To tuck the pelvis or to untuck the pelvis? That is the question.

First, before we go any further, I want to make it clear that I currently invite students to tuck their pelvis up and under their ribs in a number of yoga shapes. However, this post is specifically about Chair Pose.

Ah. The dreaded Chair Pose. Often up their in many yoga students’ least favorite yoga shape.

I, personally, think the shape gets a bad wrap. And I believe that bad wrap is partially because people have no idea what to do with their pelvis in the shape.

For a very long time I’d tell students to sit low in their Chair Pose, rock their weight into their heels, and tuck their pelvis under to minimize overarching in the lower back.

Yoga Teacher Erin of 2023 looks at the shape quite differently.

Your Spine Has Curves

Here’s a little something to note about your spine: It naturally has curves. Most people have four primary curvatures in their spine - cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacral. Some people have more defined curves than others. In yoga there might be times where you want to increase or decrease different curves of the spine depending on the shape you’re exploring.

I would regularly tell students to tuck their pelvis in Chair Pose in order to decrease the natural curve of the lumbar spine. Why, you ask? I have no idea. It’s just a cue I memorized early on in my teaching career.

You Might Tuck & You Might Untuck

These days I find that I don’t really point out if the pelvis is tucked or untucked in Chair Pose. I think there’s more interesting areas to focus on and I find that students can settle into a version of the shape that feels best for their pelvis and lower back.

Like all yoga shapes, I see value in playing with various positions to find your personal sweet spot. And you might even find that that sweet spot changes over time.

It Depends

Again, in my current teaching phase I find that I don’t talk much about the position of the pelvis in Chair Pose. However, I could see value in specifically speaking to the pelvis depending on the focus of a specific practice.

Say you’re taking a class that is mainly focused on forward folding shapes. In most forward folding shapes your pelvis rolls forward over your thigh bones. So if you’re doing many rounds of Chair Pose you might play with a pelvis that is tilted forward - an untucked pelvis if you will - to accentuate that specific movement of the pelvis and lower spine.

Perhaps your practice is mainly about backbending shapes. In most backbends your pelvis rotates back over the thigh bones - a tucked pelvis. In that case you might highlight drawing the frontal hip points up toward the lower ribs in Chair Pose to experience the pelvic movement that you might explore in a backbend.

Ultimately none of these are hard and fast rules. Bodies are complex. One specific yoga shape can have some variety. Next time you find yourself in Chair Pose, play around and see what feels best in your body.