The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Susan Cunningham, RN:
So often in a yoga class, the first pose you start with is a seated pose, and it sounds like a really simple pose. 

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Susan Cunningham, RN
Yoga instructor]

Susan Cunningham:
I mean, we all sit all day long, but a comfortable seat in a yoga class can be excruciating if it's done wrong. So, I'll show you an easy seated pose. Give you some ideas of how to get comfortable in that shape. 

So, I'm going to start on two blankets, and you could have as many blankets as is comfortable. But I'll start with two today, and I'm sitting towards the edge of these blankets, and that way my pelvis gets to roll a little bit forward. It feels like forward. So the top of my pelvis sort of tilts forward, and then my knees, I cross at the ankles, and then I have a choice: I can bring my knees directly out of my hips, more like this, or I can try to bring my knees even wider apart. That's sort of your choice, but let's go somewhere in between. 

And from here, I want my spine to be long and in its natural curves. I want it to feel effortless. I want this whole seat to feel effortless. So, in order to do that, I'm going to add some blocks under my knees, and then there I am. So I could sit like this for a very long time. There's no effort in my inner thighs. My spine is just stacked one bone on top of the other in its natural shape, and that means I can breathe. There's no pinching nerves, no pinched off circulation. It's a much more comfortable seat.

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The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center]