Discover how to energize your day with chair pose (utkatasana). This is a wonderful pose to build strength in the lower body and will vitalize your body and mind. This video includes breathing techniques and a twist that will quickly chase away fatigue and lethargy leaving you feeling invigorated and ready to meet new challenges.

Chair Pose – Utkatasana

Have you ever felt really sluggish and tired at school. Here’s a great way to energize your day. It’s called chair pose, utkatasana.

To do this pose you need to stand up nice and tall with your feet slightly apart. Then, bend your knees and stick your bum out as if you were sitting on a chair. From there, reach your arms up with your palms facing together. This is a fantastic pose to work the hips and the thighs and improve your lower body strength.

To really get a boost in your day we’re going to combine utkatasana with a breathing technique. As you inhale, reach up. Exhale, breathe out and bring your arms down with a ‘ha.’  Inhale reach out, exhale ‘ha’. Again. Up and out. Inhale up, exhale out. One more time. Inhale up and exhale out. And then return to standing.

Shake your legs out a bit before we go into the next part of this pose.

Chair Pose with a Twist

For the second part we are going to do utkatasana with a twist. So standing in mountain pose with your feet slightly apart. Come into chair pose, sitting your bum down, keeping your knees parallel to one another. Bring your hands to namaste in front of your heart. Inhale lengthen your spine. Exhale bring your elbow to your knee. Press your hands together. Press your knee against your upper arm. And keep breathing throughout the pose.

This kind of gets hard to do and you might feel your legs start to shake a little bit. That’s OK. Don’t worry about it.

Inhale come back to centre. Exhale and twist to the other side. Perfect. Very nicely done. Keep breathing. Remember you are working at increasing your energy and your strength. One more breath. Finally come back to centre and stand up.

And that’s utkatasana. It’ll help increase your energy whenever you are feeling tired.

For more kids yoga poses visit the alphabetical list of poses.

2 people like this post.

Like

Unlike

Downward Facing Dog pose is a fantastic yoga pose to increase health and vitality while building strength and flexibility. However, it is not always feasible in a classroom to move desks out of the way and get on the floor to do yoga. The solution is Chair Dog, Downward Facing Dog pose with a chair. This is an excellent way to benefit from this pose in a classroom or office setting while making it accessible for everyone including those with special needs, weight issues, carpal tunnel/wrist concerns or overly tight hamstrings/back body. If a chair isn’t handy feel free to use a desk, counter top or even the wall.

Chair Dog (Downdog with a Chair)

Laura is going to show us how to do Downward Facing Dog pose with a chair, otherwise known as Chair Dog. Using a chair place it in front of you. Now, grabbing onto the back of the chair with your hands, you want to place your feet a little bit further back so that eventually your head comes down in between your arms and you make an ‘L’ with your body. If it’s difficult to make an ‘L’ because of tightness in the hamstrings or lower back, bend your knees and then push your hips back as far as you can push them. Your back will gradually lengthen and flatten. From there, if it is comfortable, straighten your legs maintaining the length through your back.

Hold this pose for a few breaths feeling the energy from your fingertips through to your hips and from your hips down into the ground and your feet. When you are ready come back to standing. And that’s Chair Dog.

If you enjoyed this video be share it with a friend and visit our YouTube Channel for more great yoga poses for kids and teenagers.

1 person likes this post.

Like

Unlike

These two versions of Ragdoll Pose are fantastic poses to promote a calm and stress-free feeling in body and mind . This is a fantastic pose to release tension in the neck and shoulders and will help students focus on long, deep, slow breathing leaving them feeling refreshed, relaxed and ready to take on new challenges. Both are forward bends which help to calm the mind, reduce fatigue and anxiety, and sooth frayed nerves. Take a yoga break, do Ragdoll Pose, and enjoy!

Standing Ragdoll Pose

To do Ragdoll Pose you want to reach way up with your arms, and then slightly bend your legs as you fall forward reaching for the floor. Let your head hand down, your arms hang down. Let go. Shake your head yes, shake your head no and take some deep, long breaths, letting your body sink a little bit further to the floor with each exhale. After a little while press into the floor with your feet and slowly roll yourself back up to standing one vertebrae at at time. Bring your hands to prayer or leave them by your side for one last inhale and exhale.

Seated Ragdoll Pose

Sitting on a chair, widen your feet and your knees wider than hips distance apart making sure that your knees are over the ankles and the feet are facing forward. From here reach up on an inhale, exhale keeping the length through the body cascade your torso through your knees. Bring your hands toward the floor, bending the elbows. softening your throat, letting your head hand down. Release the tension. Take a deep inhale, and exhale with an open mouth, ‘haaaaaaa.’ This is a fantastic pose for opening the hips, releasing tension, lowering blood pressure and simply to de-stress. Stay here for 5-15 breaths and when you are ready, slowly roll yourself up, taking your time, and return to a seated position.

Enjoy the feeling of rest and relaxation throughout the remainder of your day.

For more kids yoga videos visit YIMS TV on YouTube.

If you enjoyed this video share it with a friend.

Be the first to like.

Like

Unlike

 Tricky Tree group yoga pose develops concentration and focus while improving balance and memory. This is an ideal pose to get students working together and is a lot of fun as our three yogis demonstrate. By employing this pose children are able to access kinaesthetic learning, engaging their minds and bodies to review a basic learning skill such as counting by twos, multiplication tables, spelling words or in this case repeating the days of the week in French. In addition, they develop their social skills by learning to work together communicating verbally and non-verbally with one another. 

Tricky Tree: Group Yoga Pose

In order to build focus and concentration a great pose is Tricky Tree. This is a partner or group pose.

Facing your partner or into the group, everyone needs to raise the same leg and give it to the person standing beside them. In this case we are going to raise the right leg, giving to the person at our right. This takes some teamwork and a lot of balance.

So once you are in the pose, you can then repeat something which requires rote memorization such as the days of the week in French.

dimanche, lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi

When you are finished its nice to either step out of the pose, or if you are in a safe environment with no sharp edges, you can gently fall to the floor.

And that’s Tricky Tree.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more great videos on teaching yoga to kids and teens.

1 person likes this post.

Like

Unlike

Camels are fascinating creatures. With their long eye lashes, silent feet, ability to carry heavy burdens across the desert, and telltale hump(s) on their back, camels can teach us much about adapting to life and enduring through it’s sandstorms. In yoga camel pose is a lovely back-bend which opens the heart & chest, lengthens the psoas (hip flexors), and strengthens the back. When teaching camel pose, I’ll often talk about dehydration and our need for regular water consumption each day for our bodies to function properly, digest food, fight off illness, circulate the blood, etc.

Camel Pose – Ustrasana 

• Kneel tall, tops of the feet flat on the ground or toes curled under, whichever is most comfortable
• Circle one arm overhead, then reach for the heel behind you
• Circle the other arm, reaching for the other heel
• Lift your chest, filling the camel’s hump with water (it’s not really filled with water but this imagery works)
• If comfortable, allow your head to fall back

Benefits: Stretches the entire front of the body, opens the abdomen and throat while stimulating the internal organs, strengthens back muscles, improves posture

Alice the Camel is a fun song to sing while practicing Camel Pose.

1 person likes this post.

Like

Unlike

Yoga and Art Create an Interactive Experience

Using steel and acrylic, Orlando Dominguez, a Brooklyn based artist, creates unique art inspired by the power of being human. His asana sculptures celebrate the art of the asana with clean lines and a sense of playfulness. Orlando feels his work is “an interactive experience on an energetic level.” The bright colors and fun design make Orlando’s art highly accessible while the underlying skill and artistry are evident in every pose.

 Original Air Date: Sept 8, 2010

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

See more of Orlando’s work on his website and follow Orlando’s art via @GIN_Designs on Twitter or G-I-N Designson Facebook.

This Friday Orlando’s ”Pink Chic” Chair is being auctioned off at the Angel Street Thrift Shop(118 West 17 St, New York) as part of Fashion’s Night Out. Angel Street Thrift Shop turns Manhattanite’s designer clothing and furniture into cash to help those affected by substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, and mental illness.

Read an article regarding this interview on Elephant Journal.

1 person likes this post.

Like

Unlike