“But I’m not flexible.” That’s the response I will sometimes hear when I approach people about trying one of my yoga classes. When yoga really started to have its day in the late 90s it was often associated with young women who could easily contort their bodies . Flexibility, or a lack thereof, could certainly be an intimidating and validating reason not to dip your foot into yoga. It certainly was for me until a friend of mine in 2001 begged me to take one of her classes. After just one class I was hooked.
Fast-forward twenty years and 500 hours of yoga teacher training later and I’m still not a flexible person. But it doesn’t matter because flexibility does not play a role in the practice of yoga. Yoga was originally intended hundreds of years ago as a preparation for meditation and only in the last hundred years has it taken a new direction and become a wellness activity. Under the umbrella of fitness, yoga is first and foremost about strengthening muscles and secondly about lengthening muscles. In the process energy channels are opened within the body for an overall improvement in wellbeing.
Unfortunately, as we age we lose muscle mass, bone density and balance. So even by placing the word “flexibility” on the shelf, yoga can still seem intimidating to many, especially while experiencing those three aforementioned age-related realities. But the very essence of the word ‘yoga’ means ‘to join’ or ‘to unite’ and from that notion alongside aging “chair yoga” was born.
Chairs have been used as a prop in hatha yoga classes for more than a century but only recently has the adaptive practice of chair yoga become more mainstream. For example, not everyone can place their hands on the ground and pull their hips up towards the sky into a down dog. However a chair brings the ground closer to the practitioner so that by placing one’s hands on the seat of a chair or on the back of the chair, one can ground-down through the hands and pull back through the hips and thus taking the classic downward dog asana. The list of postures that can be adapted for chair yoga is extensive without compromising their benefits.
Chair yoga is perfectly suited for those who want to try yoga but are unsure about the leap onto the mat. It’s also beneficial to those recovering from an injury or surgery. Chair yoga is most popular with retirees because of its accessibility to their physical ability level and classes cultivate a sense of community. Anyone can do it and everyone can glean its benefits. The following is a short list of benefits that chair yoga provides practitioners, though it is far from comprehensive because there are so many!
Improved strength
Increased range of motion
Improved balance
Reduced stress
Improved proprioception
Better sleep
Improved digestion
Reduced pain and inflammation, particularly due to arthritic joints
If practiced a few times a week, yoga pays dividends in one’s overall wellbeing. That goes for any type of yoga, chair yoga included. If you’ve never tried yoga, especially chair yoga, I highly encourage you to give it a try. After a few short weeks you’ll be a devoted yogi and let’s leave the pretzel making to the professionals like food manufacturers.
Check out my YouTube video for a chair yoga demonstration: What the heck is chair yoga?
Visit my website and register for class today: www.halfmoonyogaco.com
Annie Ware is a yoga teacher from Durham, Maine. She teaches 45-minute chair yoga classes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 9:30EST LIVE over zoom. All are welcome. Hop onto her website to register today.