I never thought I’d teach chair yoga. I came to teaching a few years ago fresh off a running and triathlon habit, and was drawn mostly to big, sweaty power flows. You know: Yoga As Exercise. Slower, more mindful movement just wasn’t “my thing.”
Fortunately for me, two things happened to change my mind. First, I kept getting injured, and noticed that my habitual movement patterns just weren’t serving me any more. Second: I took a look around me at who needed and wanted yoga, and discovered a whole cadre of older adults who didn’t want to stop moving just because getting up and down from the floor was less fun than it used to be.
I started offering one, then two, chair classes a week and absolutely fell in love, for several reasons:
People who are currently in their 70s were born between 1946 and 1955. The Summer of Love was in 1967; Woodstock in 1969; the Vietnam War ended in 1975. When my students were in their teens and 20s, some cool, revolutionary stuff was happening in America. Teaching chair means I get to hang out with these rad old hippies. Some of them have truly wild stories that would make you blush.
Anyone can do chair yoga! The practice is a fabulous introduction for beginners, a way seasoned practitioners can stay active as their bodies change, and also works nicely for folks who just don’t want to (or can’t) get on the floor in a given day. Heck, you could even sneak some core work in during your next Zoom meeting.
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, Chapter 2 Verse 46, describe the ideal posture, or asana, as one that is steady and comfortable. There are no warrior poses mentioned in that early text, no Downward Facing Dog. You can not only do yoga from a chair, but - get this - you don’t even need to move your body.
If you do want to move your body, though, it turns out that you can do almost anything in a chair that you can do standing. In particular, sitting down gives you a nice stable foundation if you’d like work on hip mobility without undue stress. You can do Warrior poses in a chair…and practice chair pose with an actual seat behind you…and even sneak in some supported standing balance work.
During a recent weekend workshop, we were asked to put together a 30-minute chair yoga sequence. My friend Jonathan, whose students trend a little more youthful and limber than mine, began this exercise looking a bit skeptical. Finally, though, after some Chair Goddess and some nerve-flossing with “I’m a little teapot”-esque movements, a small, sly smile appeared. “You know”, he allowed, “chair yoga is surprisingly sassy.”
Chair yoga is, in fact, surprisingly sassy.
Below, a 22-minute chair yoga sequence for the whole body. You don’t need a mat or any special equipment - just a little time, a sense of curiosity, and maybe a great vintage protest-anthem soundtrack.
Below: chair yoga practice (video) + audio version of this post
Post audio: