In The W’s of Chair Based Yoga is where we discover who chair based yoga’s potential students are, what are their struggles and how the can benefit from the practices of yoga.
A comprehensive framework that is then provided that can be used to teach chair based yoga in Intelligent Sequencing.
Community in the heart of the practice
It is therefore easy to see that chair based yoga is not like regular yoga.
Firstly the chair facilitates the practices of yoga for those with lower mobility that cannot (or will not) get to the floor easily.
Secondary chair based yoga classes are not like regular classes because the focus of the class is not asana.
We found out in previous post that community and connection are instead a big part of your classes.
Promoting Mobility
In addition, in the practices of chair based yoga, we do not focus on achieving a specific apex pose, or sequencing poses smoothly but we focus on mobility.
In fact, the reason we want to focus on mobility is because we want to keep our students independent; remaining mobile is of course a big part of being independent.
Promoting Independence
Other elements that are incorporated in the practices of chair based yoga that promote independence is standing balance.
Many of the students that come to classes may have experienced a fall. In order to avoid recurrence of such incident, which sometimes is also really traumatic, we must practice balance.
So in order to keep our students able to care for themselves we practice mobility and balance. And you can see why: because it is important to be able to reach for things or maybe even reach behind your back and it is important that our students are able to stand and walk confidently.
On the same theme and in the spirit of promoting independence, we also practice sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit and squats, because this is the kind of thing you do to go to the toilet and it is the kind of thing that keeps us independent.
Fingers and thumbs
Another part of our basic functions and needs is of course to be able to dress and feed ourselves and therefore practices that keep our hands healthy. Hands in fact play a really big part in remaining independent and potentially avoiding a future falls by remaining able to hold on to things.
Focus and coordination
It is reported that poor coordination may play a role in losing balance and experiencing a fall.
In the practice and design of chair based yoga classes it is therefore important to include yoga practices that promote focus and coordination
This practices that improve focus and coordination are the kind of practices that may also delay the progression of dementia or Alzheimer.
Chair Yoga classes may not all look like regular yoga, but they still promote wellbeing and independence.
In fact many sociological and health studies report better outcomes of health when independence is maintained into old age.
In my Chair Based Yoga trainings I teach how to incorporate these elements of mobility, balance, function and coordination in order to address one of the biggest challenges people with lower mobility hole and that would be to remain Independent and able to care for themselves.
This Is far more important than simply being able to sequence poses or to achieve complicated asana and this is how you teach chair yoga to people with low mobility.
You shift the focus to something that serves them best and independence is a big one for older adults and those with low mobility
Of course I also teach how to incorporate more traditional practices into the design of your classes but mainly the focus remains in addressing their imbalances and having a positive impact in their lives.
If you want to find out more join my latest training:
