There is a myth that exists today that says that yoga is for the young, the fit, the flexible, the white, the skinny, the “perfect”. While yoga may “be” for all those folx, it is also for everyone else. Yoga can and should be available to all people.

In fact, the benefits of yoga can be experienced by those who feel un-flexible, not-so-young, and decidedly imperfect. This is why I love to share the practice of Chair Yoga!

Yoga is a Sanskrit word from the root yuj which means yoke, contemplate, or union. In his translation of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Edwin Bryant defines yoga as “the techniques, systems, and paths of various practices aimed at realization of the atman (the inner most self or soul).” Further, Bryant says that Patanjali defines yoga as the cessation (nirodha) of the activities (vrittis) of the mind (citta). Nothing in this definition of yoga says that you have to take pictures of yourself in crazy shapes and post them to Instagram to consider yourself a practitioner of yoga. In fact, the shapes your body can make have little to do with your inner-most self. Asana (aka postural practice) is only a very small part of yoga, and yet, practicing with our body as it is can lead to some pretty profound experiences.

Chair yoga is a form of yoga that adds more support, both physical and metaphorical, to your practice. Practicing yoga from a chair allows you to literally feel support underneath and around you so that you can work with your body exactly as it is.

Yoga, and Chair Yoga in particular, is a way to begin to befriend your body, being with it in a kind and loving way. Using a chair in yoga allows the practice to be accessible to those who might otherwise feel left out of this practice: beginners, seniors, those with injuries or illness, or other physical limitations, and people who simply want a more kind and gentle practice. This may be worlds away from what you have thought about yoga when seeing images of yoga postures in the media today.

I love to teach Chair Yoga because inviting everyone into the big tent that is yoga is a passion of mine. All are welcome here, every body, every body type. We practice yoga to learn to be with what we find. We practice yoga to bring more compassion and mindfulness to our lives. And we practice yoga to help us move a little easier, to be a little more aware, and to sense into our own inner knowing. Through this practice of turning inward through breath and movement, we are able to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, our rest and digest system, helping to bring us into a state of calm and ease. This is one of the reasons we feel so good after yoga practice. And the great news is, the more we practice, the easier it becomes to allow the nervous system to come into ease.

In my Chair Yoga classes, we begin with meditation. Mindfulness and self-compassion are important parts of our practice because we are not practicing yoga to fit our square-peg bodies into the round-hole of the world. No, we are learning to be with our own experience with kindness and compassion.

This process begins with mindful awareness of exactly what it is that we are experiencing. We learn to ask ourselves the question “What am I feeling right now,” so that we can find the answer to the quintessential question of self-compassion, which is, “What do I need right now.” When we explore yoga practice from the insight gleaned from these questions, we learn to practice with exactly what our bodies need and to recognize that the needs of the body can change day-to-day, and even moment-to-moment. We then allow ourselves to move in a way that meets our own body’s needs. Imagine that sort of kindness to yourself. It can be a whole new way of relating to your body, and it is the beginning of the path to embodiment.

Our physical movement in Chair Yoga begins with some simple spinal warms ups, followed by seated Sun Salutations. We then come to standing, always keeping the chair close by for support and we work through some standing postures on both sides of the body.

Cues are given to allow you to chose how far into the posture you wish to go, with the understanding that there is no right or wrong way.

The practice is about being in a state of choice at all times. Practitioners are encouraged to tune into their own awareness of sensation in the body to guide them as they practice. To end the class we come back to the seat for some for a few more postures and then rest in seated Savasana (corpse pose).

I teach my classes in a way that asks students to really tune into to what their body is telling them. As we begin to connect our movement to breath and use the feedback from our body and mind, we move in a more mindful and compassionate way. This activates the parasympathetic nervous system and this is what I mean by befriending yourself through your practice. We warm ourselves to the idea that we can move in a way that makes us feel good and we can connect mindfully to the felt sense in the body. For many, this is a new experience, opening them to embodied awareness in a whole new way.

I offer Chair Yoga twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 - 11:15 am, on Zoom, which means you get to practice from the comfort and safety of your own home. A wonderful added benefit of the class is that we have a lovely community who practice together. We really get to know each other and connect, and during these strange times of Covid, that really means something!

The classes are offered as a 6-week series, or as drop-in classes that can be purchased at your convenience. Please let me know if you have any questions! I love to talk with people about yoga and would be happy explore your options with you.

If you would like to give the class a try, your first class is on me! Use the coupon code “first-free” when booking a drop-in and join us for a practice today! Click the link below for more information about Chair Yoga on Zoom.

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