Yoga has many health benefits; from decreasing stress to enhancing strength and flexibility. Chair yoga poses adapts traditional yoga so that they can be completed with the support of a chair, building yoga more accessible for the people who cannot stand for longer time period. This series of chair yoga poses can be utilized for home practice.
Chair cat-cow stretch
- Come and sit on a chair with the straight spine and both legs placed flat on the ground.
- Inhale and bend your back with falling shoulders. It’s a cow pose.
- Now exhale and round your spine, allowing the shoulder and head come ahead. It’s a cat pose.
- Keep on moving between cow on breathing in and cat on the breathing out for five breaths.
Benefits:
- This is one of the best chair yoga poses to release tension from the neck that is mainly significant if you spend your lots of time in sitting activity.
Precautions:
- Avoid this posture if you have any injuries or issues to the cervical spine or neck.
Chair raised hands pose or Urdhva Hastasana
- Sit straight on the chair.
- Inhale and lift your arms in the direction of the ceiling.
- Let your shoulder blades to move down your back as you get to upwards with your fingertips.
- Keep your arms and shoulders at a distance.
Benefits:
- Makes the chest and shoulders stronger
- Strengthens the calves, thighs, spine and ankles
- Enhances functioning of immune system
- Helps in decreasing the fat of the body, mainly in the buttocks
- Helpful in arthritis and joint pain
Precautions:
- Avoid this yoga, if you have a shoulder injury. Apart from this, do other chair yoga poses.
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Chair forward bend or Uttanasana
- For this, sitting on the chair
- Exhale and come into a forward twist over the legs
- Now inhale and lift the arms back up over the head
- Repeat this cycle several times and shifting with the breathe
Benefits:
- Reduce the stress in the head, neck and shoulders
- Stretches the back body and stimulates belly, thus improving digestion.
- Revitalizes the body, if you are ill or tired
Precautions:
- If you have a headache or high blood pressure problem, then avoid this pose
Chair extended side angle or Utthita Parsvakonasana
- After your final forward twist, keep folded
- Take your left fingertips to the ground on the outside of your left leg
- Just open your chest as you turn to the right on an inhale, taking your right arm and look upto the ceiling.
- Hold here for some breaths and take the right arm down while you are breathing out.
- If your left hand does not come simply to the ground, bring it to your left knee in its place and bend from there.
- For more powerful twist, take the left fingertips to the outside of the right leg before bending.
- Repeat this same pose with right arm down and the left arm up.
Benefits:
- It enhances stamina but stimulating the belly organs.
- It stretches out several body parts such as legs, chest, ankles, lungs, spine, groin, abdomen, waist and shoulder.
- It strengthens the ankles, legs and knees.
- Precautions:
- If you have trouble of headaches, insomnia or any other conditions connected to hypertension or blood pressure then avoid this yoga pose.
Chair Pigeon or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana
- Now come back up to sit
- Bring your right ankle to relax your left thigh, putting the knee in line with your ankle as much as possible for you.
- Hold 3-5 breaths.
- You may bend ahead to intensify the stretch if you want.
- Do again with the left leg up.
Benefits:
- Flexes the groin and the hips
- Stretches the thigh muscles and helps reduce back pain
- The muscles in the neck, shoulder and chest are stretched that helps in good body postures.
Precautions:
- Avoid performing any back twisting pose, if you have had an injury to your neck or back.
- Person who is suffering from migraines, hypertension or insomnia then avoid this pose.
Chair Eagle or Garudasana
- In Chair Eagle Pose wrap your right thigh over your left thigh. If you can cover up the right leg all the way about the left calf
- Wrap your left arm over the right one at the elbow.
- Bow the elbows and bring your palms together.
- Raise the elbows while dropping the shoulders away from the ears.
- Take 3-5 breaths and repeat on the other side
Benefits:
- Make your ankles, calves, thighs and feet stronger.
- Builds focus and improves balance
- Develops circulation and digestion
- Stimulates the thyroid and pituitary glands
- Improves willpower
Chair Spinal Twist or Ardha Matsyendrasana
- Be seated sideway on the chair or in front of the left
- Twist your torso towards the lest, keeping onto the back of the chair
- Stretch your spine on each inhale and bend on each exhale for 5 breaths
- Shift your feet around the right side of the chair and do again this twist to the right side
Benefits:
- This is one of the best pose in chair yoga poses; it increases the flexibility of back and spine.
- It relieves stiffness of the shoulder, upper back and neck.
- This pose massages the abdominal organs and so aids in digestion.
You can do many other chair yoga poses such as chair spinal twist, chair warrior-1, chair warrior-2, chair reverse warrior etc.
Chair yoga includes common yoga posses that trainers adapt and modify so anybody can practice them in a chair. Chair yoga poses have multiple benefits like maintain overall fitness of your body, Flexibility, Stress Relief, Strength, Handy Prop etc.
