How to Use the Yoga Chair Pose

Yoga is the ancient exercise of strengthening and improving the body through a series of positions. The chair pose focuses on the lower body, building muscles in the lower back and legs. This pose, as with most yoga poses, can also help develop your respiratory system if proper breathing is utilized during the exercise.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Start in a standing position, arms by your side with palms facing inward. Your feet should be shoulder width apart. This stance is known as the mountain pose or tadasana.

2. Raise your arms over your head until they are perpendicular to the floor. You may join your palms over your head or leave them shoulder width apart with the palms facing inward. Keep your stomach firm and spine straight.

3. Bend your knees, trying to get the thighs as close to parallel with the floor as possible. Your knees will hang past the feet and your torso will lean forward at a 45 degree angle to the floor. Keep a gentle curve to your back. If you cannot get your thighs parallel to the floor, then go as far as possible.

4. Hold the pose for 30 seconds to a minute, deepening it as you breath. Keep your legs parallel to each other and extend your spine further towards the floor.

5. Come out of the pose by straightening your knees and lifting through your arms. Extend the arms upward and outward, returning to mountain pose. Repeat this pose to get further effects from it, taking a brief break between attempts to stretch and shake out the leg muscles.

Tips & Warnings

• When you are fully in the chair pose, you should be able to freely wiggle your toes without effecting your balance. This insures that your weight is in your heels as it should be.
• Breathe consistently in through the nose and out through the mouth, taking deep and even breaths.
• Stretch properly before attempting this pose.

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