How to do Utkatasana (Chair Pose)

Do you want to learn how to do utkatasana or chair pose? Well, you’ve come to the right place. This strengthening posture is part of many yoga sequences. It helps realign your body, creating both physical and mental stability. Specifically, this posture corrects imbalances in the pelvis. Before we look at how to do the pose let’s look at its benefits and contraindications.

Benefits of Utkatasana

Chair pose quite a few benefits, including:

  • Correcting imbalances in the pelvis
  • strengthening the core, legs, shoulders, and arms
  • Stretching the lower back
  • Toning the hips and lower abdomen
  • Stimulating circulation
  • Building endurance

Contraindications of Chair Pose

Utkatasana is a useful posture, but as with most postures, if you have certain conditions, you shouldn’t do it. People with these issues should avoid the pose or use caution when attempting it.

  • Knee injuries
  • Hip injuries
  • Ankle injuries
  • Back problems
  • High or low blood pressure
  • Headaches

How to do utkatasana

Start by standing in mountain pose with your feet together. The bases of your big toes are touching. Your hands are at your sides.

Lift your kneecaps and engage your pelvic floor. Suck in your low belly.

Use your fingers to find the creases at the front of your hips. Now bend through your hip creases by pulling the heads of your femurs into their sockets.

Squeeze the knees toward each other.

Sink down as far as you can in this position. Spiral the thighs toward each other and keep your belly sucked in.

Lift your ribs slightly forward without letting them splay out.

Bring your hands in front of your chest in prayer position.

Inhale and raise your hands above your head, squeezing the elbows toward each other.

Look up at your thumbs.

Don’t bend the elbows and bring the hands back, and don’t hold the hands too far forward.

The more you sink down into your hip joints, the more you’ll be able to lift through the arms.

Stay in this pose for five breaths, and then slowly release it.

For a more detailed explanation of the posture watch this video from Kino.

Do you want more yoga classes like this? Sign up for a free trial with Omstars to get started.