Chair Yoga Class for Older Adults

This Chair Yoga class provides a safe space for older adults to practice yoga without the need to get up and down from the floor. It is also an ideal practice for anyone experiencing mobility issues. In addition to a chair and a yoga mat, a blanket and two blocks are nice to have for this practice. Please make sure your chair is stable and will not slide. It should be secure on your mat or against a wall. Activities are primarily done seated in a chair. During the standing segment, options are offered if you need to, or prefer to, remain seated.

Transcript

My name is Susan, And we're going to be doing a chair yoga practice today. So you might want to have two blocks and a blanket with you. And I really encourage you to tune in to your body during the practice today. Remember, It's your practice. And so please approach it in a way that works well for your body. So we're going to start with a little bit of breath work. One thing you can do, Like you'll notice that maybe I'm a little bit high in my chair here. So you can put blocks about hip width apart underneath in front your feet. So that you can get a really nice 90 degree angle on the legs. If that feels good to you, Feel free to do that. And then we're just gonna take the folded blanket and take it behind the head. And just kind of wrap it around the neck. I don't know whether, Maybe I shouldn't do this because I'll probably knock my microphone off. But anyway, It's a good way to just give your neck a little support while we do our breath work. So let's soften and close the eyes. Nice lengthened spine and just take some slow, Deep breaths. Just feel the easy flow of your breath. Feel the air coming in through the nostrils and filling the lungs. And then feel the old energy leaving the lungs and flowing out through the nostril. Allow the breath to be very fluid, Very comfortable. As you continue to breathe nice and relaxed. Just take a moment to set an intention for your practice today. It can be a positive word or affirmation that you stay aware of along with your breath. Now let's slowly open the eyes. You can take the blanket and just rest it on the back of the chair if you like, If it's comfortable for that. Because most of the time we're actually not going to have our backs against the chair because we want to use our core muscles. So just think about sitting up nice and tall. So when you're sitting with your back away from the chair, You should feel like your rib cage is lifted. You feel like everything's kind of scrunching up. Then just consciously lift. From the crown of the head, Like there's a string attached to your head and it's lifting you up, Opening up the spaces between the vertebrae. Opening up the spaces between the ribs. Now let's start by just doing some movement for the wrist. Just circle the wrists around. Start to get a little circulation going. And now let's reverse directions. And now let's just kind of move the feet a little bit, Just kind of lifting one heel and the other. And now just maybe kind of moving the heels to the right. Into the last. Trying to bring a little movement into the ankle. And then coming back to the center. And now let's do some neck stretches here. So let's just start by just. . . Inhale, Look over the right shoulder. Exhale, Come back to the center. And your hands can rest on your thigh. Now look the other way. Look over the left shoulder. Your hands can rest on the thighs. They can rest on the sides of the chair. Whatever feels comfortable for you. Let's do one more each way. And now come back to center and then inhale and tip the head to the right. Exhale, Slowly roll the head forward. And over to the last. Take an inhale and then exhale slowly roll forward and back over to the right. Just really feel all the tension from the sides and back of the neck just melting away. Let it go. We tend to get a lot of tension in the space from using our phones. This is actually a great time of day to. . . To do this practice. Kind of get the kinks out of your body that maybe have worked their way in throughout the day let's do one more each way And then come back to the center. And now let's roll the shoulders forward, Up, And back. Just starting to wake up the shoulder joint a little bit. And now let's roll forward. And even if you're doing this practice and you feel like, Oh, I want to stand up for a few minutes. That's okay. And maybe you've been sitting in front of your computer all morning and you want to stand. That's all right. Okay, Now relax and take the right arm across your body and then use the other arm to just stretch that shoulder. And now let's transition to the other side. And now take the left arm across your body. And just gently. Add a little extra stretch if that feels good to you. Try to keep your shoulders soft so it's not shrugging up towards your ear. And then release it. And now stretch the arms up and then open to cactus. And just feel some opening in the heart center. Feel the chest and the fronts of the shoulders expanding, Broadening. Letting go. And now just slowly lower down. Rest the hands either on the thighs or on the sides of the chairs. Now let's draw some nose circles. So just pretend somebody put a blue blob of paint on your nose and you've got a piece of paper in front of you. And just draw some slow circles. Let's make some artwork here on that piece of paper. Going around nice and easy. And now let's go the opposite way. And we'll actually do a lot of stuff seated, But we'll also use the chair and do some things standing up. Using the chair for support. There's lots of different ways to use the chair. Just make sure that you have a stable area where you have your chair. You know, Come back to the center. That's like the only thing that you really need to be careful of is if you're not on a mat and it's going to slide. So just make sure that it's on the mat or on a carpet or something where it's not going to slide and you're not going to put yourself at risk. So now let's do some stirring the pot. So just pretend your torso. Is just stirring around. Just do some revolutions with your whole torso. Just waking up some muscles in your core. Follow your breath as you stir around. And if you're not getting enough movement, Just scoot toward the edge of the chair a little bit more. So we just don't want to scoot so far that you're going to fall out. But you can scoot up pretty far. Okay, Now let's go the opposite way. Now come back to the center. And now you can have the hands on the sides of the chair or on the thighs. Let's roll through some cat and cow. So just exhale and just round the spine. And then inhale, Project the chest and belly forward. Just opening and closing the spaces between the vertebrae. Nice fluid movements. One more time. And now. . . Go ahead and use one of your blocks on this. We're not going to have our feet on the floor for very long anyway. So even if you're using this, It shouldn't hurt and you can scoot forward a little bit more. On your chair and just hold the block out in front. Just kind of reminding your core muscles to engage. And then tip back a little bit until you feel the core muscles activating. And then we'll march. Exhale and inhale. And it can be a very small march or it can be a large march. Just do whatever feels right for you. And now let's start rotating. Toward the opposite knee. And the rotation can be very subtle. Remember, Not all of us like a lot of spinal rotation, And that's fine. This just wakes up your oblique abdominals a little bit. All the core muscles provide your internal organs and your spine with a lot of support. Nice job. Okay, Now just extend your right leg out and bring it down, Left leg out and bring it down. And continue to lean back just a little bit so you feel that core activation. And now just relax it down. And now if you're using those. . . Blocks under their feet. Feel free to put them back in place. Now let's do some seated sun salutations. I'll show you today how to do the sun salutations sitting in the chair and also how to stand and do them using the chair for support. So we'll do both of those things today. Let's start by taking the hands in front of the heart center. And just really feel the length in your spine and that connection of the soles, The feet with the earth. And then let's inhale and stretch it up. And then exhale, Hinge forward. Lengthening the spine. And then inhale, Flatten the back, Lift the arms up. Exhale, Forward fold. Inhale, Come up to tall mountain. And exhale, Bring the hands in front of the heart center. Now let's repeat that. Let's inhale, Stretch it up. Exhale, Dive down to your forward fold. Inhale flat back Exhale, Forward Fold. Inhale, Tall mountain. And exhale, Bring the hands in for the heart center. Now let's do a little bit of activity for the upper body. We'll work that into the sun salutation. So inhale, Stretch it up. Open the arms to the right, Look over the right shoulder. Inhale up the center open to the left look over the left shoulder Inhale, Up to the center. Exhale, Dive down to your forward fold. Inhale, Flat back. Exhale, Forward, Fold. Inhale, Tall mountain. And exhale bring the hands in from the heart center Now let's try another one. Inhale, Stretch it up. Interlace the fingers. Exhale, Tip to the right. Side body stretch. Inhale up the center exhale tip to the left Inhale, Up the center. Exhale, Open the cactus arm. Inhale, Stretch it up to the sky. Exhale, Dive down to your forward fold. Inhale, Flat back. Exhale forward, Fold. Now inhale, Tall mountain. And exhale, Bring the hands in front of the heart center. Excellent. Okay, Now we're going to come into a warrior two. And you can use the blocks under the feet if you want to. So turn. I'm going to actually do my own right and my own left on this. I try to do mirroring most of the time, But I think that for this, I'm not going to. So right foot is going to be. Pointing away up toward the top of your mat. And then you're going to take your left foot behind. My chair is a little bit wide, So this is a little bit difficult. I think what I'm going to do make this work for me is I'm actually going to have the block underneath my right foot. So just feel free to adjust and do what you need to do so that you feel like your feet are grounding. In this position. You know, A lot of times those fold-up chairs are just about the right height and the floor of mine is just a little bit too high. So once you're positioned, Come up to warrior two and look at your right middle finger. Try to soften the shoulders. Remember, If you have discomfort in the shoulders, You're welcome to take the hands to the waist. Always options are available to you whenever you need to look for options. Nice fluid breath. Now let's float the hands down and we're going to reverse the warrior. So just bring that right arm up. And just gaze to the left, Maybe just kind of gazing down your left shoulder. And your left shoulder should be very relaxed. And remember, If you're feeling tension in that right arm and you want to just rest it on top of the head, That's completely fine. Just tune in breath by breath. And make this practice work for you. Now let's come up and now we're going to rest our forearm on the right thigh and stretch over to side angle pose. Now on this one, If you're feeling anything in that left shoulder, You have the option to wrap that left hand to the waist. So just do what works for you. Nice, Fluid breath. And then let's slowly come up. And then come to the center. For a moment. Oh, A sneeze is trying to come. Just come to the center for a moment. And put your feet flat on the floor and just see how you feel. See if you feel balanced in your body or if maybe like one hip feels looser than the other or one side of your spine. And then when we do the other side, We'll come back here and then we'll see how it feels at that point. So now let's transition so you're facing the back of the map this time. And we're going to start out with your warrior two. And then just take your time setting up so that it's working for you. And once you feel your feet are positioned the way you want them. Then you can bring your arms up and come to warrior two, Looking at the left middle finger. Really feel that flow of your breath. See if you can stack your shoulders over your hips, Especially when you're on the chair. You may want to lean forward like this and kind of fall over to one side. Use your core muscles. And bring yourself so that you're nice and lengthened here if it feels okay for you. Now float the hands down and let's reverse the warrior, Bringing that right arm up. Really just try to relax your right shoulder. Keep in mind that you can take this hand on top of the head for more comfort. And now let's take the forearm down on the thigh and stretch. The right arm over. Keep in mind you can wrap to the waist if you like. And now slowly come back up And now let's come back to the center. And just kind of see how your body is feeling. Maybe hopefully both hips feel a little bit more even now. And your back feels a little more even. Can let me know that later. So we're going to do some goddess pose now. And also keep in mind when we do the standing sun salutations in a little while, If you want to do the seated ones that we just did, You can just stay in the chair and do them seated. This is all about making the practice work for your own body. So your feet can be wide and they can be on the blocks if you like. So the toes and knees should be turned out a little bit. And you should be comfortable. You might feel a little stretch through the inner thigh, But it shouldn't be anything that's uncomfortable. So let's lift the arms up. And then let's exhale and come into cactus. And let's just stay here for a few breaths, Just really stretching through the chest, Opening the chest, Opening the heart center. Notice how easy it is to breathe when the chest is open. And then let's slowly come down. And now let's take. The hands behind the head. Take an inhale and then exhale, Just kind of tip over to the right a little bit, However much feels good. Exhale, Come back up and then tip the other way. And come up. So we're working the obliques again See if you can keep your chin lifted so that your neck stays long. If that just doesn't feel possible with your hands behind the head, Then maybe put them on top of the head. You could just kind of place your fingers on top of the head instead. And then let's come back to the center and then take the hands on the knees. And then let's just dip one shoulder over toward the opposite knee. Then come back to the center and then dip the opposite shoulder. Exhale and inhale. Nice and fluid. And let's do one more each side. And then come back to the center. Take the hands on the waist and take an inhale and then exhale, Squeeze the elbows toward the middle of the back and then just tip forward a little bit. And stretch that spine. And let's slowly come back up. And then let's walk the feed in And then we're going to just do a forward fold. Just take an inhale and then exhale. Just slide the hands down to the floor. And just lengthen the spine. And then let's slowly come on. Now, If for any reason you don't want to stand, Then we're going to do the sun salutations. You can stay seated and do them. And I'll also show you real quick how to do a seated downward dog if you want to stay in your chair. So you can just. Place your heels on the floor and then bring your arms up and then just kind of tip. Your torso forward until you feel that stretch through the back of the thigh. So you can just do the downward dog like right here. Let's all try that. Try to keep softness in the knees. We want to avoid hyper extending the knees and having that feel uncomfortable. Just creep your knees in, Your feet in, Your heels in a little bit. You can even have your knees bent when you do this. Now let's slowly come back up. And then if you're comfortable doing some standing exercises, Go ahead and stand up. I'm just going to turn my chair this way. Because when we do the forward fold part, You're basically going to take your hands down to the. . . Seat part of the chair. So just kind of adjust your positioning so that the chair is going to be in the right place for you. So let's take the feet about hip width apart. Take the hands in front of the heart center. Nice, Soft knees. Inhale, Stretch to the sky. Raise the gaze. Exhale, Dive down to your forward fold. Inhale, Half lift. Exhale, Step back to plank. And then take an inhale. Exhale, Walk the feet in and come to a downward facing dog. Lengthen your spine. Notice what's happening in your neck. Your head is going to want to fall forward. So try to stretch the crown of the head forward so you feel that length in the neck. Inhale, Slowly walk the feet forward, Flat back. Exhale, Forward, Fold. Inhale tall mountain And exhale, Bring the hands in front of the heart center. Now let's repeat that. Inhale, Stretch it up, Raise the gaze. Exhale, Dive down to your forward fold. Inhale, Half lift. I shall step back to plank. Remember, You can keep your hips really high here if you need to. You could also come down on your forearms. Take an inhale, Exhale, Walk the feet in. Lengthen it out. Come into your downward facing dog. Long neck. Feel the whole back of your body stretching out here. Inhale, Walk the feet forward, Clap back. Exhale, Forward, Fold. Inhale. Come up to Tall Mountain. And exhale, Bring the hands in front of the heart center. Now let's hold on to the chair. I'm gonna turn it this way again. Hold on to the chair. And then place your right foot. On the chair. And just feel the weight bearing on the left leg. And if you feel stable, You can let go. Look down your left thigh. You should see your thigh bone over your ankle if your hip sways out to the left. Try to tighten up your glutes. And then lengthen your spine. And really feel. Your postural lining up, Your postural muscles lining up. You can have your hands at your sides. You can hold on lightly to the chair. You can actually pick your foot up off the chair if you want to balance for a moment. There's lots of options available to you here. And now let's slowly bring that foot back down. And then you can either come to the other side and do this. It's probably the easiest way to make a transition. And again, Just really try to align your posture. Just check in with yourself. Ask yourself, Is your thigh bone stacked over your ankle? And then just see if you can look straight ahead. Stack your ears over the shoulders. Look at something that's not moving. And then ask yourself, What can I do for balance right now that's safe? And then slowly set the foot down. Now let's go ahead and come back to seated. There's lots more stuff we can do standing, But I wanted to emphasize seated activities in this class. Now we're going to do some stretches. Just to kind of loosen up a little bit. Again, You can use. . . I feel like I'm moving over to the one end here. You can use the blocks under the feet if that feels good to you. So let's do a figure four stretch. So now if. . . You have had a hip replacement and this doesn't feel good to you, Then what I'm going to encourage you to do is just open the knee like this to stretch the hip because you can still hinge forward and you can still get a nice stretch through the glutes and the piriformis. So you don't have to cross over the foot. Just do whatever feels right for your body. So you can be here. Or you can be here. Flex your foot so that your knee is stable, And then you can slowly tip forward. And actually, If you don't have your just I'll show you this just. As an option if you don't have your feet on the blocks you can put your blocks like this And you could actually hinge forward and put your hands on the blocks like that. It's kind of a nice resting place. I just happen to have kind of short legs on this chair. That my reach is just a little short. And now let's slowly come up. Uncrossed. And now we're going to switch sides. So remember. . . You have that option of just turning the foot out. And opening this way and then going forward. That also feels very nice. So there's no need to do something that's not working for your body. Ever. Flex the feet and just come into the stretch however feels natural for you right now. And then let's slowly start to come back up. Now let's do a twist so just look over your right shoulder and you can take your hand around the back of the chair and the front of the chair like that See if you can keep your spine lengthened. So that you're nice and engaged in the torso while you twist through your spine. And remember, The amount of rotation should feel very soft. Very natural. We're not forcing ourselves into a twist. Just kind of coming very naturally. Now let's come to the center. And now we're going to look over the left shoulder. Come into that twist. And come back to center. And now flex up your right foot. And you can put your left foot flat or you can open it a little bit if you want to. I think it feels good to kind of open it, But just listen to your body. Take an inhale and then exhale, Just hinge forward and feel that length through the hamstring. Keeping the back of the neck lengthened. Nice fluid breath here And then let's slowly come up and then switch sides. And you can have your knee. Just put your foot under the ankle, The ankle under the knee, Or you can open. And then melt forward. And then slowly come back up. And then turn your knees out so the side of your feet are down. We're just kind of doing a modified vatakanasana here. So your feet can be on the blocks or on the floor. Take an inhale and then exhale, Just bow forward. And you can come all the way to the floor if you want. If your feet are on the floor, You might have your blocks up here. You can take a hold of your feet. Whatever feels good to you here. And you could also actually even bring your feet up higher on the blocks if you want them higher. That's also another option. Sometimes it just takes a little trial and error to find what's right for your body. Let's slowly come back up. And just come to the end of your chair and just kind of do some windshield wipers. Nice and easy. Just kind of twisting the whole body and the knees side to side. And then come back the center with the feet about hip width apart. Take an inhale. And let's melt into a forward fold. And just give the lower back one more stretch here. Thank you. Thank you. An ATV with a lot of music going by. Hopefully it's not too distracting. You know, Let's slowly come back up. Now we're going to do a short Shavasana now. So this is a good time to, And, You know, You can go out of your chair and lay down if you want to, Of course. If you want to stay in your chair, Then you can come back to bringing the blanket around. The neck, So it's kind of a nice support for you. And you can ease into it that way. And just go ahead and this is a good time to definitely just let your. . . Upper back, Rest on the chair, Just find a comfortable place. And once you're feeling comfortable, Just soften and close your eyes. And your hands can be on the sides of the blanket, The sides of the chair. Your thighs, Whatever feels good to you right now. Just take a few moments to find comfort. For this relaxation. Just feeling that easy flow of your breath. And on your next inhale, Draw it in through your crown of your head. Inhale through the crown of the head. And then exhale, Release through the crown of the head. Inhale draw the breath through the brow center point And exhale, Release the breath through the brow center point. And inhale, Draw the breath through the hollow of the throat. Exhale, Release the breath through the hollow of the throat. Inhale draw the breath through the heart center exhale release the breath through the heart center Inhale, Draw the breath through the solar plexus. And exhale, Release the breath through the solar plexus. Inhale, Draw the breath through the navel center. And exhale, Release the breath through the navel center. Inhale, Draw the breath. Through your root chakra. Base of your pelvis. And exhale, Release the breath. And as you continue to breathe, Let's reverse that. I'll let you do this on your own. So start with the root. Inhaling and exhaling and end at the crown. Whenever you've gotten to the crown, Just bring your awareness to your whole body. And just allow yourself to be very quiet. Bring awareness to your whole body. The whole body relaxing. Feel the support. Behind your body. Underneath your feet. And feel the air and space around you. Now begin to bring some slow movements into your fingers and toes. Feel free to stretch anything that feels good to you. When you feel ready, Just slowly open your eyes. So we're going to close today's practice with an OM. And you're welcome to join me for this OM if you would like to. Let's take the hands in front of the heart center. We'll take a deep inhale and then say Aum. Deep inhale. Bye. The divine light in me honors the divine light in you. Namaste.