Relaxing Chair Yoga

This practice is guided using an upright, stable chair and is a primarily seated in the chair sequence with an option in the closing to be supine. This practice focuses on relaxation and opening both the front and back body. Forward folds help calm the nervous system.

Transcript

Welcome to this yoga class.

We'll be using a chair as our prop.

You are welcome to use any other props that feel good to you or comfortable.

Everything will be able to be done seated in the chair.

And this is one,

Not a camping chair,

Something with a straight back.

It could be a kitchen chair,

It could be a folding chair,

Something that's a little sturdy as we move around.

And this practice is really aimed at relaxation and is part of a three part series of some variations of the same practice.

So what we'll do is have a seat in our chair,

Hips at the back of the chair,

Sitting up straight,

Feet on the floor,

Towards the floor.

This could be a great time if you have blocks or anything that you could just put underneath there.

That way the feet are not just dangling.

So you have that nice 90 degree angle in the knees.

And we'll go ahead and just have a seat in the chair,

Shoulders back,

Shoulder blades coming down the back.

And your hands just rest on your thighs comfortably.

You can close your eyes or lower them to in front of you.

And just take a nice big breath in through the nose.

Out through the mouth.

And in through the nose.

And out through the mouth.

One more in through the nose.

Out through the mouth.

Allow your breath to just go and continue as you are really working on ironing out,

Evening out your inhales and exhales.

So they should be about the same time or kind of moments in your mind as you're going through.

Just keeping it on this even plane with your breath.

Now you can breathe in through your nose,

Out through your nose if that's comfortable throughout the rest of practice.

Or you can breathe out through your mouth at any point in time.

Of course,

If you've got any sinuses,

Things like that.

Here you can keep your eyes lower or closed,

Or you can open them at this time to begin to move through our practice.

So from here,

We're going to want to scoot up just a little bit or you can keep your hips where they are as well if that's more comfortable.

Sometimes I like to scoot up a little bit where my,

I'm about half my hips are about halfway in the middle of the chair to get that angle.

That seems to help me but you can also have your hips towards the back so that way you can kind of keep coming back to that straight back because we'll be doing some halfway lifts from here.

And then we'll also be coming back to hold our torso will be fully up.

So,

We'll start by once you so you're keeping that same nice seated position that we've had shoulder blades on the back,

You'll inhale hands come up overhead.

And then as you exhale,

They'll start to fold over your thighs as you bring your arms in your hands reaching towards the ground or your feet.

As far as is comfortable.

And then on your next inhale,

You'll just kind of halfway lift from here you might have your fingertips on the ground or maybe you've got your hands just on your thighs to help you here so you just extend the head forward a little bit.

And then exhale fold back forward.

Again only as much as as comfortable.

Inhale again extend from your tailbone to the top of your head.

Just a little bit we're not coming all the way up maybe even a 45 degree angle is okay.

And then fold back over.

And again a little halfway lift.

And then fold back down.

And then you can take a look at your hips and knee or sorry your feet and your knees,

And make sure that they're about hip width apart,

Your needs to be splaying out one way or the other.

Just keeping them all kind of in this nice little 90 degree angle line that we've got.

And then you can kind of even in your upper body can even be coming in between your legs as you're going forward so our next inhale,

We're going to go on an inhale with our arms up overhead if that's comfortable or you can use your hands on your thighs to help bring you up.

As you extend the crown of the head towards the ceiling.

Same line from tailbone to the crown of the head now we're fully upright with our upper body.

And then as you exhale,

We're going to come all the way back into that fold.

So our heads coming down towards the ground arms,

Hands again hands can be resting on the thighs if that feels good and our next inhale we'll go ahead and bring the upper body back up maybe your hands are coming up overhead as well.

And then exhale release down into that seated forward fold.

Then inhale again,

Coming back up.

And then exhale come back into the fold.

We're going to stay here for a moment so as you continue to breathe here think about just expanding the back,

Our lungs are in our back and so,

You know,

Letting them expand letting them do their thing letting their breath,

Help get us deeper into that fashion those tissues that we're working with just continue to even out those inhales and exhales.

And then your next inhale will get ready again whether your arms are coming up overhead or if the hands are resting on the thighs to help you come up.

We're going to go ahead and lift with our chest coming all the way back up.

So now our knees are in that perpendicular 90 degree angle,

Our upper body is upright.

And we'll get ready for a little variation of pyramid pose in our seated position here.

So keep your right knee where it is.

We're going to stay that nice.

It's in line with the hip point and the knee is on top of the ankle,

Our left foot is going to come out first so you're just extending that need the heel will rest on the ground,

If that's available to you can also scoot up to where you're a little closer to the edge of the chair,

Not to a point where you would fall off,

But just to a point where you can get that heel on the ground comfortably and still keeping that bend in the right knee.

And here what we're going to do is very similar to what we did first.

This time I'm going to have you keep your hands on your hips,

If that feels most comfortable but you can also bring your hands up overhead if that feels good.

And you can even reach towards that left foot so the heels on the ground toes are pointing up towards the sky.

He is not locked,

Maybe it has a little bit of a bend but we want it to be aiming for a straighter knee than it was earlier.

And as we inhale,

Extending the crown of the head towards the ceiling.

And then as we exhale with our hands on the hips.

We just go ahead and start to bring the crown of our head like it's reaching towards our toes,

Bending hinging at the hips,

Or nose is coming towards our knee.

And then as you inhale,

We'll go ahead and come back up all the way back up this time you'll have.

And then as we exhale again fold forward over that left leg that's extended the toes or toes in the head are trying to reach each other.

They should not reach each other if they do,

You have got some flexibility,

My friend.

And then as we inhale we'll lift back up,

Extending,

Keeping that left leg and right leg just right where they are we're really just working the upper body to help get into this in our hips.

And then as we exhale again,

We'll fold over that left leg.

Here we're going to stay for a few breaths so again trying to keep those inhales and exhales,

Even really trying to work from the hips you can have a little bit of a bend and that left knee.

If it doesn't need to be locked you can even take your hands and reach for that left foot if that feels comfortable for you.

And on your next inhale.

You can walk your hands up your legs,

Bring your upper body back up to seated.

Bring the left foot where the bottom of the sole of the foot is back on the floor,

Right next to the right.

So,

Now we've got both of our legs,

Just then back where we've got our knees are in line with our hip points.

We're a little close with our hips to the edge of the chair,

Go ahead and adjust here as needed.

And then we'll take that right foot and extend it out the toes towards the ceiling,

The heel is on the ground.

Right leg is extended the knee is not locked and can bend as needed.

Left leg is in that 90 degree perpendicular position.

Again,

We can have our hands on our hips we can use them to walk up and down our legs,

Or you can take your hands up overhead whichever is most comfortable for you today.

And as we inhale we're extending from the tailbone through the crown of the head towards the ceiling.

As we exhale we're going to fold over that right leg,

Crown of the head and the toes are trying to find their way towards each other.

And as we inhale coming all the way back up to seated with the upper body.

Bottom half of the body stays the way it is.

Exhale,

Folding back down over that right foot,

The right leg sorry,

Crown of our head is trying to reach towards that right foot,

Hinging at the hip.

As we inhale we'll come back up to seated once more in this position.

And as we exhale will fold back over that right leg.

Maybe you take your hands to try to reach for that right foot.

Maybe you take your hands down towards the ground,

Maybe you have your blocks there.

Work on evening out those breaths.

The next inhale again can use our hands to help us walk up.

So we're going to go to seated.

Then we'll go ahead and bring our right foot,

Bottom of the foot will come back to the floor.

Both knees are in that 90 degree perpendicular position.

Knees are in line with the hip points,

Knees are over the ankles.

We're doing a couple of seated cat cows so we don't necessarily want to be on the edge of the chair but maybe we want our hips to be about halfway in kind of the middle of the chair.

And we will put our hands on our thighs here.

Right now,

Keep them in about the middle of your thighs.

If that's comfortable.

And as you inhale we're going to start to slide the hands palms down up towards our hips,

As we lift our chest,

Bring our chin up.

Inhale,

Bring your shoulders back.

And as we exhale we're going to begin to slide our hands forward towards our knees,

Still on the thighs,

As we begin to bring our chin in towards our chest,

Rounding the back as we come into that cat position.

Inhale,

Bring those palms back towards the hips on the top of the thigh,

Opening the chest,

Shoulder blades back,

Chin up.

And then as we exhale again sliding those palms forward on the thigh towards the knees,

As we push chin towards chest,

Rounding the spine.

And then we're going to do a few more here on your own breath again trying to keep the movement and the breath,

Even,

So trying to spend equal time in our cat and our cow,

You just continue to slide the hands forward and back as you flex that spine,

And that cow position or cat position,

Opening the chest on the inhale.

Inhale,

Rounding the spine chin towards the chest.

Take a moment wherever you are to find neutral spine so again maybe your palms come to about the middle of your thighs.

And then we're going to come into a cobra pose so again our hips are still kind of in the middle of our chair here.

We want to have a little bit of leverage,

Our feet are hip width apart,

Our knees are hip width apart.

Knees are on top of the ankles,

Knees are in line with the hips.

And what we're going to do here is take both of our hands behind us to maybe grab the outside of the chair,

Or maybe the outside of the cushion.

And it can be you can start closer by your hips,

As you start to walk your hands back on the chair.

We want to do is start to open the chest so lifting the chest,

Just like we were doing in that cow position,

Your chin does not need to come all the way up here it can be smart like a 45 degree angle if that feels good.

Something similar.

And just walk hands back to where they feel the most comfortable you'll feel this as you open up your chest,

Your shoulders come back should really be a big nice chest opener.

Now continue to breathe,

We're going to hold this position.

So your breath,

Try to keep it even focus on keeping it even.

Once you find that spot with your shoulders,

You can just kind of feel the tension in your chest.

And with your shoulders and your arms where you say this is it,

And with your chest opening.

This is the spot this is all I need to do.

Don't want pain.

Just want that opening.

Go ahead and start to walk those hands back down towards your hips.

See release.

Again,

Maybe placing your palms down about the middle of your thighs.

We're going to come into the seated cat cows again so we'll take a few here with your own breath again trying to spend even amounts of time in the cow and the cat.

So,

As you inhale,

You bring your palms back in towards your hips,

As you lift the chest shoulder blades come down shoulders are away from the ears,

Lifting your chin a little to open.

And then as you exhale sliding the palms forward towards the knees rounding the spine straightening the elbows.

Again as you inhale,

Coming into that cow position.

Hands coming towards the hips,

Elbows are bending,

Opening that chest.

Exhale,

Slide it forward round that spine,

Chin to chest.

Take a few more of those here with your own breath,

Your lower body stays the same.

When you're ready,

We'll find just a neutral position again.

Come into a little bit of a twist and so you've got some options if your shoulders are not feeling it today,

You don't want to bring them up your arms up over your head.

You'll want to keep your hands,

Maybe at heart center.

And maybe you keep them down and keep them low.

Wherever you are will take an inhale.

Maybe your hands come up overhead.

Maybe they stay down.

And then as we exhale,

We're going to open up to the right side so if your hands are overhead your right hand will come behind you as you follow the gaze with your eyes.

Sorry,

Follow your thumb with your eyes.

There we go.

Your left hand will come forward,

Stretching apart again and his chest opener if your hands are down.

Maybe your left hand comes to the outside of the right thigh and then maybe your right hand just comes back pointing back as it rests on your head or grabs onto the side of the chair.

As you inhale come back to neutral,

Either with your arms overhead or lower on your thighs,

Or at heart center.

And then your next exhale will move to the left side so following that thumb gaze that with your gaze,

As it goes back to the back of the chair your right hand comes forward.

And maybe your left hand is on the chair right hand is on the outside of the left thigh.

To inhale come back to center.

And then as you exhale will come back over to the right,

You've got your hands and heart center we're just working on only really moving from the rib cage.

It should be nice and hanging out just where we've left them.

And then we'll come back to center.

Exhale will come over to the left side.

Last time here on either side,

Right side,

Twist.

We're not cranking we're just allowing our spine to go as far as it would like.

Then inhale bringing it back to center,

That nice line,

Our tailbone to the crown of our head towards the ceiling.

And last side here over on your left,

Opening up.

Whichever variation works best for you today.

And back to center.

You can release your arms,

Wherever they are.

Take a breath before we move into our next portion.

Doing a little knees to chest here.

And so what we're going to do is bring our hips more towards the front.

As we're going to come back to placing our heels on the ground so similar to like we did with the pyramid variation that we did earlier.

We're going to just bring that right heel on the ground first.

Leg extended,

Knee is not locked.

We're not purposefully bending into it either.

At this point.

And what we'll do next is your left leg.

You're just going to go ahead and start to bring that left knee in towards your chest.

And you can use your hands to help it either behind the thigh,

In front of the shin,

Or we're simply raising that left knee up.

Just a couple inches is just fine.

If it makes it to our chest,

Great.

If not,

We are working those hip flexors one way or the other.

Then go ahead and drop that back down.

We'll take two more here.

Just again,

The left leg lifting up.

Maybe you help it with your hands.

And then release.

You can also have your hands on the side of the chair,

Helping grip as you ground really nicely shoulder blades back,

Lifting with that left knee.

If that feels good to you.

Exhale.

Bring that left heel down to meet the right heel.

So we begin to switch sides.

They're planting that left heel on the ground again,

Not locking out the knee but not purposefully bending into it at this moment,

Splitting it rest so if you need to adjust your chair or any blocks,

You need to put under your knees.

That is totally fine.

Whether you are going to be using your hands for if you'd like to have your hands grounding you into the chair again thinking about your shoulder blades coming down the back will start to bring that right leg that right knee is going to come in towards our chest,

Whether we're helping it with our hands.

Or trying to use just our hip flexor strength,

Which can be a lot sometimes release back down to the ground.

Next exhale will bring that right knee in towards the chest again.

And then extend it back out.

And then the last one here,

We'll take that right knee in towards the chest again whether we're helping it with our hands are grounded screen is closing as we feel comfortable,

No pain.

Right heel means the left heel,

And like they're kind of on track so in line with the hip points.

Neither knee is locked out,

But we haven't been in we're still keeping our heels down toes are up.

Now maybe we've got that grounded position.

So what you can do here is,

Again,

Our hips are still a little bit further up on the chair.

If it feels good,

You can also bring them back.

You know,

But from here we can kind of take a little extra challenge if you like,

We're just going to lift both knees in towards our chest so whichever way feels the most comfortable and stable for you.

Maybe you want to put your hands down by your hips gripping the chair so you can help assist that lower back as you're bringing in those hip flexors with the knees coming in.

Maybe you're just lifting the knees with the feet,

A little bit off of the floor.

And release wherever you are.

And just continue to breathe.

We'll go ahead and take a moment to bring our the soles of our feet back in as we get a 90 degree perpendicular line again.

And we're going to come back to this forward folds that we were doing earlier in the practice.

So,

Again,

Maybe your hips are about halfway on the chair,

Or maybe they're sitting all the way back,

Maybe you're a little forward whatever feels best for you now that you've done this a couple times,

You can kind of change it.

So what works for you and we're just going to inhale up nice and big.

And then as we exhale we're going to bring those hands down towards our feet,

Head down towards the ground again maybe the lower body is coming in between the legs a little bit.

And then as we inhale,

We're going to come back up maybe you're walking your hands up your legs to bring the upper body.

And then as you exhale again folding forward hinging at those hips that chair really helps us get that hinge.

As we walk the hands down towards the feet lay over the thighs.

Our next inhale we'll go ahead and walk those hands back up.

We bring our upper body back up to our chair back and then as we exhale will fold forward and this time we're going to stay for a little bit.

And really let that relaxation and our lower back.

Just spread and I hang out here in this forward fold,

Make it feel comfy again if you've got blocks and you want a little support for your hands or your feet.

Certainly feel free.

Let your breath,

Do whatever feels comfortable to you right now.

Just remember to continue breathing.

Right.

And now we prepare for our chair Shavasana.

So what we'll do is again nice slow gentle using your hands vertebrae by vertebrae and your back,

Bringing your upper torso in to our upright position.

Your hips are all the way at the back of the chair.

Line from your tailbone to the crown of your head up towards the ceiling.

Knees are over the ankles,

Knees are also in line with the hips.

You place your hands on your thighs or wherever feels comfortable.

And you can stay here for Shavasana,

Close your eyes,

Or lower them.

And what I like and variation of Shavasana,

Even if it's not for today,

Something that you can do another day,

Or next time you do this practice is to go ahead and stand up from the chair and come to the ground in the way that's most comfortable for you.

And what we're going to do is lay on our backs.

And as we take our calves to rest on top of the chair.

You can slay out wherever is great.

Our knees are perpendicular this time,

Just like they have been,

But kind of the opposite direction of the way we had them before.

And upright.

So,

We've got our knees bent calves are on the chair,

Our back is on the ground.

Also grab a pillow or use your blocks here underneath your hips to help give a little lift there if that feels good depending on your chair height.

You can let your arms splay out or rest on your belly or heart.

And whether you're seated,

Or you're in this line position with your feet up.

Take some Shavasana here.

So allowing that practice really integrate into your body.

As you relax,

As you close your eyes.

Shavasana.

Shavasana.

Shavasana.

Whenever you're ready.

Again to wiggle your fingers.

Toes.

Take some ankle circles and circles.

Nice big breath in.

You're in the seated position in the chair with your hips in the chair.

You can begin to open your eyes.

Take your time,

Getting out maybe take some neck rolls.

And then lying down position.

You're welcome to bring your knees over to one side kind of adjust.

Kind of chair you're in.

Kind of push yourself up to seated.

You take your hands to heart center.

Put your thumbs against your chest.

You feel your heartbeat.

One more big inhale.

Exhale.

Thank you for practicing with me today and I hope that this practice helped open some things for you and that you feel different than when you began this practice today.

And that it's had a positive effect on your mind and body.

Hope to practice with you again soon.

And have a great rest of your day.

Reviews

Hello beautiful 🌸🎀🌸🎀🌸Thank You so much for the wonderfully chair yoga session 🎀it gives me so much ☮️☮️☮️and a lot of surprise when I can do in a chair 🗺️have a blessed day 🕉️Namaste