How to Balance in Chair Pose

Members I recommend that you do the connective tissue class for feet before this class and remember we are doing a 28 day challenge with this for Fascia February in our Membership Community

David Whyte says : “to be courageous means to seat our feelings deeply in our body and in the world: to live up to and into the necessities of relationships that often already exist, with things we find we already care deeply about; with a person, a future, a possibility in society, or with an unknown that begs us on and has always begged us on. To be courageous is to stay close to the way we are made.”

In Yoga with Melissa 369 on Chair Pose, Awkward Pose or Utkatasana, we will come into our own bodies. In order to balance and connect with our strength we will first relate to our proprioception. You will feel your skin, muscles, and joints. They all contain sensory receptors (proprioceptors) that are sensitive to stretch or pressure in the surrounding tissues. Your skin, muscles and joints or proprioceptors helps your brain recognize where your body is in space, even if your vestibular and visual systems are compromised. Proprioception means your skin, muscles, and joints all contain sensory receptors (proprioceptors) that are sensitive to stretch or pressure in the surrounding tissues.

Balance also depends on your vestibular system. Sensory information about things like motion, equilibrium, and where your body is at in space is provided by something called a vestibular system. Your vestibular system is the part of your ear that includes the utricle, saccule, and three semicircular canals. The utricle and saccule detect gravity and front-to-back or side-to-side movement. In contrast, the semicircular canals detect rotational movement.

Our visual system contributes to our overall balance. This is the ability of your eyes to figure out where your head and body are in space and also your spatial location relative to other objects. In yoga we often train with our eyes closed, therefore improving our proprioceptive system (our sense of self in space). And we can also spend some time improving and training our balance by playing with our visual system, opening and closing our eyes.

David Whyte says from the inside we can often feel confused while we slowly learn what our life is about and what we really care about. We “allow our outer life to be realigned in that gravitational pull: with maturity that robust vulnerability comes to feel like the only necessary way forward, the only real invitation and the surest, safest ground from which to step.” In Warrior One or Virabhadrasana one we feel the gravitational pull, robust vulnerability and safe ground from which to step.

We can open our hearts and find the strength of our courage in chair pose. David Whyte says, “On the inside we come to know who and what and how we love and what we can do to deepen that love; only from the outside and only by looking back does it look like courage.”

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

Props: block, meditation cushion, blanket, yoga strap

Yoga Postures/Asanas: Guided Relaxation, Bridge Pose or Setu Bandhasana, Keyhole Stretch, Easy Pose or Sukhasana, Gate Pose or Parighasana, Downward Facing Dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana, Warrior One or Virabhadrasana one, Chair Pose or Utkatasana or Awkward Pose, Forward fold or Uttanasana, Cow’s Face Pose or Gomukhasana, Savasana or Corpse Pose, Mudra for Courage or Ganesh Mudra

Do you feel stronger and more balanced? Let me know by pressing that like button.

Do you know somebody else who would like to feel more courageous, strong and balanced? Why not share this video with them?

Thank you so much for your donations: Diane and Donna.