage your legs. Press your pubis (commonly called your pubic bone) into the mat and think of lengthening your tailbone down toward the earth (this will help take some of the compression out of the lower back).
3. Draw your elbows in and shoulder blades down your back.
4. With an inhale breath peel your chest up off the mat using the strength of your back. Gaze is forward and down with the jaw line drawing slightly back to maintain length in the cervical spine.
5. Think of engaging your lower abdominals to provide stability to your lower back.
6. Elbows stay bent in Cobra Pose. And shoulders continue to draw down your back.
7. You may use the strength of your arms to lift a little higher, but know to back off when you feel any compression in the lower back.

Exhale to come out of the posture.

Upward Facing Dog Sanskrit: Urdhva Mukha Svanasana

Upward Facing dog is used most commonly in a vinyasa class as a linking posture that links Chaturanga Dandasana to Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana). It is important to maintain stability through your center and keep your legs engaged.

Here are 7 Tips to Improve Alignment in Upward Facing Dog

1. Since upward facing dog is normally taught from Chaturanga that is how we will address it here. To make sure your shoulders are in the right place for your upward facing dog it’s important to press forward on your toes when you take your chaturanga, so your forearms are perpendicular to the floor and your upper arms are parallel to the floor.
2. With an inhale begin to pull your chest forward through the arms and roll over the tops of the feet.
3. Your legs are engaged. Tops of your feet pressing into the mat with legs and pelvis off of the floor.
4. Your arms are straight and perpendicular to the floor with your shoulders stacked directly over your wrists.
5. Engage your lower abdomen to maintain stability in the lower back.
6. Gaze (drishti) can be forward or up, but make sure you’re not dropping your head back and collapsing into the cervical spine.
7. When you’re in the posture make sure your shoulders aren’t lifting up to the ears. Shoulders are drawing down and back is the shoulder blades draw in and down.

Exhale to exit the posture.

Step 2: Let’s Compare Cobra Pose and Upward Facing Dog side by side

Cobra Pose

Upward Facing Dog

Elbows bent and drawing in
Elbows straight

Hips and legs are on the ground
Hips and legs are off the ground

Tops of feet pressing into mat
Top of feet pressing into mat

Legs together or hips width
If coming from down dog feet are hips width

Lower abdominal muscles engaged
Lower abdominal muscles engaged

Shoulders drawing down the back (away from the ears)
Shoulders drawing down the back (away from the ears)

Gaze is forward and down
Gaze is forward or slightly up

Tailbone drawing down toward the floor
Tailbone drawing down toward the floor

Inhale to enter/exhale to exit
Inhale to enter/exhale to exit

Step 3: Now the big question: Should I be practicing Cobra Pose or Upward Facing Dog?

Cobra Pose is truly a foundational posture. It’s great for improving strength of the lower back and reducing lower back pain. It helps lay the groundwork for deeper backbends by warming up the muscles of the back. This posture also strengthens the glutes, legs and arms. Cobra pose is a safe way to backbend in a vinyasa class for almost everyone. If you have any limitations in your lower back I highly recommend practicing cobra pose. I do not recommend straightening the arms. And I encourage you to be mindful as you backbend, so you’re not compressing the lower back… especially as your back becomes more flexible.

Upward Facing Dog is common mostly in vinyasa style/power yoga classes. I think that it is important to be able to move from high plank to chaturanga (low plank) to upward facing dog to downward facing dog without bringing the hips, knees, thighs down to the mat. If you have the strength to do that you have the strength in your core to support the lower back in this posture.

I recommend always warming up your lower back with a few rounds of low cobra before moving into upward facing dog… so that may mean that you take the first three vinyasas of your yoga class with cobra pose instead of upward dog.

If you’re new to yoga start practicing cobra pose and once you feel strong and confident in cobra begin to practice upward facing dog. Remember the tips I’ve listed here and enjoy your practice.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Love and Light,

Autumn

The post What’s the Difference Between Cobra Pose & Upward Facing Dog appeared first on Ambuja Yoga.

How does yoga rejuvenate, balance and center?

Yoga unites the body and mind and can bring balance and a sense of calm when practiced correctly and regularly. Some yoga postures are more relaxing than others, but even the challenging postures can bring relaxation as we learn to work though discomfort. The focus we apply on the mat helps us cope with stressful situations by balancing the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS).

Our SNS is responsible for our fight-or-flight response to stressors and when stimulated it releases stress hormones (including cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine), increases heart rate and respiration, increases blood pressure and blood sugar, suppresses the immune system, slows digestion, and causes loss of hearing and auditory function. In today’s world we are constantly being stimulated and bombarded with information, noise, work, etc. and we live in a state of heightened arousal and chronic stress.

Our PNS, on the other hand, stimulates our rest and digest response. It slows the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, increases intestinal and glandular activity, and relaxes the sphincter muscles. Yoga’s combination of asana practice, breathing exercises and meditation can stimulate the PNS and bring harmony and balance to the nervous system.

These are my favorite postures for wedding day relaxation:

1. Balasana aka Child’s Pose

This restful yoga pose helps develop an inward focus by drawing attention to the breath and allowing the mind to be still. This posture also creates space in the lower back and can also be a gentle shoulder and upper back opener.

2. Uttanasana Standing Forward Bend

This moderate forward bend, when done safely can soothe the nervous system and relieve stress, anxiety and mild depression.

3. Trikonasana aka Triangle Pose

Triangle pose provides an intense lateral stretch to the side body while alleviating anxiety, reducing mental stress, building focus and developing willpower. This posture also helps improve digestion and circulation, increases muscular endurance and may relieve symptoms of sciatica.

As you come into this posture imagine that your legs, hips and shoulders are all against a wall.

4. Dhanurasana aka Bow Pose

This intense backbend can bring internal balance and harmony. Bow pose also strengthens concentration and mental determination, enhances elasticity of the spine, massages the internal organs and strengthens the core muscles. Backbends tend to also be energizing and invigorating, so they are best done early in the day.

Couples who practice together stay together.

5. Salamba Setu Bandha Sarvangasana aka Supported Bridge Pose

Bridge pose and it’s many variations open the heart, increase circulation to the digestive and reproductive organs, and reduce stress, mild depression and anxiety. This backbend is gentler than some of the others like Camel Pose or Wheel Pose and can be done as a restorative posture by placing a bolster or block underneath the hips.

6. Halasana aka Plough

Plough pose is a variation of shoulder stand, it’s an intense forward bend and an inversion; it enhances physical and mental relaxation, develops inner balance and mental poise. Halasana also improves circulation, massages internal organs, and can relieve cervical and shoulder tension.

7. Upavista Konasana aka Open-Angle Pose

Upavista Konasana soothes the nervous system and relieves stress, anxiety and mild depression. It’s also great for opening the hips, groins and shoulders, stimulating the digestive and reproductive systems, and increasing circulation to the liver and kidneys.

8. Restorative spinal twist

This posture brings peace of mind while massaging the vertebrae of the spine and increasing suppleness of the spine.

9. Reclining Bound-Angle Pose Supta Baddha Konasana

Supta Baddha Konasana is probably my favorite pose, and it’s no wonder why the benefits are endless: draws the senses inward, relieves mild depression, anxiety and stress, opens the chest and heart chakra, opens the groins, improves digestion and circulation, promotes reproductive health and relieves fatigue and headaches. This pose always helps me relax and get centered no matter how emotional or stressed my day was.

As your lower back begins to release over time you may reduce the incline of the bolster.

10. Savasana aka Corpse Pose

Savasana reduces stress, mild depression, and anxiety, calms and centers the mind, reduces fatigue, lowers blood pressure, and relaxes & rejuvenates the body. This posture can be done anytime of day for any amount of time.

Corpse pose, savasana in Sanskrit, with knees supported helps relieve tension in the lower back.

It is important to find a experienced yoga teacher to show you the proper way to warm up for these postures and the proper alignment once you’re in the postures to prevent injury. Before beginning a new exercise program please consult your doctor.

Ambuja Yoga offers Beginner’s Yoga Series‘ in Bend, Oregon and Wedding Wellness Yoga Packages throughout Oregon. Wedding day yoga is a great way to relax and unwind with friends and family before the festivities of the day begin. After your wedding day yoga session you will feel relaxed, rejuvenated and centered. Book your Wedding Day Yoga today!!!

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