What is Chair Yoga?
Chair yoga is Adaptive yoga; it is for people
who cannot get down to the mat at all, or who need a chair to transition to the
floor and up, or are confined to a wheelchair, but who want to improve their
range-of motion for general health, body awareness and mental/emotional
functioning. This is a large part of the population who need yoga more than the
already fit athletic student. Often Doctors recommend it after physical therapy
is completed. I have heard numerous stories from people whose yoga practice
brought healing for conditions which they were told only surgery will heal. My
own healing from a back injury was through yoga and I do very many things the
doctors told me I would never be able to do. These people chose to believe differently and
took responsibility for healing and often made changes in lifestyle to support
the healing.
Why do I teach Chair and Adaptive yoga? Because I want
to share the practice of yoga and the vitality and joy it awakens.. I teach
yoga to help people become aware of their energy
body and to use the mind and heart for self-healing. Understanding the mind-body connection and
energy is why so many Eastern and ancient healing methods work. We are so much
more than just matter, which science has proven. Western medicine is just
beginning to understand this. The health benefits from meditation (the most
important aspect of yoga) have been widely documented. It has helped people
overcome depression, cope with ADD and ADHD, lower blood pressure and help with
metabolism, and more.
The misconceptions of chair and adaptive yoga as being
easy or ineffective are simply not true.
Of course if you do not practice regularly, or listen to your body you will
not reap all the benefits from any yoga. The reality is if you don’t use
muscles and your current range of motion you lose it and it is harder to get it
back as we get older. I’ll say it again
and again- if you can breath – you can do yoga. I have seen people who are
paralyzed on half of their body show up happy to try doing what they can and benefit
so greatly. These are the students who surprise themselves with progress that
seems “miraculous”.
So much of our day and live the focus of the mind is
outside our bodies, when you quiet the mind, and breathe deeply you can
understand your own body, and then it shows you how to heal. The rhythms of the body return to harmony. The
metabolic and systolic heart rhythms return to optimum harmony which is healing
throughout our physical bodies. That is just the beginning. Sustaining the stillness
of mind allows you to experience your essence which is joy, energy and beauty. We remember our beautiful innocent selves, we
remember being love and being one with all that is. Commitment to yoga is life-changing, but like
most truly life changing things it takes commitment and patience over time. I
wouldn’t be teaching it if I didn’t believe in it wholeheartedly. Yoga is
holistic, benefiting the mind body and spirit. I worked as a fitness trainer
and aerobics instructor for years; if it was just about “getting physically fit”
I wouldn’t be sharing it. I have been there, and done that. Yoga has been a
path for me to find joy and peace, losing extra weight, having better skin and
more energy are just added benefits. Namaste, Christina
