by Nina
Recently I received a request to include more Chair Yoga poses on our blog. However, while we have had some Chair Yoga poses on the blog over the years, that really hasn’t been our main focus and I’m not planning to change this. So I thought today I’d explain why—even though we think Chair Yoga is an excellent way for many people to practice—we have not generally focused on it on this blog. Then I’ll provide links to the articles we do have on Chair Yoga (there are actually quite a few) as well as a list of recommended resources because I’m sure that many of you do need inspiration for your teaching if not for your own practice.
First, however, I want to clarify what I mean by Chair Yoga. Although people use the term in various different ways, I use “Chair Yoga” to mean doing all poses while seated in a chair. So this excludes using the chair as a prop while standing on one or two feet. I exclude these poses because for teaching elderly, disabled, or ill people who can’t stand up unaided, something like Side Plank pose with one hand on a chair isn’t actually accessible. And I definitely don’t include poses like Chair Shoulderstand or Chair Plow pose, where the chair is used as a support for a pose that is hard to get into. (We do have many of both those types of poses on the blog.)
Why Haven’t We Focused on Chair Yoga
There are two reasons why we haven’t generally focused on Chair Yoga on this blog. This first has to do with who saw as our particular audience—or what our niche was, as it were. When we started the blog, we weren’t elderly people ourselves, but rather people who were in early to late middle age who wanted to practice in such a way as we could stay as healthy and mobile as possible for as long as possible. So we aimed our information toward people who were in that same stage of life, too, and generally assumed our readers, like us, still had the ability to stand unaided. After all, this was the way we ourselves practiced and the way most of us taught yoga poses. (Baxter did teach some people who required Chair Yoga due to chronic illnesses, etc.)
The second reason is because I had a concern that older people were being rushed into Chair Yoga too early! Yes, there is a phase for many of us, including me these days, where the very active yoga practices we did when we were young (or could have done had we studied yoga then) are no longer appropriate. And many seem to think that this is the time to move to Chair Yoga. But I strongly feel that the best next step is to modify the active poses in such a way that they are still practiced standing up while you keep them safe and accessible. After all, maintaining balance as you age is so important, and the best way to do that is to keep on practicing balancing poses and standing poses with feet wide apart. See Making Yoga Accessible for more information.
I even have a rant about this after I had the epiphany that the way office yoga was mostly taught (staying in a chair) was actually not the best way for us to practice, and all of us who can should be getting out of our chairs as often as possible (see Rethinking Office Yoga). After all, we’re now learning that being sedentary in general is dangerous (see The Ill Effects of Prolonged Sitting and The Dangers of Being Sedentary).
I also feel that retaining the skills of being able to go down to and get up from the floor is really important, even if it’s hard for you to do or you need some support, such placing a hand on the wall or using the seat of a chair for support. After all, what if you fall down? It’s much better to be able to get up again than not, right?
So I on this blog I’ve always wanted to encourage people who can stand up at all to continue practicing at least part of the time without sitting in a chair, and, if needed, use the wall or a chair to help with balance, rather than just sitting down. Here are a few examples of what I mean:
And I also want to encourage people to do floor poses for as long as getting up and down from the floor is at all possible, even with support.
So although I do think Chair Yoga is extremely valuable for those who cannot stand for whatever reasons, I just tended to leave that area to others, such as Jivana Heyman of Accessible Yoga, who wrote for our blog for a short while and who had the right expertise and the right audience for teaching this kind of yoga. Of course, Chair Yoga can also be useful for anyone who is stuck sitting down, such as on an airplane or in crowded waiting room. So we do have a few posts on that. And those poses and practiced can be practiced as “Chair Yoga” as well as “travel yoga.”
Background Information on Chair Yoga
In In Praise of Chair Yoga, Nina writes about the benefits of this type of practice and offers some ideas.
In The Importance of Accessible Yoga, Baxter discusses the benefits of making poses accessible with the use of a chair and other techniques.
In Changing the Orientation of a Yoga Pose, Nina explains how you can make most poses into Chair Yoga variations.
In Chair Yoga Beneficial for Older Adults with Osteoarthritis, Nina discusses a scientific study proving the benefits of Chair Yoga for this particular set of practitioners
In Friday Q&A: Chair Yoga, Baxter provides a few resources and ideas, though the post is on the older side
Individual Chair Poses
In Featured Pose: Ankle Circles, Baxter and Nina provide instructions for practicing this pose in a chair.
In Cobra Pose Variations for Every Body, Jivana Heyman includes a chair version of Cobra pose.
In Tree Pose Variations for Every Body, Jivana Heyman includes a chair version of Tree pose.
In Video of the Week: Chair Version of Sage’s Pose 3, Baxter demonstrates a chair twist.
In Featured Video: Half Moon Pose, Janis Ware demonstrates a very interesting chair version of the pose.
In Video of the Week: Powerful Pose from a Chair, Baxter demonstrates practicing a pose from a chair that helps you retain the ability to get up out of a chair or toilet in everyday life.
In Featured Pose: Chair Seated Forward Bend, Baxter and Nina provide instructions for practicing this chair pose.
In Featured Pose: Simple Chair Backbend, Baxter and Nina provide instructions for practicing this chair pose.
In Featured Pose: Warrior 2 Pose (Revisited), Baxter includes a chair version of the pose.
In Featured Pose: Extended Side Angle Pose, Baxter includes a chair version.
In Friday Q&A: Back Stretches and Inversions for Chair Yoga, Baxter includes a couple of chair yoga ideas.
In Video of the Week: Dynamic Cat-Cow in a Chair, Baxter demonstrates how to do the chair version of this pose.
In Video of the Week: Chair Thread the Needle Pose, Baxter demonstrates how to do the chair version of this pose.
In Featured Pose: Simple Chair Twist, Baxter and Nina provide instructions for practicing this pose.
Chair Yoga Sequences
In Featured Sequence: Chair Yoga Mini Practice, Baxter and Nina provide instructions for a short and very accessible well-rounded sequence.
In Yoga for Traveling, Nina offers some ideas for poses you can practice sitting down.
In Yoga in the Skies: Airplane Yoga, Ram Rao offers some ideas for poses you can practice sitting down.
Recommended Books Featuring Chair Yoga & Other Resources
We’ve got recommendations for Barrie and me as well as from random yoga people on Facebook who I asked to contribute ideas.
Some books that Barrie and I recommend:
- Accessible Yoga by Jivana Heyman
- Yoga For Osteoporosis by Loren Fishman, MD and Ellen Saltonstall
- Yoga for Arthritis by Loren Fishman, MD and Ellen Saltonstall
- The Healing Path of Yoga by Nischala Joy Devi
- Recovery Yoga by Sam Dworkis
- Yoga as Medicine by Timothy McCall
- Yoga for Multiple Sclerosis by Eric Small (great photos of chair and wheelchair yoga)
- Yoga for Everyone by Dianne Bondy
- Yoga Where You Are by Dianne Bondy and Kat Heagberg
Some videos are available on this blog: https://accessibleyoga.blogspot.com/. Search on the word video.
Recommendations from our Facebook Followers:
Denyse LeFever recommends Sherry Zak Morris and YogaVista.TV
Janis Ware recommends Jivana Heyman along with Accessible Yoga School accessibleyogaschool.com/training and Lakshmi Voelker Chair Yoga training.
Denise Wendler recommends chair yoga books by HS Arun and Eyal Shifroni
Jean Lyons gives another vote for Sherry Zak Morris and the following books: Chair Yoga by Kristin McGee, Lilias! Yoga Gets Better with Age (it does
) and Yoga for Arthritis by Fishman/Saltonstall (not chair yoga but lots that can be adapted)
Kristin Mumper recommends Yuva Yoga, Yoga Vista, and Happy Yoga with Sarah Starr
Cathy Carter recommends Howie Shareff, who started a nonprofit in NC, You Call This Yoga
Ania Glogowska and Julie Hughs also recommend Yuva Yoga
Lynda Herman recommends Silver Sneakers videos
Cathy Carter recommends Howie Shareff
Debra Harper recommends Peggy Cappy and
Happy Yoga with Sarah Starr
Anne Harris-Freed recommends Sherry Zack Morris
• Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook and follow Nina on Instagram • Order Yoga for Times of Change here and purchase the companion videos here • Order Yoga for Healthy Aging: A Guide to Lifelong Well-Being here.
I have taught Hatha yoga in the Ananda Yoga for Higher Consciousness style for 15 years and have taken both Yoga for Healthy Aging workshops from Baxter. I began to see people of all ages shying away from Hatha yoga because they felt they were not capable of the practice, no matter how gentle. At that time, I did a Chair yoga certification from Stacy Doreck. I believe that the practice has so many benefits for everyone and that chair yoga could be a way of engaging these folks, slowly strengthening their bodies and their minds. As a teacher, I find it important to listen to students concerns and fears in order to make the practice accessible to all. Chairs are just a prop, an entry tool. Many of my chair students have slowly transitioned into Hatha, with our without a chair or a wall available. I feel it is important for yogi’s to follow their physical needs/capacity as they build their practice to where they desire it to be.
What I was rubbing up against in your blog was that Chair yoga is somehow less healthy(because of the sitting component) and focused at a demographic that is not touched by your blog. I think both these assumptions shorts your blog and the intention of Chair Yoga. Encouraging people to find their way to the practice, no matter how that looks, is one of my goals as a teacher and as a yogi. I believe Chair yoga is a method for this snd is here to stay. I am grateful for my introduction to it. — Genevieve Rohan