Chair Yoga for Sciatica Relief

Chair yoga is an accessible form of exercise that offers many of yoga’s healing and restorative benefits. With the support of a chair, it can help improve flexibility, strength, balance, and overall well-being.
It is ideal for people of all ages and abilities, including those with physical limitations, mobility challenges, or anyone who prefers not to get on the floor.

Transcript

So let's come sit forward on our chairs, Feet planted on the floor. Sit up nice and tall. Take a moment to arrive, Right, On our chairs. Just letting go of whatever you were doing before and whatever you may have yet to do today. Turn the palms face up, Side the elbows back. Close your eyes if that feels comfortable. And just take a moment to notice how you're feeling. Bring your attention to your feet, Softening the soles of your feet to the earth, Relaxing the toes, Tops of your feet and your ankles. And bring awareness up the shins and calves to the knees. See if you can soften any tension there. And then bringing awareness up the thighs and the back of the thighs to your hips, Letting your hips relax and release. Softening your sexual organs, Your belly, Your low back. Inhale up the back body to the mid back and the upper back, Relaxing the shoulders away from the ears, Softening the arms, Fingers. And then inhale up the front body, The heart center and soften. Relax the muscles of the throat, Let the jaw release. Create space between the teeth of the tongue, Grow soft in the mouth, Relaxing the muscles of your face all the way up to the front of your head. Notice your breath. See if you could breathe deep, Deep into the pelvic floor. As you inhale, See if you can relax the pelvic floor down to the chair, Let the belly grow big. And then as you exhale, Feel the pelvic floor lift up towards the belly as the belly contracts towards the spine. And then do this again a few more times, Focusing really on the pelvic floor here. You may feel a sensation as if you're rocking or swaying. Just kind of notice that with your breath, Right? You're not physically making it happen. Your breath is making it happen naturally. And now imagine that you're standing on the most beautiful beach you've ever been on. And it's a beautiful sunny day and the sky is blue, Not a cloud. The ocean is color of a turquoise, Emerald green. And it's clear, You can see for 30 or 40 feet. The water is so clear. The sand is white and feels like soft talcum powder underneath your feet. With each breath, You can feel the calm wave coming towards you. And with each exhale, You feel the wave going back towards the ocean. Now imagine yourself safely walking into the water when it's shallow and the waves are low, Nothing to worry about and you are completely safe. Maybe you walk up to your knees or your hips and then you turn and you face the land, You face shore. And take your arms out on either side of your hips, Just kind of let them hang. As you take a breath in, Feeling the pelvic floor drop towards the chair, The wave comes from behind, Gently presses you forward. And as the wave moves back, So does your breath come out on the exhale and the wave pulls you slightly back. And try this for a couple of breaths. It's a real gentle wave. Just kind of swaying you back and forth. Relaxing the shoulders. It's like a gentle hand, Your low back kind of pressing you forward and back. And as you become familiar with the connection of the wave with your breath, Maybe the next time as the wave comes in, You can feel that your arms are lifting up as if the wave pushes the arms up. And then as you exhale, The arms come slowly down. Just as if you were standing in the ocean. As the wave gently presses forward, Your arms lift up, They float up. And then with the exhale, They just float back down. So you're not moving the arms physically. The breath and the imagery of having this wave gently swaying you back and forth in the ocean. Breathing in and breathing out. This time as the wave comes up behind you and the arms lift up, Lift your chest, Lift your face to the sun. And as you exhale, Let everything just come back to where you started. There's no break in the breath and the wave. The wave comes as you breathe in. And as you exhale, It all comes back down. Couple more breaths just like that. Finding this ocean breath deep down. And then with the next exhale, You come back. You gently walk back towards the shore. And you bring your hands together at your heart center as you're looking at the ocean with gratitude. Thanking the ocean for all its wisdom and helping you connect with your breath. You're welcome to join me in chanting the sound of Aum to begin our practice. Take a breath in. Aum. Release your hands, Gently open up your eyes. Come back into your room, Into this light, Into the space. And just take a moment to notice how you're feeling. Good. Turn your head to the left, Come back through center, Turn your head to the right. Again, Turn your head to the left and turn your head to the right. Bring your head back through center, Bring your chin into your chest. Sit up nice and tall, Left ear to left shoulder. Chin into your chest. Right ear to right shoulder, Sitting up nice and tall. Come back through center, Open up the mouth and close again and close one more time. Good. Roll the shoulders gently back. Good. And then lift the arms forward, Flip the palms up and bend the elbows. Good. This time you're gonna bend and hold and you're gonna circle the shoulders, The elbows. Awesome. And then shake the hands, Wiggle the fingers around. Good. Place your hands on your thighs or your knees. Inhale, Belly, Chest forward, Chin lifts. Lift, Lengthen the spine, Chin to chest. Inhale forward, Lift, Lengthen, Exhale. Inhale, One more time. Inhale forward, Lift, Lengthen, Exhale. Sit up nice and tall. Walk your feet out, Widening your knees here slightly. Bring the upper body forward over to the side, Circling around your hip joint here. Good, We're gonna go the other way. Okay, Great. And then you walk your feet back in and let the toes touch. And then you walk them back out and then you walk them back in and you walk them back out. You walk them back in and let them cross at the ankle. Uncross, Cross the other way. Uncross, Slide the feet back, Lift the heels up. Breathe, Separate those toes. Good, Flatten the right foot. Top of the left foot presses gently down towards the floor to stretch the metatarsals here. Left foot flat, Right foot back. Again, Stretching the top of that right foot. Good, Gently plant the feet. Hands on your hips, Lean to the right. Press that left hip down. Come back to center. Lean to the left, Pressing the right hip down. Come back to center. This time you're gonna go over to the right. Maybe you take your left hand to your shoulder, Straight up alongside the ear. Feel that stretch. Come on back up. Left hand on your hip, Lean to the left. Take the right hand to your shoulder, Straight up alongside the ear, Pressing the right foot down. Feel that nice, Deep stretch. Inhale, Come back through center. Sitting forward on your chairs, You're gonna take your left leg out to the side. The hip is forward, The foot is forward, Toes are facing forward, Knee is facing forward. You're gonna take your right knee and walk it out. Your hands are on your hips so that you can stack shoulders over your hips. Okay, Good. Take the arms out at shoulder height. Take a breath here. They can be lower, They can be on your hip. Breathe. Flip the palms up. Inhale, Rise up, And breathe down. Slow, Slow, Slow. Go with your breath. Inhale. Exhale. One more time. Inhale. Exhale. This time, The left arm goes down to the back leg. Flip the right palm up. Option to lean back with that right arm lifted, Or you can put it on your hip or on your shoulder. Feel that reach and stretch. Good. Come forward, Right elbow on thigh, Left hand on hip or shoulder or alongside the ear. Good, Let's reverse this one more time. Come on back. Nice big stretch here. And then come forward, Elbow on thigh, Reaching forward. Good. Take the left arm down. Interlace the hands onto your right thigh. Hinging from your hip crease, Come forward. Press the outer edge of the back foot into the floor. The foot is still flat. Take a breath here. Good. Option now to bring the arms down and forward as if you're trying to reach for something in front. Inhale, Lift the arms up. Open the arms wide at shoulder height. Lower the arms. Bring that left foot in to meet the right. And just take a moment. And find your breath. Good. This time we're gonna take that right leg out to the side. Left knee opens here. Once again, You wanna make sure that your foot is in front of the hip, Your knee and your toes are facing forward. Press the outer edge of that right foot into the floor. Hands on your hips to stack shoulders over hips. Inhale, Take the arms up. Lift the palms up. And when we inhale to lift the arms, You're lifting up from the pelvic floor all the way up. That's the important movement here. So inhale, Rise. Exhale, Down. Inhale, Lift. Exhale, Down. One more time. Inhale, Lift. All right, This time the right arm comes down at the back. Lean back for your reverse warrior here. Find that stretch. Breathe. Inhale, Back, Forward, Left elbow on thigh, Right hand on the hip, The shoulder, Straight up. Feel that stretch. Let's reverse it. Right arm down, Left arm up. One more time. Left elbow down, Right arm up. Nice. Good. Bring that right arm down into reverse warrior. Place the hands onto your left thigh, Sitting up nice and tall, Hinging from your hip. Back is flat. Bring the fingers towards the floor and then inhale, Reach forward as if you're reaching for something in front of you. Inhale, Rise up. Exhale, Open the arms. And then come back to your center. Good. Good. Take the left foot straight. Flex the ankle, Interlace the hands, Reach forward for your hamstring stretch. So again, If you're having hip or sciatica pain, Right, This is really good stretch to do. And if you wanna go deeper here, Hands on the thighs, Hands on the shin, Hands on your toes, As long as you can keep your hip flexed here, Right? You're flexing from that hip hinge, Not from your back. Good. Take another breath here. All right. Take a hold of your strap. Place the strap on the ball of your foot. Inhale, Lift the leg up. Again, Flex the ankle here. Sit up nice and tall. Bend the knee into the chest. And then straighten. And bend. And straighten. And bend. And straighten. And bend. And straighten. Good. Hold the strap in your left hand. Open the leg out to the side. Watch this right knee. It doesn't go off to the side. Keep it in alignment with your hip. Option, Take the right arm up or place it on the chair, Whatever works for you today. Good. Take that leg back through center. Switch the hand that's holding the strap. And then turn the upper body to the left. Maybe the left arm goes up back behind you. Come back to center. We're gonna bend the knee. We're gonna place the ankle on the opposite side. Again, Know your variations here, Right? Inside, Outside, Inside, A little away, On a block, Whatever works for your practice today. Find evenness in both sit bones. If you don't, Take your hands to your right glute muscle, Lift it up to lower that knee, And then bring it back down. All right, Now you're gonna feel a nice big stretch in that piriformis muscle. If it's too much, Back off. Right, Lower the leg, Sit up nice and tall. Don't lean forward if it's too much. If it's not enough and you're not feeling it, Please hinge from your hip and come forward and see how that feels. But you don't wanna push the point of discomfort and pain here, Right? You just wanna ease into the stretch here. So ease into the stretch here and breathe. Good. Another breath in. Nice. Good, Sit up nice and tall. So we did this last week. We're gonna take the hands to the outside of your left knee, Right? This is body resistance work. So as the knee comes towards your chest, You're gonna use your hands to try to pull your knee into your chest. You're gonna resist with the knee. You're gonna press down with the knee, Okay? As you're trying to lift the knee towards the chest, Okay? There's resistance here. So take a nice, Long, Deep breath in and resist as you lift the knee in. Hold it here, Feel that stretch, Right? Where you need it in the hip and the sciatica nerve there. Good, And then relax and release. Okay, Again, Press up and resist with the knee and then release. Let's do this again. Press up and resist with the knee and then release. One last time. Press up and resist and then let it go. Good. Now we're gonna reverse this movement. You're gonna take your left hand to your thigh or the inside of your knee. And this time, You're gonna start out in the up position, Okay? You're gonna resist the down. So as the hand tries to press the knee down, You're gonna resist with the knee by pressing it back up. Okay, So press down and resist. Then relax it back up. Press down and resist. Hold it here, Feel the stretch there and then bring it back up. Press down and resist and bring it back up. Press down and resist and then bring it back up. Great. Take your hands underneath the thigh, Plant the feet flat and shake it out. Okay, Right leg straight, Heel is on the floor, All right? You can interlace your hands onto your left thigh, Hinging from that hip crease. Let's come forward, Feel that stretch. Breathing in, Breathing out, All right? You don't wanna ever overstretch the back of the knee. So keep the slight bend in the knee there. Option, If you wanna go deeper, Hand on your thigh, Your shin, Reaching for your toes, As long as your back is flat. Inhale, Rise up, Take a hold of your strap. Place it on the ball of your foot. And once you have that, Sit up nice and tall, Engage your core, Lift the leg up, Bend the knee in and kick it out. And in and out, And in and out, And in and out. Take hold of the strap in your left hand, Leg goes out to the side. Option, Left arm reaches up. Really flex the ankle, Press out through the heel for the stretch here. Relax the shoulders, Straighten that right arm. Yes, Nice. Come back in through center, Switch the hand that's holding the strap. And this time, We turn and look over that right shoulder. Maybe the right arm goes up. Come back through center, Bend the knee and place the ankle on the opposite side. Once again, Take a little bit of that cushioning out of that left side, So you can find that sit bone and lower that right knee. Sit up nice and tall, Flex the ankle of the foot that's on top. Option to hinge forward if you want to deepen this practice here. Again, Be really mindful. Right, You don't want to make things worse. You just want to breathe into it, Create some space. Good, Inhale, Sit up nice and tall. Right, If you're not doing the resistance work with us, It's absolutely fine. Just sit like this. You could slowly start to breathe forward and you're still going to get a lot of release here. Interlace the hands onto the outside of that right knee. All right, So now the resistance comes in the up. Right, So in the up. Yeah, All right, So as you're bringing it up, You resist with the knee and then you bring it back down. Okay, This time, Press the knee down as you lift up and resist, Hold it here, Feel that stretch and then you would bring it down. Good, Couple more times. Lift it up, Resist with the knee and we bring it down. One last time, Resist the up and then we bring it down. Great, Right hand on the inner thigh or knee. Now we're going to resist the down. So we start in the top position and we gently press and we resist and then bring it back up and then we press and resist, Hold it here. Notice where you're feeling it in your hip and then we release. Do this again, Press and resist. One more time, Press and resist and then relax. Take your hands behind the thigh, Plant the foot and open and close the knees. Okay, Take a hold of your block, Place it between your feet. You're gonna bring the soles of the feet together to sit up nice and tall. Okay, So the soles of the feet are coming together as if they were in prayer hands, Right? As if in prayer feet, Okay? You're gonna start out with putting your hands on the inside of your thighs. If the palms can be flat or in up to you, Right? And we're gonna close the knees as if you were closing a book. We're gonna start out with a half first. Now when you do this, You're gonna resist with your hands the closing of the knees, Okay? So lift, Lengthen your spine, Right? Halfway in resist, Hold it there for a breath and then flatten the feet and bring the knees all the way together, Good. And then all the way out, Soles of the feet together, Okay? Now we're gonna do this in thirds. So third of the way in, Third of the way in and all the way in. But once again, You're gonna resist with the hands. And this time, As you resist each time, When you get to the third, Take a full breath. Then get to the third, Take a full breath. Then come to the last third, Take a full breath. That pause is really important, Okay? Take a breath in, Exhale it out. And here we go, Resist, Third of the way in, Take a breath. Resist, Third of the way in, Take a breath. Relax the shoulders. All the way in, Resist, Flatten the feet, Resist. Take a breath and relax and open, Good. Roll the shoulders. All right, Coming back into this position. Soles of the feet together, Knees open wide, Hands on the inside. Now we're gonna do a quarter. So it's a quarter, Quarter, Quarter, Quarter, Right? Up till the end, You're gonna resist each time. And with each pause, With each quarter, You're gonna take a breath, Okay? Hands on the inside, Breathe in. Exhale it out. And let's go. Press in and resist a quarter, Breathe. Relax the shoulders. Come in a quarter, Breathe. Come in a quarter, Breathe. Flatten the feet, Come as close together as you can, But resisting with your hands, Breathe. And then relax and just shake it out. Okay, Good. Plant the feet, Flat, Inhale, Take those arms up. Exhale, Bring it down. Again, Inhale up. Exhale, Bring it down. One more time, Inhale up. And exhale, We bring it down. Good. Take a hold of your block, Bring your right knee out to the side, Bring more of your thigh onto the chair. You're gonna take the block to the floor and place the knee on the block. Okay? So, Hip and knee in alignment or slightly forward. You're gonna turn towards your right knee. Take your right hand to hold the back of the chair, Okay? Engage your core here. So, We're not sticking our butt out, But we're gonna engage the core here. That already starts to fire up the thigh and the hip here. All right? We're gonna inhale, Take the arms forward and up. Lean back as you squeeze the glute and press the knee towards the floor. Feel that stretch. And then come all the way back up again. And this time, You're gonna lean towards the back of the chair. Stick the hip out. Stick that left hip out. The outside hip, Stick it out. Feel the stretch. Good. Inhale, Come back through center and then relax the arm. You can even roll the shoulder. Okay, Great. We're gonna come back to the other side now. So, Left foot, More of the left thigh on the chair, Right knee on the block. Take your left hand to the top of the back of the chair here. So, You're lifting the belly, Which kind of brings the tailbone down. Lift the chest, All right? Bring the right arm forward, Shoulder back. You can keep the hand right here. You can bend the elbow like this. Keep the hand on next to the shoulder. You can put the hand on the chest. Many variations. You can put it on the hip, Right? Many variations. Or you lift up. Now, Squeeze the glute. Lift up and back, Pressing the knee towards the floor, Towards the block. Come back up through center. Lean towards the back of the chair. Stick that right hip out. Feel the stretch, That right hip. And then inhale, Rise up. And exhale, Bring it down. And we come back to the center here. Just take a moment. Notice how you're feeling. Okay, And then we're going to come up to stand. You're going to stand behind your chair. Feet hip-width distance apart or slightly wider. Knees are soft. Shoulders are over your hips. Ears are over your shoulders, Right? And you're just going to tap the floor. You're going to lift the heel and then tap it down. So lift, Right? And just tap, Lift and tap, Lift and tap, Lift and tap, Lift and tap, Right? Really, Really good for bone building, Right? It's really good for osteopenia and osteoporosis, Right? Tapping the heel. Just keep tapping. Good. And then slow it down. March it out. Lift it up. March it out. Okay. You're going to take your right foot and place it under the chair. And you're going to take your left foot, Slide it straight back, Right? So you're still upright. You're not leaning forward yet, Right? You're upright. You're not on a tight rope. You're on railroad tracks. The feet are separate both ways, Okay? You're going to bring your hands to your hip if your balance is okay today and make sure that your hips are pointing towards the chair. Good. You're going to place your hands on the chair. You're going to press the back heel down. Feel the stretch. And then slowly hinging from that hip crease, You're going to bring yourself forward. Now, I like to turn my chair around because I like to be a little lower on the seat. Okay? Now, Notice I'm hinging from the hip, Not my waist. My back is flat. I'm going to bring my right hip back and left hip forward. Right? You're going to feel the stretch down the back leg and the calf muscle, Maybe the back of the hamstring. Breathe here. Good. Now, Your left hand is going to stay on the chair. Your right hand is going to go to your hip. You're still facing the floor. Good. Now, You're going to take your left ribcage. You're going to turn it to the right to open up the right shoulder. Yes, Beautiful. Option to take that right arm up. These asymmetric twists are really good for your hips. Breathe. Good. Bring the hand, The right hand back down to the chair. Okay? Lift the right toes up. So now you're on the heel of your front foot. Take a breath here. Now, Plant the right foot and bend the knee towards the chair and bring yourself back up into an upright position. So the front knee is bent towards the chair and the back heel is down. Feel the stretch in your hip and the calf. Good. And then straighten the front leg and bring your left leg to meet the right and you're going to shake it out. Okay? So once again, Parallel feet. Shake those legs. You're going to take your left foot forward under the chair, Right foot slides back. So now you're on the other side. All right? If you can, Both heels to the floor. If not, You can keep the back heel lifted if you have anything going on with your hips. Okay? Straighten both legs. Option here to take your hands to your hips so you square your hips towards the chair. Okay? Then you can put your hands back on the chair and slowly start to hinge from your hip, Keeping the right hip coming forward and the left hip back, Taking your hands as low as is comfortable for your practice today. Keep bringing the right hip forward, Left hip back to square your shoulders. Breathe here. See how this feels. You can stay right here if this is a deep enough stretch for you. Or you keep your right hand on the chair, Your left hand on your hip now, Pressing the left hip back. Turn that right ribcage, Opening up the left shoulder, And then option to take the left arm straight up. Pressing both feet into the floor, Press the big toe mound of the front foot into the floor. And then slowly bring your left hand down to the chair. Come back to square your hips, Pick up the front toes and stretch the calf muscle of that front leg. Then plant the foot flat, Bend the knee forward, And then rise up to the chair. To stand, Putting your right hand on your hip, Left hand can stay on the chair or both hands on the chair. Breathe here. And then straighten the front leg and then bring the right foot to meet the left and we shake it out. Good. Okay. Come back to stand in front of your chair. You know what? I'm gonna do one more stretch and it's okay that you're standing in the front of your chair. I'm just gonna go to the side so I can show you. We're gonna do one more stretch and this is really also good for your back. All right. You're gonna plant your hands on the chair or on the back of the chair, Wherever you are, Okay? You're gonna walk your feet back and you're gonna stick your butt back so that the butt is over your heels. Your back is flat. You're gonna soften the shoulders and just feel the stretch here. Engage your core. Lift the belly of the heart. Then bend the right knee as deep as you can. Gazing forward. Don't round the back. And then we're gonna switch. Bend the other knee. Feel the stretch in the hip. Good. And then bend both knees and stick your sit bones up. Feel the stretch in the glutes and the thighs and the back of the hamstrings. Good. Gaze forward. Walk your feet forward and then come up to stand. Good. Come on to the front of the chair and come and sit down. Take a breath in and a breath out. Just notice how you're feeling. Come on. Again, Take a breath in and a breath out. Okay. We're gonna take our hands. Make a gentle fist. Lift up. Open up the hands. Bring it down. Take it out to the sides. Palms face down. Come on back. Lift up. Bring it down. Bring it forward. Palms face up. All right. So it's up, Down, Side, Up, Down, Forward. Okay. Up, Down, Side, Up, Down, Forward and up, Down, Side and up, Down, Forward and up, Down, Side and up, Down, Forward and relax. Take a breath. Okay, Good. Now we're gonna do the same thing, But this time we're gonna add on. We're gonna go up and down. Left arm out, Right arm forward. Come on back. Up, Down, Right arm out, Left arm forward. Good. And up, Down, Switch and up, Down, Switch and up, Down, Switch and up, Down, Switch and up, Down, Switch and relax. Roll the shoulders. Okay, Take that left arm across, Sorry, To the side and then across, Take the right arm underneath. Feel that nice big stretch. Let's lengthen the spine. Inch forward. Breathe. Wiggle the fingers. Inhale, Rise up. Take the right arm out to the side. Bring it in front, Cross, Left elbow underneath. Take a breath. Lengthen your spine. Inch forward. Breathing into the back of the shoulder there. Good. Inhale, Rise up. Take the left arm forward. Palm facing flat. Take the right hand to the left fingertips. Gently press back. Good. Fingers towards the floor. Bring your hand, Top of the back of the hand and feel the stretch. Relax that left shoulder. Good. Circle around the wrist. Awesome. Take the right arm straight, Palm facing forward, Fingers up. Your other hand reaches back for a stretch. Bring the fingers towards the floor, Back of the hand. Stretch. Release your hands. Circle the wrist. Go the other way. Good. And then take a breath. Bring your hands behind your back. Interlace them, Right? So interlace them. You can also grab your wrists if that's better for you. Okay. Reach the hands towards the chair. Feel the opening in the chest. Good. And then slowly hinge forward. And as you hinge forward, Try to bring your arms up slightly. Nice big shoulder stretch here. And then inhale, Rise up. And roll the shoulders. Good. And shake them out. Shake your legs, Hands, Shoulders, Right? Hips, Right? Even your feet. Shake everything out. Good. All right. And then come to your comfortable seat. Turn the palms face up or stack right palm over left. Take a nice long deep breath in and out. Now we're gonna enter practice with a four count breath in, Four count hold, Four count breath out, Four count hold. So inhale and exhale. Inhale, Two, Three, Four. Hold, Two, Three, Four. Exhale, Two, Three, Four. Hold, Two, Three, Four. Inhale, Two, Three, Four. Hold, Two, Three, Four. Exhale, Two, Three, Four. Hold, Two, Three, Four. Inhale, Two, Three, Four. Hold, Two, Three, Four. Exhale, Two, Three, Four. Hold, Two, Three, Four. Inhale, Two, Three, Four. Hold, Two, Three, Four. Exhale, Two, Three, Four. Hold, Two, Three, Four. Breathe in. Breathe out. And then tap into the circle of breath. Reminding yourself of what it felt like to be in that beautiful ocean water. With each inhale, The wave gently brings you forward. With each exhale, It allows you to sway back. Now fill this breath with kindness. What would it feel like if you filled this breath with kindness for your body? So that as you exhale, That kindness goes all over. Do this a couple more times. As you inhale, Fill it with kindness and compassion. And as you exhale, Allow that kindness and compassion to seep into every muscle and bone and tissue and cell. And again, Inhale, Kindness, Compassion, Love. And as you exhale, Take that love and kindness and compassion down, Down deep. And then with your next breath, Bring your hands together at your heart center, Bowing in gratitude. You're welcome to join me in chanting the sound of Aum to close our practice. Take a breath in. Take a breath out. With my gratitude and the light that shines within my heart to yours, I bow. Namaste. Thanks everybody.