One of the asanas or favorite postures to include in Yoga sessions, especially at the beginning of them, is Utkatasana or the position or asana of the chair : a great way to put the muscles of our back to work, from the area Average body and legs.

It can be identified for the public that practices fitness in a regular way with a half squat (always saving the distances) and is perfect both for beginners who start practicing Yoga and for those who have been with this discipline for some time and want to continue improving (lengthening the time we spent in this position). These are the benefits of utkatasana or chair posture and this is how you can do it correctly.

The benefits of chair posture

The asana of the chair is a simple Yoga posture suitable for all audiences that helps us to work the muscles of the feet (on which all the weight of the body rests), activates the muscles of the back and of our core and puts to work the muscles of our arms. A very complete work that requires a single movement.

Among its benefits, perhaps the most remarkable is the simplicity with which it teaches us to perform an axial elongation : a movement through which we perform the sometimes confusing task of “activating the core or the abdomen”.

When we are already in the position of the chair, we must imagine how our back stretches from the coccyx to the shoulders (following the movement also with the arms): this position and this sensation of “lengthening through the spine” makes the muscles of our core are activated almost automatically, something that can be useful to reproduce this activation in other movements or exercises.

In addition, the position of the chair helps us to work isometrically the quadriceps muscles , strengthens the ankles and helps us open the chest area and the diaphragm.

How to correctly perform the posture of the chair

In order to correctly perform the chair’s posture, we started from the standing position (standing) with the arms on both sides of the body and the feet separated approximately the width of the hip.

From that position, we inspire at the same time that we raise our arms towards the ceiling, with the muscles of them activated and the palms of the hands facing, and until we take them approximately at the height of the ears. When releasing the air, bend your knees slightly , trying to keep them practically at the same height as the ankles (when looking down you should be able to see the toes of your feet, if you can not, the knees are too far ahead).

We maintain this position breathing normally for about 30 seconds . If we are beginners we can keep it a little less and increase the time little by little.

Some considerations to perform well the posture of the chair:

• The back should not lean too far forward: it does not consist in flexing our hips and that our trunk is parallel to the ground, but it must draw a diagonal line.
• Imagine that one thread pulls your coccyx down that diagonal line while another thread pulls your head up: this way it will be easier for you to activate your abdomen to maintain your posture.
• The shoulders are relaxed, back and down, not attached to the ears.