Chair Yoga, as the name implies, is yoga performed with the use of a chair as yoga props. It’s a gentle technique that allows people, particularly the elderly and persons with disabilities who may be unable to do balances, to reap the advantages of balance poses without the risk of falling.
This style of yoga, in particular, is done by people of all ages, body types, and mobility levels. Chair Yoga allows even desk workers and travelers to benefit from the advantages of yoga, regardless of their physical limitations. As a result, the chair not only makes yoga poses easier but also makes them achievable, making fitness accessible to people of all physical levels.
Origin
According to research, after witnessing one of her students in her forties, who was unable to complete floor postures due to arthritis, Lakshmi Voelker (given her first name by Muktananda, the founder of Siddha Yoga) developed the yoga as therapy approach known as Chair Yoga in 1982. In 2013, Lynn Lehmkuhl identified Chair Yoga as the fastest expanding element of the yoga market, motivating her to enroll in Voelker’s yoga teacher training.
Chair Yoga Benefits
Because the benefits of leading an active lifestyle have been well proven, it can be quite distressing when exercise becomes difficult due to age, disease, or injury. Chair yoga, fortunately, is both safe and beneficial. What are its benefits? Read below!
Improved Strength
Yoga positions that require you to use your muscles develop strength. More strength can lead to improved balance, lowering your chance of falling. It can also help your body to be more resistant to harm.
Decreased Stress
Yoga incorporates mindfulness into its practice. A form of active meditation that promotes relaxation decreases tension, and increases mental clarity is created by focusing on your movement, breathing, and how your body reacts to the activity. Chair yoga, like other forms of exercise, can help improve mood and provide relief from anxiety and despair.
Manages and Reduces Pain
One of the benefits of exercise, according to research, is that it reduces pain. Working exercise causes the body to release natural painkillers such as endorphins. Chair yoga allows you to take advantage of this natural kind of pain alleviation.
Chair yoga can offer you vital methods for managing your pain, in addition to encouraging the release of natural painkillers in the body. The meditation and breathing focus of the exercise can be used to cope with pain and discomfort in various situations.
Increased Flexibility
More than just yoga requires the capacity to bend, twist, stretch, and move freely. It gives you the freedom to do the things you need to do while still allowing you to participate in the activities you enjoy. Although some individuals believe that as they become older, they would lose flexibility, they are wrong. “Use it or lose it” is the motto when it comes to flexibility. By gently challenging your body with chair yoga, you may actually develop your flexibility and mobility.
Better Sleep
Chair yoga is no exception to the rule that a regular fitness regimen is linked to better sleep. The exertion of this activity can help you relax, and the associated decreases in tension and pain will lessen the probability that these unwanted discomforts will keep you from getting a decent night’s sleep.
3 Easy Chair Yoga Poses to get started:
1. Side Angle Pose
This type of chair yoga helps you feel relaxed, calm, at peace and results in a slower heart rate.
Steps:
- Bend over and place your right palm on the floor, outside your left foot, while sitting in a chair without wheels. Extend your left arm towards the sky.
- Follow your left arm and glance at your left hand by turning your head.
- Take a few moments to get a notion of the stretch, then repeat on the opposing side.
- Outside your right foot, place your left palm on the floor.
- Extend your right arm and follow it up to the right hand with your gaze. The flexibility of your spine is improved in this stance.
2. Cow Pose
Lower back and sciatica pain are relieved in this yoga pose.
- Begin by aligning your feet with your knees, lay your hands on your knees, and sit erect in a chair without wheels.
- Then, without lifting your head, softly flex your belly and bring it forward, naturally swaying your hips forward.
3. Cat Pose
This yoga pose strengthens your spine.
- Again, align your feet with your knees, lay your hands on your knees, and sit erect in a chair without wheels.
- Curl your head forward until you’re gazing down, then your shoulders, and lastly your back, all without moving your hips or shifting in your chair.
- Consider a cat stretching out after waking up from a nap.
