Chair Pose Made Easy

"Some yoga poses can come to you quickly and relatively easily. Other poses can feel as though they require every ounce of your stamina even after years of practice. And then there's Chair Pose. For most of us, it falls into a category of its own of poses that look deceptively straightforward yet require tremendous stamina in body and mind."

"In Sanskrit, the word for dedicated practice is abhyasa. It is the act of consistently making an effort to reach a goal. In your yoga practice, this implies discipline, but it is also a movement toward effortlessness that arises when you let go of the outcome. If you stay interested in the practice itself rather than the goal, then at least some movement toward effortlessness will happen."

"It can be frustrating while you're in it, but in the end it teaches you the determination you need to meet a challenge and the perseverance to return to it repeatedly over time. Perhaps no other pose produces more frowns and even groans among students, yet when I encourage them to persevere, they tell me they're glad that they did."

Chair Pose appears deceptively simple yet requires tremendous physical and mental stamina. The pose offers little visible glory despite demanding sustained effort and does not produce flashy positions. Dedicated practice, called abhyasa in Sanskrit, involves consistent effort toward a goal and fosters discipline while encouraging a shift toward effortlessness when outcomes are released. Maintaining interest in the practice itself rather than the goal promotes that movement toward effortlessness. The pose can be frustrating during performance but builds determination and perseverance through repeated return. Chair Pose functions as a full-body exercise similar to gym squats, training the body to manage multiple simultaneous demands.

Read at Yoga Journal