By JACCI GRUNINGER, MS, C-IAYT
Los Alamos
Today I want to share a few thoughts with you about doing yoga in a chair and how it can benefit both the beginner and the more advanced student. Next week, I will show you a few more challenging poses you can do in a chair.
Chair Yoga is derived from traditional yoga but is adapted for a chair. It’s an excellent practice for beginners, seniors and those who find it challenging to get up and down from the floor. It’s also good for office workers who sit most of the day.
Chair Yoga can improve strength, flexibility, mobility and even balance. A 2021 review* showed that chair yoga can help older adults develop and maintain muscle strength. It can help make doing daily living easier and decrease the risk of falling. Chair Yoga will improve your sense of body awareness and proprioception (where you are in space). Just like regular yoga, Chair Yoga focuses on mindfulness and breathwork during practice as well as relaxation, all good for managing stress and anxiety.
I learned about chair yoga from a fellow Kripalu Yoga teacher, Lakshmi Voelker-Binder, years ago and have been practicing it off and on since then. Even when I led yoga teacher training I would often have (very experienced) students practice on a chair to get a better sense of how their muscles can engage and relax. Many often said the chair practice was one of the hardest they ever did!
Here are a two Chair Yoga movements you can try at home or your office:
Chair Forward Fold
Benefits: Stretches lower back and legs
Sit upright on the edge of your chair (be sure the wheels are locked if you have them);
Exhale and slowly begin to hinge forward from your hips keeping your navel drawn in slightly, hands sliding down your thighs;
Stay here for 4-6 breaths;
To release, exhale and draw the navel in as you return to the starting position
Chair Half Moon
Benefits: Lengthening the side body, creating strength in the side body and core
Sit tall on the edge of your chair;
Inhale and draw your arms overhead to steeple position (or bend the elbows and hold onto the forearms or leave your hands at your sides);
Exhale and tip over to the right; press your left hip toward the chair;
Stay here for 6-10 breaths;
Exhale to return upright;
Repeat on the other side;
When you are finished, release the arms and pause and notice.
High Mountain Wellbeing offers a Chair Yoga class on Wednesdays at 9 a.m.
*Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Yoga Practice on Physical Fitness in the Elderly by Sohee Shin, School of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Ulsan, 93 Daehak-ro, Nam-gu, Ulsan 44610, Korea, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(21), 11663; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111663, 6 November 2021.
Jacci Gruninger is a Certified Yoga Therapist, Thai Yoga Massage Therapist, Focusing Coach and Facilitated Stretch Practitioner. She regularly helps clients manage the ups and downs of life with yoga, meditation, breathwork, focusing, stretching and bodywork. Her Wellness Center is located at 190 Central Park Square #212. For her current in person and online teaching schedule and information on her other services, visit her website at www.highmountainwellbeing.com to find out more.
Jacci Gruninger shares a few thoughts about doing yoga in a chair and how it can benefit both the beginner and the more advanced student. Courtesy photo
