Social media feeds crammed with images of health fashions twisted into poses requiring excessive energy, flexibility, and steadiness might go away you pondering, “Yoga will not be for me.”
Nadine Kelly, MD, founding father of Yogi MD, needs to vary your thoughts.
“We have a tendency to consider yoga as an athletic endeavor that must be performed on a mat,” Kelly says. “Yoga observe is about far more than the bodily [poses]; the observe consists of expertise like respiration, regulating your feelings, and working towards self-care.”
Chair yoga, a mild type of yoga that’s performed whereas seated or utilizing a chair for steadiness, makes the observe extra accessible. In chair yoga, it’s doable to maneuver into poses like cat/cow, warrior, solar salutations and ahead folds, all whereas seated.
Kelly believes the Arthur Ashe quote, “Begin the place you’re, use what you might have, do what you may,” is ideal for chair yoga.
“You’re there to work and to problem your self, nevertheless it’s about … realizing what’s best for you,” she says. “I consider yoga poses as adaptable to a scholar’s physique and never the opposite means round.”
Whether or not yoga is finished in a chair or on the mat, the observe nonetheless focuses on the identical core rules: focusing in your breath, listening to your ideas, and staying within the second.
Analysis exhibits yoga is linked to decreased ranges of stress, anxiousness, and melancholy, lowered ldl cholesterol and blood stress, improved power, higher sleep high quality, much less ache, and diminished physique mass index. Matt Minard PT, DPT, bodily therapist with Atrium Well being in Charlotte, NC, believes these advantages prolong to chair yoga.
Chair yoga can be , secure exercise for freshmen.
“It’s an effective way to work your core, discover the totally different vary of movement of the joints and prioritize motion,” Minard says. “If you’re sitting down or utilizing a chair for steadiness, the security issue goes means up.”
Though chair yoga is commonly promoted as a observe for many who might battle with a mat observe, anybody can profit from any such mild train.
Kelly says chair yoga is especially well-suited to individuals who use wheelchairs and people rehabilitating after surgical procedures, dwelling with persistent diseases, or coping with steadiness points that make it exhausting to get down onto a yoga mat. It’s additionally excellent for a fast exercise through the workday or whereas touring.
“It’s not concerning the final result. It’s not about placing the proper pose,” Kelly says. “Whether or not yoga is taught on the mat or in a chair, it’s all about being wholesome.”
Chair yoga can be superb for freshmen who could be intimidated by a conventional mat observe as a result of it affords a secure strategy to be taught the poses, Minard provides.
You could find chair yoga lessons at neighborhood facilities, health amenities, and yoga studios. There are additionally a whole lot of on-line choices. On this video, Kelly offers detailed directions for a brief chair yoga observe that’s appropriate for all ranges.
To observe at residence, use a sturdy chair (an workplace chair on wheels or overstuffed armchair will not be acceptable for chair yoga). Minard suggests a chair that naturally positions your hips barely greater than your knees and permits you to put each ft flat on the ground.
“In case your ft aren’t flat on the bottom, your weight is all in your backbone and if the chair is just too low and your knees are above your hips, there may be extra impingement in your hips,” Minard says. “You need to have the ability to do gradual, managed actions with out placing additional stress in your again or hips.”
Be certain the chair is on a steady floor like carpet or a yoga mat to maintain it from slipping. You too can place the again of the chair in opposition to a wall for additional stability, Minard provides.
Yoga props like blocks, straps, and resistance bands which might be frequent in mat practices aren’t required for chair yoga — except you need an additional problem.
“Chair yoga is an effective start line to make use of muscle mass you haven’t used shortly with out the potential dangers of overloading [your muscles and joints] or falling,” Minard says. “If the resistance out of your physique weight isn’t sufficient of a problem, you may add gentle hand weights, ankle weights or resistance bands to your chair yoga observe.”