There is no easy asana. In order to get to the above picture I had to repeat the pose several times. I spotted many weaknesses that I could avoid. A pose often feels differently than it looks.

The challenges:

The asana aims at strengthening the leg muscles. The deeper you go, the more challenging it is. My goal was to lower the body as much as possible. Before getting into utkatasana I pose the flat hands next to the feet and bend my legs. From there I get into utkatasana.
I realized that I made a hollow once I was in that pose. This makes it easier. To prevent this, I engaged my abdomen. The position of the hips changes. My back remained straight.
To have the arms in line with the body requires rather open shoulders. The shoulders move away from the ears, yet the arms stretch upwards.
The thumb likes to get in distance to the other fingers. It looks so much better when the hands are a unit. This is rather an aesthetic issue.

Utkatasana is part of surya namaskars B and the standing asanas of Ashtanga yoga.

There are also variations of this asana. It’s possible to have the thighs parallel to the floor. It’s easier when the arms are stretched forwards and not upwards. One can hold this pose as long as possible.

Also the exit of this asana can vary. One can jump back. It’s possible to go first in bakasana position. From bakasana one can move into a handstand.

I’m happy with getting into bakasana and jumping back from there.