what's up everyone welcome to yoga with

Adriene I am Adriene and welcome to the

foundations of yoga today we're going to

learn chair pose or utkatasana or cat

asana or just go actually or they also

call it the fierce pose the fiery pose

we're going to check in with the lower

body stay nice open and graceful in the

upper body and learn the foundations of

chair pose so let's hop to it oh you

know so we're going to begin today

standing and Mountain Pose

go ahead and bring your feet flush

together and stand up nice and tall take

a deep breath in then exhale drop your

gaze drop your chin to your chest and

take your eyeballs down towards your

feet so we're going to start the feet

here lifting the toes perhaps pressing

into the ball joint of the big toe the

ball jointed the pinky toe and the back

two corners of the heels then release

your toes down and then we're going to

create this a little bit of space

between the heels so keep the front part

of your foot where it is soft knees here

as we slide the heels open maybe just

about a thumb prints worth so the tops

of the thighs spiral in we take a deep

breath in bring the hands to the

waistline and on an exhale bend your

knees generously so this is foundations

of yoga so we're breaking it down so

what tends to happen here is the the

butt pelvis sticks out the lower back

sways and the ribcage just kind of

pushes out this looks awkward because it

is and it's uncomfortable so we're going

to take care of this tops of the thighs

are going to spiral in very important go

ahead and bring one palm to your belly

one palm to your lower back lower back

is going to lengthen and the way we're

going to do that is we're going to draw

the tailbone down now keep your knees

bent my friends and again a little bit

of space between your two heels if this

is hurting your knees and you still want

to practice the foundations of

utkatasana

go ahead and practice the

us with the feet hip-width apart big

toes turned in just slightly so we have

an option to be here or here but I want

to teach this with the feet flush

together to start because I feel like

that will help you those of you who've

been practicing asking me about this

posture hope you in your practice

okay so tailbone is lengthening down use

your hands here to draw the lower belly

in lengthen the tailbone down great that

hands can come back to the waistline

here and we draw the chin into the chest

just slightly find that length through

the back of the neck so another thing

that tends to happen is we end up being

here so again we're breaking it down

finding length in the neck the quads are

starting to talk to you I ran yesterday

so my legs are definitely starting to

talk to me all right begin to shift your

weight a little front and back now again

just feeling out the feet and then I'm

going to rock back and imagine my sit

bones hovering over my heels so for me

this is like the the tip of all tips in

okay tossing for me and my body is

imagining my sit bones melting down over

my heels so that's a nice little

alignment tip for me again notice how as

we hang out here longer the tail bones

going want to come out to compensate for

the kind of engaging of the quads so be

strong hang on tuck your pelvis lengthen

tailbone down find that open lift in the

heart draw your shoulder blades in

together and down the back and then on a

swift breath in we'll send the

fingertips up towards the sky

now keep the shoulders plugged in here

so here's an example of being here and

then opening and plugging in bend the

elbows in fact soft elbows as much as

you need here as you spread the

fingertips then we're going to see the

little deeper bending the knees and

again you can imagine sit bones hovering

over the heels here now remember that

lengthen the back of the neck so many

things that's why we have foundations of

yoga I love it and I'm lifting my toes

here to really spread awareness

throughout all four corners of the feet

so again I started us down at the feet

so you can keep your gaze soft here of

course peek at the video when you need

- and start at the feet and travel up

drawing energy up from the arches of the

feet can relax the toes down whenever

you want

tops of the thighs are spiraling inward

bending at the knee sit bones hover over

the heels tailbone lengthens down as the

lower belly draws in now we've been

talking on the channel a lot about this

knitting of the lower ribcage and so

once again I'll show you just this

visual it's the lower ribs drawing in so

rather than just sticking out hey mom

hey honey

I'm drawing it in tailbone lengthens

down and the lower ribcage begins to

come in like we're focusing a pair of

binoculars or of course that kind of

drawing in so I'm engaging these

intercostal so a lot going on here so

often we just kind of isolate the lower

body but the upper body is working hard

to hear a new guitar soon a fiery pose

for sure so rest when you need to and

come back we're going to loop the

shoulders again open the heart open

through the chest now turn your pinkies

in towards the front edge of your mat

and allow the tops of the shoulders to

drop down into socket so these are all

little checkpoints of chair pose and

maybe we sit a little bit deeper after a

break or two and then eventually if we

go ahead and take a break everyone stand

up nice and tall eventually we're going

to work to where we're getting the backs

of the thighs more parallel with the

earth but just take your time working

with integrity working with alignment if

you want to focus on the lower body you

can interlace the fingertips behind the

tail open up through the chest and then

just focus your awareness on lower body

so the arms aren't getting tired up

there hands on the waistline is also a

good place to just kind of practice with

weight distribution and also that

lengthening of the tailbone all right so

I'm going to inhale reach my fingertips

up one more time sink really deep knit

the lower cajon go through my checklist

nice long beautiful neck as the gaze

goes straight down in front of my nose I

take one more nice fiery breath here and

then exhale everyone's going to enjoy

this move as we press through all four

corners of the feet stand up nice and

tall lift your kneecaps and

a jerkwads full body stretch and exhale

palms back down at the heart great work

everyone

okey doke so that was the foundations of

chair pose or utkatasana this is a pose

that has definitely unfolded for me it

sounds cheesy but it's so true I used to

hate it a lot of teachers always joke

about it being everyone's favorite pose

but I actually do like this pose now so

I know you know I wouldn't lie to you so

stick with it return to this video keep

going through your checklist within this

posture it's nice to slow it down at

home with your home practice because

sometimes in public class you just move

too swiftly or not too swiftly but you

move swiftly you can't quite get into

all the little nooks and crannies of the

pose so I wish you the best and as you

discover how Katonah unfolds

keep digging through the foundations of

yoga playlist and of course leave any

questions or comments below I love

hearing from you guys there's more at

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channel if you haven't already and I'll

see you next time namaste

you