Katie McGee demonstrates that yoga really can be done anywhere.
I kid you not: “chair yoga” can be performed by nearly anyone, anywhere.
Chairs are the most readily available of all yoga props, and chair yoga movements can be done in many places outside of the traditional studio.
Think park benches.
But, it is not just portability that has allowed chair yoga to rise in popularity.
It’s all of the additional benefits:
> Chair yoga truly meets the students “where they are” in terms of skill, age and fitness level.
> It is also easier on the joints than other yoga routines.
> Further, it is a great opportunity to socialize.
Click Here For Your FREE Chair Yoga Routine
This has made chair yoga a staple at senior centers, physical rehabilitation centers, adult health care centers, as well as corporate workplaces.
These new locations offer a great opportunity for yoga instructors to expand their existing practice and client base beyond the studio.
If you are a yoga instructor, you are no doubt wondering what’s the best way to tap into this market, craft your routine, and get started teaching chair yoga.
If you are interested in the benefits of chair yoga, perhaps you are curious where to begin.
These are such great questions that we reached out to 8 experts to get their opinion on what they love about chair yoga and what you can do to get going as a chair yoga instructor or a prospective student.
Here are their answers…
Sherry Zak Morris, Director of Yoga Vista Academy and CEO of YogaJP
Sherry, mentoree of the Mary Cavanaugh and Indra Devi lineage, specializes in Gentle, Senior and Chair Yoga course curriculum to ensure yoga is accessible to people of all ages and stages of life. Sherry designs and manages the delivery of Academy course content across all mediums including onsite workshops, print and web-based materials and runs the video production unit.
What I love most about chair yoga – It can be done any time, anywhere and requires no special equipment.
It can be done in a chair at home, on a plane, on a bus seat, in the car (not the driver!) and of course in a roomful of happy, fun-loving people.
It is safe and effective for anyone, even our wheelchair Yogis!
The best way to get started if you are a student – Find a comfortable chair, sit up tall and breathe.
Then follow the intuition of your body and move whatever is calling you to move.
Always remember to breathe and move gently and slowly.
You will notice the effects from just one session. Once you get into the groove of moving while sitting…check out our YouTube videos or our full-length Chair Yoga classes on www.YogaJP.TV.
The best way to get started if you are a teacher – Find a good training program that gives you the guidelines, cautions and creative ways to modify Yoga asanas using a chair.
Remember most students using a chair in Yoga probably have some type of physical issue and/or limitation.
Because the chair is a fixed object, there are do’s and don’ts that are important to know to keep everyone safe before you get started teaching a Chair Yoga class.
Check out our online Chair Yoga Training and Certification Program at www.YogaVistaAcademy.com.
Stacie Dooreck, Author of SunLight Chair Yoga: yoga for everyone!, Certified Sivananda and Kundalini Yoga Instructor and Wellness at Work Bay Area CA instructor.
Stacie has been featured on: KQED/NPR CA Report Radio, CBS Miami Healthwatch 5pm News, Yogiviews Cable TV, Albuquerque Journal, Good Morning Sacramento, NM News, LA Yoga Magazine, Marin Magazine, Women’s World, Alzheimer’s Speaks Radio, Body Wisdom with Dr. Michellle Summers podcast and Inquire Within Podcast.
What I love about Chair Yoga – I love that Chair Yoga enables all ages and abilities to try or practice yoga.
Even before or after a surgery, during illness or injury or at your desk, Chair Yoga makes it accessible so you can practice it anywhere and any time and benefit.
I used Chair Yoga as a student and then a teacher during my Lyme disease illness, as a way to adapt poses I did prior on the floor or standing, but could not for a period of time.
Chair Yoga for some is temporary but enables you to keep practicing.
I teach Chair yoga to seniors who start my classes at 90 yrs old or older in some locations. I love watching the benefits to both the body and mind.
As the title of my book says “yoga is for everyone!”
The best way to get started (as a teacher or a student) – is to take a class in your local area, for the social connection and in person benefit.
If that is not available or health or ability does not allow, a 10 min chair yoga video even at home is useful.
For this reasons I have several 1-10 min free chair yoga videos on my website, all seated poses, so people can get started.
Even 10 minutes a day is helpful to ease back tension, improve energy and circulation and focus the mind, all while promoting inner mental peace.
Kristin McGee, Celebrity Yoga + Pilates Instructor Trusted Wellness Expert and Author
Kristin McGee is a nationally recognized celebrity yoga and Pilates teacher, speaker, mompreneur, and author of Chair Yoga: Sit, Stretch, and Strengthen Your Way to a Happier, Healthier You(HarperCollins January 17, 2017). Considered a pioneer in the yoga movement, Kristin began her career as yoga teacher in the nineties after graduating from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
What I love about chair yoga – I love that chair yoga can be practiced anytime and anywhere!
I do stretches on the subway, at my desk, with my kids, in an airplane, an airport, you name it.
I also love that it can be done by almost everyone!
The best way to get started (as a teacher or a student) – Well I would say get my book “Chair Yoga: Sit, Stretch and Strengthen Your Way to a Happier, Healthier You” and read all about how to practice and what poses you can do for each body part.
You can also find plenty of videos on line or try my free chair yoga video I filmed when I was 7 months pregnant with twins!
Kate Baldwin, Licensed Massage Therapist, Yoga Instructor
Kate is the director of the Gentle Yoga Program, guiding Chair Yoga and Gentle Vinyasa classes at Yoga Union CWC in SE Portland, Oregon. She also enjoys a meaningful private practice as a licensed massage therapist. Kate truly understands the needs of people working through physical challenges. She helps her yoga students to focus on what they can do safely, moving towards what feels good and nourishing. Creating a strong spirit of community, Kate’s classes are playful, fun, and welcoming to everyone!
What I love most about chair yoga – I love chair yoga because it makes yoga accessible and safe for students of all ages and experience levels.
Yoga seated in a chair is a simple way to stretch and strengthen one’s body whether at a yoga class, seated on a park bench, or even in an office setting.
All a person really needs to do this style of yoga is a chair, and a willingness to move gently and listen to the feedback their body gives them.
At most chair yoga classes there is no expectation to get onto the floor (or get stuck there!), and as such, it is more gentle on the wrists, shoulders, knees, and hips than many other styles of yoga.
Often times I hear that people are intimidated by mainstream yoga styles, and I feel that chair yoga helps to serve as a bridge, also helping to debunk the myth that yoga is just for people who are already doing yoga, or just for younger students who are very flexible, strong, agile, or injury free.
Chair yoga meets people where they are at physically and helps students to improve mobility, strength, and flexibility safely and in an empowering way.
This is a great yoga modality for beginners, students working with injuries, arthritis, chronic pain, or general stiffness.
I love how chair yoga is welcoming to everyone!
Many people think chair yoga is really just for Seniors, but I love how these classes offer students of all ages an opportunity to practice side by side, feeling the support of community.
Many years ago I experienced a knee injury where I couldn’t walk without crutches, and chair yoga made it possible for me to keep doing yoga, receiving the benefits of the mindfulness practices within yoga, reminders to breathe with awareness through the challenges of healing, and the recurring theme to move in ways that feel nurturing instead of depleting.
Students in wheelchairs or scooters can do chair yoga, alongside students who want to explore seated anywhere-anytime office style yoga.
The best way to get started as a teacher – There are many chair yoga workshops and teacher trainings offered online and in yoga studios.
Beyond searching the internet for trainings, I suggest talking with instructors you trust about what resources helped them the most.
I learned a lot from Peggy Cappy videos I picked up at the library many years ago, and reading about chair yoga and yoga for arthritis in books.
The best training overall has come from listening to my students over many years, and carefully exploring ways to creatively modify traditional standing and floor yoga postures to be done in a chair.
The best way to get started as a student – I suggest starting as a student of chair yoga with the guidance of a chair yoga instructor who has experience teaching this style.
Many yoga studios offer chair yoga. Sometimes chair yoga classes are called Senior Yoga, but be sure to inquire if they use chairs or not, as some Senior Yoga classes do not feature chair yoga.
If yoga studios near you don’t offer chair yoga, letting them know that you are interested can be an effective way to nudge studios to offer these great classes!
Many community centers and gyms offer chair yoga as well.
A simple and short, safe chair yoga class video can be viewed on my website: www.katesyoga.com or by clicking the following link: Yoga International: Never-Leave-Your-Chair Yoga for Everybody Video with Kate Baldwin (to watch or save video click)–>:HERE
Sara Mitteer, RYT-200, Owner & Instructor at San Diego Chair Yoga
Sara began her career as a dance instructor in 2009 and has taught for over five different professional and pre-professional dance studios in Southern California. She received her Certification as a Registered Yoga Teacher in 2013. After graduating from San Diego State University with a BA in Psychology in 2014, Sara began creating a chair yoga program and founded San Diego Chair Yoga.
What I love most about chair yoga – It’s accessibility. Whether you are perfectly able bodied, pregnant, recovering from an injury, disabled, or a senior, chair yoga is of value to all walks of humanity.
I really enjoy being creative in finding new postures or ways of challenging the body in both stretching and strengthening.
The chair can be used as both a crutch and a deepening prop; I have taught some chair yoga classes that I find more challenging than a mat yoga class!
It gives a whole new spin on yoga while still keeping the foundations and fundamentals of a traditional mat yoga class.
The best way to get started (as a teacher or a student) – Chair yoga is increasing in popularity and demand, so there are now several teacher trainings available and classes are becoming more widely available.
I would recommend trying many different chair yoga classes from various instructors to experience the full breadth of different styles and discover which suits your desires most.
Once you find an instructor you enjoy, ask them how they got started and where they were trained.
There are teacher training programs that infuse several different styles of yoga into the program, chair yoga is a segment in some of them.
I was originally certified in Vinyasa as an RYT-200.
My training included a chapter on chair yoga and from there I continued through self education, by reading books, watching videos, and researching about yoga for disabled individuals.
As I learned more about physiology and injury rehabilitation, I adapted what I learned in my Vinyasa training into a chair yoga structure.
It is extremely fortunate that years later we now have programs readily available and they are only growing!
Carlos Gomez, Founder of Yoga Day
Carlos Gomez, founder of Yoga Day, grew up in Acapulco, Mexico. After pursuing a career in Marine Science, Carlos discovered yoga in 2008 when Bikram Yoga College of India (BYCI) hosted it’s teacher training in Acapulco. Carlos quickly recognized Yoga as way to a fuller and healthier life. BYCI sponsored Carlos with a full scholarship to become a teacher. Without this aid, Carlos would not have had access to Yoga. His goal now is to share Yoga with those who may otherwise never have had access.
What I love most about chair yoga – One of my favorite aspects of yoga is that you can safely teach the same class to a vast array of people of all ages, all experience levels and almost any physical condition.
With a few adjustments they will all get the most out of their practice since yoga is NOT about shapes but rather about ACTIONS.
And as long as you’re executing the right actions under the guidance of a qualified teacher, the SHAPE does not matter.
Any given asana will look different when executed by different people. Because we are all, well, DIFFERENT.
Again the focus is not on shapes but rather on actions.
With this in mind I love Chair Yoga because it is a very powerful tool to help different students who either have difficulty with balance/stability (example: seniors practicing warrior one on a chair) as well as students looking to isolate specific elements in a posture to work on (example: using a chair to deepen thoracic spine mobility on a backbend)
The best way to get started as a teacher – Just get a chair. Any chair would do but one without armrests is better.
And play around figuring out how you could adapt yoga poses you love to be done in a chair.
Only after look up online resources – books/videos/trainings.
I have not found any awesome source I can recommend, hence why I suggest you try to figure out your own adaptations.
You may come up with something better than what is out there. If you do, share it!
The best way to get started as a student – The most important thing is that you find a qualified-experienced yoga teacher.
Sorry newbies but you have to put in the time. Otherwise look up online material to help you.
Karla Rodas, Owner of La Vida Yoga con Karla
Karla is an ambassador of love and hugger of sweaty beings. It wasn’t always that way. She found yoga at the perfect time in her life. As a Navy spouse and mother of two sons, she was stressed out and wound tight when her husband deployed for many months at a time. With dedication to her new found practice and the help of her first teachers at Chula Vista yoga, she learned tools to help her in her daily life. Since her first 200-hr training, she’s completed several trainings and specializes in yoga for trauma/military communities, restorative-yin and yoga therapeutics for those suffering from chronic pain and injury.
What I love most about chair yoga – Chair yoga makes yoga easily accessible to a wide range of people regardless of physical ability and/or limitations.
It’s also a great yoga practice that can be done in small spaces or in an office or conference room.
Chair yoga is not just for seniors anymore!
Chairs can be used in a variety of ways as props for many yoga poses.
One of my favorite uses is for a variation of Legs up the Wall pose (Viparita Karani), towards the end of class or as an alternative to traditional Final Relaxation Pose (Savasana).
I have my clients come into their backs facing the chair, then they bring their legs onto the chair seat so that the legs are in a ninety degree bend.
This pose relieves some pressure from the low back, allows the feet to rest and improves circulation.
The best way to get started (as a teacher or student) – For any yoga teacher or student, I’d suggest [Legs up the Wall pose] as a good way to start a chair yoga practice.
Julie Smith, Instructor at Abundant Yoga
Julie had been teaching piano lessons for a little over 20 years, and life had been pretty smooth until a series of health events led her to yoga. Three years of neck pain, sciatica, adrenal fatigue, depression, insomnia, and two left knee surgeries eventually took her to the Mayo Clinic, where she was prescribed yoga. Yoga proved to be the exercise that brought relief to her aching body! Julie began practicing in 2012.
What I love most about chair yoga – Chair yoga has a unique way of isolating the area around the joints & core to gently work them to build strength & flexibility.
I love when I see students who have consistently practiced for a few months discover that they have built up strength in those areas to get up from the chair or even the floor with more ease.
The best way to get started (as a teacher or student) – As a teacher or a student, the best way to get started is to attend chair yoga classes & practice!
To learn even more, find a yoga school that has a specific training course in chair yoga to better understand anatomy and how to cue & sequence classes.
Final Thoughts
Most of the expert yoga instructors agreed that what they loved most about chair yoga is that it can be practiced nearly everywhere, by nearly everyone.
If you are a teacher, while the best way to get started is to find a teacher training on chair yoga, most of the experts agreed that you can be self-taught through online resources, such as videos and established routines.
If you are a prospective student, the experts were unanimous that finding a good instructor and class (that includes the term “chair” not just “senior yoga”) is very important.
Keep this advice in mind and your transition into the world of chair yoga will be far less difficult and confusing.
But, before you go…
Is there something you love about chair yoga that the experts didn’t mention?
Any advice about getting started in chair yoga as a teacher that they missed?
As a student?
Share your thoughts in the comments below…
Click Here For Your FREE Chair Yoga Routine
Author: Christine Mathias
Hi, I’m Christine Mathias, licensed attorney and owner of Stretchtopia. With over ten years of legal experience, I use my skills to help businesses and nonprofits thrive. Using my experience running a workplace yoga organization, I am excited to help other yoga business owners tackle their legal issues and other organizational, financial, and marketing obstacles.
I was certified to teach Chair Yoga with the fabulous Sherry and The Yoga Vista Academy in 2015 at age 66.I teach a class every Tuesday in the Sixties and better Community Center Elenora Gold Coast Australia.My eldest lady Joan turns 90 in January ! She had practiced yoga mostly all of her life but when she developed heart issius 10 years ago she said that she was so sad ,got depressed etc about having to give away her yoga.
Until a year ago she found me! ! And chair yoga.
She said she get butterflies as each Tuesday draws nearer ! Her sadness and depression are non existent now as she has made great ‘yogi’friends once again .Once a month I bring along a homemade cake and after class we sit awhile together with a cuppa.To think that most of these beautiful people are almost 20 years older then me is a reward I get each time we all say Namaste together..I follow Sherrys classes on line to the letter.We Sit for the first half hour stretching ,moving and nourishing old bones etc! Next half hour we are on our feet with a modified ‘Tree Pose’
Warrior One and Two ,
Eagle and standing Mountain poses.We Sit again to ‘Dance ‘ to anything from Rod,Justin, Abba,etc etc.
From 24 to 30 seniors attend each week.
My past life Of running a demanding Business,rearing 2 wonderful sons and being happily married to John for 46 years only gets better ,thanks now to my new found hobby and little earner teaching Chair Yoga.
Great (and inspiring) story, Kate! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much for ALL the great information.
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I could’vedefinitely usaed these tips this past week. #iamaawesometeacher
We found a fantastic 30 minute routine of gentle chair yoga for seniors that’s free to watch on YouTube. Instructor Sherry Zak Morris makes the class fun and lively and explains the benefits of the movements.
I have been reading through your site, it seems like you really know your stuff. I wanted to get your take on this Yoga Program