The one yoga pose every woman needs in her routine

Plus a 7-day challenge to build strength, confidence, and flexibility

Join me in a 7-day challenge to get stronger, more flexible, and feel more confident! Be sure to subscribe and follow along on Notes to practice with me each day this week for just two minutes! (Info at the end of the post on how to do this.)

When people ask me what I do, I’m hesitant to say I'm a yoga teacher. Most people have an idea in their head about what it means to teach or practice yoga and it often involves poses. I have always been clear: I am not an exercise instructor. Yoga’s depth draws me in—the variety, the spirituality, the philosophy. I could care less about the poses. Yet, integrating the heady stuff with the body makes us whole human beings; as much as I’d love to hang out in my head all day long, I also know my body needs to move.

There is no one pose for all people, ailments, or cures; however, there is one particular class of yoga postures that benefits all women. This class of postures happens to include my least favorite yoga pose.

The queen of all yoga poses

The squat is the yoga pose every woman needs in her routine, no matter your age or life stage. It is a whole-person pose. Not whole-body. Whole-person. You call upon your body, mind, spirit, emotions, energy, and every other aspect of who you are when you squat. One squat variation is called Goddess Pose. (Utkata Konasana— Utkata=Strength, Fierce, Powerful; Kona=Angle; Asana=Pose.) The Goddess is fierce and strong but also flexible, adaptable, compassionate, and nurturing. Goddess Pose channels all the elements. The earth supports the feet, bones, and muscles. Fire burns in the thighs, core, breath, and mind as you hold the pose for a long time. Air enters through a focused, intentional breath providing the oxygen needed for the muscles and mind to sustain. The pose itself requires you take up space. You can add in the water element by flowing the legs or arms, turning the pose into Skandasana (Surfer)—one who rides the waves.

Amy Cuddy’s TED TALK on power posing references postures similar to Goddess Pose. According to her research, poses that takes up space, ground through the feet, and require physical and mental strength generate confidence.

My least favorite yoga pose and why it’s so good for me

Utkatasna is my least favorite yoga pose because it’s hard. Typically translated, irrationally, as Chair Pose, the more accurate translation is Fierce Pose or Firebolt. Somewhere along the way the pose picked up the name Chair, seemingly because it looks like you’re sitting down in a chair. I don’t know about you, but I don’t find sitting in a chair difficult! There’s something visceral about the muscle burn that irritates me—I imagine my quads taunting me while I’m sitting in the squat, reminding me how weak they are. “Yoga should feel good,” thought everyone when they first started a yoga practice. How wrong we all were. Yoga is hard. Squatting is hard. You know what else is hard? Being a woman/human/mother/creative. Coincidence? I think not. Just another reason to practice more.

Squats build strength in one of the largest muscles groups in the body, help increase flexibility in the hips to prevent back pain, protect your knees and ankles, can improve heart health when performed in a circuit, and can increase bone density, which becomes particularly beneficial for women as they age. Popular in prenatal yoga classes, squatting prepares the body for birth. It is a necessary posture to keep the hips open and strong for the work only a woman can do. Squatting also aids in digestion. It keeps energy moving, which in turn keeps your inner fire burning. The inner fire transforms food into energy, burns up excess thoughts, and keeps all physical, mental, energetic, and emotional processes flowing smoothly.

There are many squat variations, making it accessible no matter your ability or life season, despite your, perhaps, initial skepticism. I was scared of squats for a long time because I was afraid I’d hurt my knees. Turns out, my knees hurt more the less I squatted. Each variation targets a different area of the physical body, but any variation can be practiced as you integrate the energetic, emotional, and mental aspects of the Goddess and become more wholly fierce. This integration is what makes squatting interesting and more than “just a pose.”

Six variations of the squat to build strength, flexibility + confidence

I challenge you to practice a squat variation once a day for the next seven days. See how it transforms your energy, mind, and mood. (And maybe, if you keep practicing long enough, you’ll even notice a change in your glutes and thighs. But that’s not the point!). Amy Cuddy’s research offers up two minutes as a target for transforming your confidence.

Here are six squat options to get you started. Channel your inner fierceness, strength, and power. Your body, mind, energy, and spirit will thank you.

Firebolt Pose (Utkatasana)

• Option to do a wall sit for extra support behind your back

• Flow in and out of it if you need a break

Goddess (Utkatakonasana)

• You control how far you squat down, how wide a stance you take, and how much you bend your knees.

• Use a chair if you need support for the pelvic floor (I’m using a chair in the picture below to support my pelvic floor as I’ve been experiencing a lot of Pelvic Girdle Pain in the third trimester of my pregnancy.)

Yogi Squat (Malasana)

• Use a block (or five) for support

• You control how far down you squat

• Use a rolled up blanket, yoga mat, towels, or pillow underneath your heels if they don’t easily touch the floor

Supine Squat at the wall

• You choose how high up the wall you place your feet, controlling the angle, as well as how close you bring your tailbone to the wall, which will deepen the squat

• This variation is great for building hip flexibility

Happy Baby (Ananda Balasana)

• Use straps/belts/towels if you’re not easily able to grab your feet. You can also grab behind your knees or thighs.

• This is another great option for building hip flexibility.

Frog (Mandukasana)

• Use the wall to give you some feedback on foot placement

• Keep the hips low and place a blanket under the front of the pelvis if needed for extra support

The 7-day squat/goddess challenge

Will you squat with me this week? Join me on a 7-day squat challenge on Substack Notes. (Navigate to the Yoga for Women’s Wellbeing homepage—womenswellbeing.substack.com—and click on the Notes tab at the top of the homepage.) Each day on Notes, I’ll go live and guide you through a two minute squat practice, exploring the variations offered above and helping you integrate the qualities of the Goddess. You can do anything for two minutes a day!

You know what will make this even more fun? Invite a friend to practice with you! Enlist your daughter, mom, sister, aunt, grandma, best friend, or Mom group chat. The world can always use a few more Goddesses 🙂 See you on the mat!