What is Chair Yoga?

Chair yoga is a general term for practices that modify yoga poses so they can be done while seated in a chair.

These modifications make yoga accessible to people who cannot stand, lack the mobility to move easily from standing to seated to supine positions, or want a quick break from office or classroom work.

Many of the basic body mechanics of the individual postures are retained. While seated on chairs, students can do versions of twists, hip stretches, forward bends, and mild backbends.

How – Why – and where….

In addition to a good stretch, chair yoga participants can also enjoy other health benefits of yoga, including improved muscle tone, better breathing habits, reduction of stress,better sleep, and a sense of well-being.

Chair yoga can be practiced by anyone who wants to enjoy the benefits of yoga and may (or may not) have mobility limitations. For example, chair yoga is great for anyone who needs more support and or is managing an injury or wants a more therapeutic approach to the practice.

Chair yoga classes are widely available – often run by the local council in community centres and Aged Care homes. Mature adults are its biggest target audience, but obese people and people with neurological diseases are also good candidates to give the chair method a try.

But that’s not all. We also teach Chair Yoga in school classrooms and office environments to sneak in some Brain Breaks and stretches at work.

Have a little sneak peak into how a short chair yoga session could look like in the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8WXUyfc9D0

Interested to learn more?

We’re already offering Workshops for Educators who want to learn how to teach Chair Yoga in school classrooms. These short 2, 4 or 6 hour workshop teach you simple easy-to-use breathing exercises, movement and relaxation techniques to support learning, emotion regulation and health and wellbeing at Schools.

Coming soon:

If you’re interested in learning how to teach Chair Yoga to Seniors stay tuned! We’re currently developing a workshop and will be offering this from July onwards in Fremantle, Western Australia.

It’s never too late to start yoga and our regular Aged Care participants are aged anywhere in between 85 – 99 and most have limited mobility. Chair Yoga is the highlight of the week. Have you booked your chair yoga class yet?

Sources:

Park J, Mccaffrey R, Newman D, Liehr P, Ouslander JG. A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of Chair Yoga on Pain and Physical Function Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults With Lower Extremity Osteoarthritis. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2017;65(3):592-597. doi:10.1111/jgs.14717

Ross A, Friedmann E, Bevans M, Thomas S. National survey of yoga practitioners: mental and physical health benefits. Complement Ther Med. 2013;21(4):313-23. doi:10.1016/j.ctim.2013.04.001

Ikai S, Uchida H, Mizuno Y, et al. Effects of chair yoga therapy on physical fitness in patients with psychiatric disorders: A 12-week single-blind randomized controlled trial. J Psychiatr Res. 2017;94:194-201. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2017.07.015

Yoga Kertapati, Junaiti Sahar, Astuti Yuni Nursas. The effects of chair yoga with spiritual intervention on the functional status of older adults. Enferm Clin. 2018 Feb;28 Suppl 1:70-73. doi:10.1016/S1130-8621(18)30040-8

Yu AP, Ugwu FN, Tam BT, et al. One Year of Yoga Training Alters Ghrelin Axis in Centrally Obese Adults With Metabolic Syndrome. Front Physiol. 2018;9:1321. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2018.01321

Van puymbroeck M, Walter AA, Hawkins BL, et al. Corrigendum to “Functional Improvements in Parkinson’s Disease Following a Randomized Trial of Yoga”. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2018;2018:4523743. doi:10.1155/2018/8516351