New Moon Yoga - Easy Seated Pose

New Moon Yoga – Easy Seated Pose

Easy Seated Pose

This pose is often seen as the classic yoga or meditation pose, but in fact there are several variations of the pose and this blog will touch on the subtle differences between them that you might want to explore. Easy seated pose is known as Sukhasana in Sanskrit, and whilst its name suggests otherwise, it can be quite challenging, especially if you are used to sitting in chairs all the time. However, it is great for counteracting the lower back rounding that chair sitting often causes. It is a pose which allows us to be grounded and stable, and is designed to help us find stillness for breathing (pranayama) or meditation. This is a hip opening pose which also encourages strength in the spine and torso. Once settled in the pose, the alignment of shoulders over hips and the wide base provided by the pelvis and legs gives us opportunity for quiet, calm introspection, steady and full breathing, and is an ideal posture for meditation and focus.

The pose provides different options for our hands enabling different mudras (hand positions) to be taken, and there is an option to allow the eyes to close if you are comfortable with that.

Physically, the pose is great for core strength, working the abdominals and the back muscles to remain upright. The muscles around the shoulder blades and shoulders are involved to keep the chest open and the shoulders away from the ears. The inner thigh and groin muscles are stretched as the hips are opened out.

How to find Easy Seated pose

This pose is a sitting position on the floor, so come to seated on the floor, and fold first one leg and then the other in to cross-legged position, bringing the feet in towards the opposite inner thigh, and the knees out to the sides. You can choose which foot goes in front but do try to swap around each time you take the pose, so both hips and knees gets the same stretch over time. Once the legs are folded in, sit tall though the spine lifting up out of the lower back. Drop the shoulders away from the ears by drawing the shoulder blades down the back and opening the chest. The shoulders should be directly above the hips with the spine as straight as possible. Let the hands come to the thighs either palm up or down – see what feels most natural today. I usually encourage a little waggle of the elbows as you do this so you don’t go all stiff in the arms and shoulders. Ensure the chin doesn’t droop to the chest, but don’t tilt the head back – find the neutral position where your head sits naturally on top of the spine.

Other options

The above sounds very simple, but the reality is that everyone has different anatomy and flexibility particularly in hips and knees and ankles, and many people rarely sit on the floor after junior school, so options abound to find a version of this pose for different bodies.

The first is whether you cross the ankles or not. Strictly speaking Easy Seated pose or Sukhasana has the ankles crossed and each foot under the opposite knee or shin. This can be uncomfortable for example if you have bony ankles. However you can keep the ankles uncrossed and stack the shins one in front of the other instead, tucking the closest heel in towards the perineum, and the shins almost parallel, as shown in the main picture.

Another option is to tuck one heel towards the perineum and then to cross the second leg so that foot is placed on top of the first, with the sole of the foot against the inner thigh and strictly speaking this is Accomplished Pose or Siddhasana in Sanskrit.

Another option is Half Lotus or Ardha Padmasana, where the upper foot is placed on top of the lower thigh with the foot right in the crease at the groin, and then the lower leg is folded under so the lower foot goes under the buttock crease with the heel towards the perineum.

As you can see these are all nuances with specific positions and names in traditional yoga, and the absolute details are not for this blog. What is important here is that the knees are opening out to the sides, and the feet are arranged in a way that does not cause any pressure on the knees, and that we are able to sit upright, lifting up and out of the lower back.

In addition to these minor differences between foot and leg arrangement, there are lots of things we can do to make Easy Seated pose better adapted for each body, and which are well worth exploring to find one that works for you.

One of the best options is to place a folded blanket under the buttocks. Increase or decrease the number of folds so your hips are suitably high and the knees can drop down below the hips. This can also be achieved with a block, or a meditation cushion, and trust me, it is well worth trying to help with hip tightness and the ability to sit up straight in the pose. You can also try sitting more, or less, towards the edge of the support to find a good angle of tilt in the pelvis to help the lower back straighten up.

Secondly you can support the knees so you don’t feel as if you are straining to keep them up and out. Simply pop a rolled up blanket or a block or a cushion underneath each bent knee so they are held up and you can relax the legs and feel supported. Increase the support or push it more, or less, in towards the hip to vary the amount of support provided.

If Easy Seated pose is being taken in a chair, ensure both feet are securely placed on the floor with the knees above the ankles for support. Sit tall through the spine (not leaning on the chair back if possible) and place the hands on the thighs, letting the shoulders relax down and away from the ears. If the arms need more support a bolster or cushion can be used to support them. Again, a blanket under the buttocks can help with the pelvis tilt to encourage a straight back, particularly if the chair shape/angle makes you round the lower back. A dining chair is often better than other types.

It is also possible to take the pose on the floor but close to a wall so the back has more support, or you can find a mid ground by sitting a small distance from the wall and using a block propped between the wall and just below the shoulder blades which encourages you to sit up by providing a reminder not to sag.

Finally, there are lots of options as to how the hands may be held. Palms down may feel grounding, palms up invite receipt and openness, and then we can take any one of the vast array of other hand mudras, each of which has special meaning and associations. A few options are indicated in the pictures but do explore others that might feel good on any particular day or for a particular focus for your practice.

Breathing in the pose

Once settled in the pose, any number of breathing patterns are possible. The openness of the body and the length through the torso allows good depth of breathing, letting inhales be full and expansive, and exhales be complete. This is the ideal pose to explore slowing the breath down, noticing where the breath is centred – try moving the breath from the collar bone area down to the side ribs, or further down into the belly. Perhaps breathe into the back ribs, or start to notice the action of the diaphragm. If it’s suitable for you, you could begin to extend the slight pauses at the top and bottom of the breath, or maybe just noticing that they exist is enough for today. Observing the breath is a great start to a meditation practice, and is certainly good for calming us down and taking us away from everyday worries.

Moving on

From a seated position we can very easily move to a lying position and take Bridge pose, Happy Baby, some moon stretches or spinal twists, or take our practice to final rest in Savasana.

But, if Easy Seated pose is earlier in a sequence the next moves could be wide legged seated stretches or a Figure 4 fold.

Reaching forward and coming over the folded legs into Table Top is a route back to standing, via Downward Facing Dog, too, so we don’t have to remain close to the ground once in this pose, and of course it may be that the practice started in Easy Seated pose in order to find stillness and focus to begin our yoga, in which case some nice Cat-Cow movement, or Thread the Needle, in Table Top can feel great before moving on to other positions.

All in all, there is way more to Easy Seated pose than meets the eye, don’t you think?

Make sure you always look after yourself when doing yoga.

It’s important to always listen to your body and only work within your personal limitations. You are fully responsible for your own safety and wellbeing. Make sure your surroundings and your practices are safe. Do not attempt to take a physical posture that is outside of the scope of your practice. If you have any specific medical conditions, injuries, surgeries or are pregnant you should check with your GP or appropriate medical professional before starting any exercise. Keep in mind that yoga might be challenging at times, but it should never be painful. You must stop if you experience any pain, and you should consult your GP if you experience anything untoward such as dizziness or feeling faint. Rest or leave anything out that you need to avoid or that does not feel right.

About Louise Handy

Louise Handy is an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher and Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider, providing yoga classes, courses and workshops. She delivers regular information, hints and tips in the Moon Phase Studios newsletters, helping individuals to discover, develop or continue their own yoga-based wellbeing practice in a way that is right for them, and aligned with the Wheel of the Year. Louise also provided poses and written content for the Moon Phase Studios yoga prints.

Louise offers a rounded approach using not only physical poses, but also breath-work and meditative techniques to find a harmonious balance of body, mind and spirit. She enjoys providing practical tools to help unwind and find serenity in everyday life as well as “on the mat”, and specialises in yoga nidra, a non-physical practice generating a state of deep conscious relaxation, as well as hatha, vinyasa flow and yin styles of yoga.

You can find out more about Louise’s work via www.essentialyoga.uk and by following her on Facebook or Instagram