Prenatal Yoga - Prenatal yoga - Chair pose

So now Katie is going to show how to do utkatasana or chair pose, in this picture. And in chair pose what you're going to want to do is, take your feet about a foot apart in second trimester. So in second trimester you want to give yourself a little more extra stability, and for your utkatasana, which is not a forward fold, it is actually a bend in the knees. So you're going to inhale, bringing the arms up, and then bending the knees drawing the hips back. So looking down at your knees, just check to make sure your knees don't come forward of your toes, if they do, you're going to draw your hips a little bit further back. Now see if you can draw your shoulders down away from your ears in this pose, so softening, that's it, and reaching still through the crown of the head, allow the belly to be soft, and breath very deeply from the belly all the way up. So you're using your thighs, you're using your hip muscles here. And then to safely come out of the pose, you're going to press the feet into the floor, and start to straighten the knees as you reach up. And as you exhale, relax the arms back down by your sides. So that's our utkatasana or chair pose. (How did that feel for you? "The full pose was a little uncomfortable."). (It's hard? "It's just my belly felt very taut, if just did the full stretch".). So let's try that one more time. Make sure your toes point forward, heels point back. And this time inhale, think about the belly being nice and soft, allow the belly to be soft, as you inhale and draw the arms up and start to bend the knees and draw the hips back. Again, allow the belly to be soft by bringing the breath into the belly, drawing the shoulders down the back and breathing. And only hold the pose as long as it feels comfortable for you. Then to safely come out of the pose, on the inhale, press the feet into the floor, straighten the knees, and lift up towards the ceiling. And as you exhale, allow the hands to come back down to your sides. (Did that feel a little better? "yes, that was better the second time".). (Okay, Good).