July's Monthly Yoga Pose: Chair Pose (Utkatasana)

(OOT-kah-TAHS-anna)
utkata = powerful, fierce

Step by Step

Stand in Tadasana. Inhale and raise your arms perpendicular to the floor. Either keep the arms parallel, palms facing inward, or join the palms.

Exhale and bend your knees, trying to take the thighs as nearly parallel to the floor as possible. The knees will project out over the feet, and the torso will lean slightly forward over the thighs until the front torso forms approximately a right angle with the tops of the thighs. Keep the inner thighs parallel to each other and press the heads of the thigh bones down toward the heels.

Firm your shoulder blades against the back. Take your tailbone down toward the floor and in toward your pubis to keep the lower back long.

Stay for 30 seconds to a minute. To come out of this pose straighten your knees with an inhalation, lifting strongly through the arms. Exhale and release your arms to your sides into Tadasana.

Benefits of Chair Pose

Strengthen the supporting muscles of the major joints, such as the shoulders, hips, knees and ankles

Develop core strength

Strengthen the quads and gluteals

Help protect the knee joint by building stability

Build heat in the body

Open shoulders and chest

Improve breathing