Being in a Chair

You can do yoga from a chair if your health, energy levels require this or if you are a wheel chair user. The NHS has advice on exercise for wheelchair uses and recommended sitting exercises. It’s very important that you heed medical advice for the reason for doing chair yoga. 

The main issue is adapting poses so they suit you and finding ways to mobilise your legs and spine. It’s good to think of adapting poses so that you can remain in your chair, but to visualise yourself doing the whole pose. This is important to enliven muscles so that even if they are not working the same way as if you were standing, that you can feel the subtle difference that it creates in the body. 

Yoga can help by:

• Increasing the range of motion
• Strengthening and rebalancing muscles
• Reducing stress and feeling included

Do

• Approximate the pose (if we have one foot forward, take one of your feet forwards, a centimetre, a step or by sliding your foot back when in the chair, if we have our knees wide you take yours wide, if we take one leg up lift your heel on that side or draw your knee in)
• Enjoy and celebrate your version of the pose
• Remember, as is for everyone, your breathing is your guide on how to practice

Don’t

• Do anything which causes pain
• Poses exercise caution with: twists if your chair gets in the way
• Poses to avoid: anything where you might end up falling out of your chair, safety first ;  )