How to Do Chair Yoga

Social media feeds stuffed with pictures of health fashions twisted into poses requiring excessive power, flexibility, and steadiness might depart you pondering, “Yoga is not for me.”

Nadine Kelly, MD, founding father of Yogi MD, desires to alter your thoughts.

“We tend to think of yoga as an athletic endeavor that has to be done on a mat,” Kelly says. “Yoga practice is about much more than the physical [poses]; the practice includes skills like breathing, regulating your emotions, and practicing self-care.”

What Is Chair Yoga?

Chair yoga, a mild type of yoga that’s carried out whereas seated or utilizing a chair for steadiness, makes the follow extra accessible. In chair yoga, it’s potential to maneuver into poses like cat/cow, warrior, solar salutations and ahead folds, all whereas seated.

Kelly believes the Arthur Ashe quote, “Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can,” is ideal for chair yoga.

“You’re there to work and to challenge yourself, but it’s about … knowing what’s right for you,” she says. “I think of yoga poses as adaptable to a student’s body and not the other way around.”

Whether yoga is finished in a chair or on the mat, the follow nonetheless focuses on the identical core rules: focusing in your breath, being attentive to your ideas, and staying within the second.

The Benefits of Chair Yoga

Research exhibits yoga is linked to decreased ranges of stress, anxiousness, and melancholy, lowered ldl cholesterol and blood strain, improved vitality, higher sleep high quality, much less ache, and lowered physique mass index. Matt Minard PT, DPT, bodily therapist with Atrium Health in Charlotte, NC, believes these advantages lengthen to chair yoga.

Chair yoga can also be , protected exercise for newbies.

“It’s a great way to work your core, explore the different range of motion of the joints and prioritize movement,” Minard says. “When you’re sitting down or using a chair for balance, the safety factor goes way up.”

Who Should Try Chair Yoga?

Although chair yoga is usually promoted as a follow for many who might wrestle with a mat follow, anybody can profit from this sort of mild train.

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Kelly says chair yoga is especially well-suited to individuals who use wheelchairs and people rehabilitating after surgical procedures, residing with persistent diseases, or coping with steadiness points that make it arduous to get down onto a yoga mat. It’s additionally good for a fast exercise through the workday or whereas touring.

“It’s not about the outcome. It’s not about striking the perfect pose,” Kelly says. “Whether yoga is taught on the mat or in a chair, it’s all about being healthy.”

Chair yoga can also be ultimate for newbies who could be intimidated by a conventional mat follow as a result of it affords a protected approach to study the poses, Minard provides.

Where to Find Chair Yoga Classes

You can discover chair yoga courses at group facilities, health amenities, and yoga studios. There are additionally numerous on-line choices. In this video, Kelly offers detailed directions for a brief chair yoga follow that’s appropriate for all ranges.

How to Get Started

To follow at residence, use a sturdy chair (an workplace chair on wheels or overstuffed armchair will not be applicable for chair yoga). Minard suggests a chair that naturally positions your hips barely greater than your knees and permits you to put each toes flat on the ground.

“If your feet aren’t flat on the ground, your weight is all in your spine and if the chair is too low and your knees are above your hips, there is more impingement on your hips,” Minard says. “You want to be able to do slow, controlled movements without putting extra stress on your back or hips.”

Make positive the chair is on a secure floor like carpet or a yoga mat to maintain it from slipping. You may also place the again of the chair in opposition to a wall for additional stability, Minard provides.

Yoga props like blocks, straps, and resistance bands which might be frequent in mat practices aren’t required for chair yoga — except you need an additional problem.

“Chair yoga is a good starting point to use muscles you haven’t used in a while without the potential risks of overloading [your muscles and joints] or falling,” Minard says. “If the resistance from your body weight isn’t enough of a challenge, you can add light hand weights, ankle weights or resistance bands to your chair yoga practice.”

Sources

SOURCES:

Nadine Kelly, MD, Yogi MD, Sawyer, MI.

Matt Minard DP, DPT, Atrium Health, Charlotte, NC.

International Journal of Preventive Medicine: “The Effect of Yoga on Stress, Anxiety, and Depression in Women.”

Complementary Therapies in Medicine: “Yoga for secondary prevention of coronary heart disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis.”

BMC Geriatrics: “Feasibility of a yoga intervention to decrease pain in older women: a randomized controlled pilot study.”

BMC Psychiatry: “The effect of yoga on sleep quality and insomnia in women with sleep problems: a systematic review and meta-analysis.”

Journal of Osteopathic Medicine: “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in the Management of Chronic Pain and Its Comorbid Depression.”

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