Yoga

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Chair Yoga?? What's that?


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

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