Dear Neesha,

Whenever I am in Utkatasana, (Awkward Chair) I find it really hard to raise my arms overhead in prayer. I’m curious if there is a way to keep my arms very active and energized while pulling my shoulders back? Or maybe I don’t need to pull my arms back so far? – Kelsey, TN

Dear Kelsey,

It IS hard to have your arms plugged in to your shoulder sockets along with the bend in your upper back and the deep knee bend that Utkatasana invites us into. A general principle in Anusara Yoga is to integrate into the core, then resist the periphery and move from core.  In this question about the shoulders, we will refer to the core as the upper back, and heart. Visualize a bicycle tire.  In this pose, we can take our muscle tone from the peripheral edges of the tire (fingers) and draw the spokes (arm bones) into the hub (shoulder socket).  It is more efficient to move from the hub, and better for the bio-mechanics of your body!

To refine your experience in the pose, first with your hands shoulder distance apart engage all sides of your arm muscles.  Maintaining that steady action of biceps and triceps hugging the bones, squeeze your arms isometricly toward one another.  Keeping that, draw muscle energy from your fingers into your shoulder sockets, feeling how your arm bones are now more connected into your back body.  Now that your spokes are connected to the hub of your heart and upper back, you can then curl your upper back more deeply instead of lifting your arms up to high without connectivity in the sockets.  Even focus on pressing your hands forward (resisting the periphery) to get deeper engagement with your shoulders, and press the bottom tips of your shoulders up through your heart up to the apex of the sky.  As you get stronger and more open, you will find that you will be able to bring your hands together and keep the spaciousness of your neck and upper back.  If you bring your hands together and you lose the feeling of connection to your hub, separate your hands and go through the steps again.

All this being said, the integration will make the pose deeper, engaged, integrated and healthy for your shoulder joints.  Enjoy the ride!

Namaste,

Neesha