At first glance, chair yoga might seem like a workout just for older adults with mobility issues.
uncertain
yoga → seem → issues
The gentle, accessible workout offers a modified take on the ancient movement and meditation practice, usually from a seated position.
asserted
workout → offer → position
No one’s asked to climb down onto the floor or independently hold themselves upright in tricky standing postures—which makes it ideal for those with limited strength or balance.
asserted
it → ask → strength
But experts say chair yoga shouldn’t be pigeonholed, because anyone can benefit.
asserted
anyone → say → ?
“It is a practice that meets you where you are,” says Divya Balakrishnan, a yoga instructor in New York City.
asserted
Balakrishnan → meet → City
“You’re still using your strength and flexibility, just in other ways.”
asserted
You → use → ways
A yoga teacher named Lakshmi Voelker first began adapting some yoga poses to a chair in 1982 to make the practice more accessible for a student with arthritis.
asserted
practice → name → arthritis
Since then, numerous instructors have found ways to use a chair for adapted versions of a surprising number of traditional yoga movements, like lunging warrior poses and standing-to-lying sun salutations.
asserted
instructors → find → lying
While students typically crouch, sit, and lie down on a mat in traditional yoga classes, the chair, in a way, brings the floor closer.
asserted
chair → crouch → floor
Some chair yoga classes are done entirely seated, moving through modified variations of classic yoga sequences without ever asking participants to get up.
asserted
classes → do → participants
Other classes transition between sitting and standing while holding onto the back for a little extra help with balance, or doing poses like downward dog with hands on the seat instead of reaching to the floor.
asserted
classes → transition → floor
“Just like you would use a strap or blocks to increase the accessible range of motion or bring different awareness to the body, the chair can be used in a similar way,” says Jessica Pate, a Boston-based yoga teacher.
asserted
Pate → use → way
Experienced yogis also use a chair for athletic feats that wouldn’t be possible on a mat alone.
asserted
that → use → mat
In particular, the Iyengar style of yoga uses a yoga chair (designed with an open back and a completely flat seat) for advanced postures like an upside-down inversion where the yogi’s shoulders rest on two chairs while their head hangs in between.
asserted
head → use → between
“There's an infinite number of ways that you can use the chair,” says Jules Mitchell, a Las Vegas–based yoga educator.
asserted
Mitchell → be → chair
Research on the physical benefits of seated chair yoga has found that practitioners tend to improve their functional fitness and experience a decrease in how much pain interferes with their daily life.
asserted
pain → seat → life
Much of that research has focused on older adults, who generally have a lower baseline of fitness than younger, healthy adults.
asserted
who → focus → adults
It’s unlikely that people who are in peak shape would see as much benefit.
asserted
who → ’ → benefit
“You're not challenging your muscles or your balance as much as traditional yoga,” says Justin Smith, an assistant professor at Wichita State University who recently co-authored a case series on the benefits of chair yoga.
asserted
who → challenge → yoga
But that doesn’t mean it’s a waste of time for more athletic folks.
asserted
it → mean → folks
For experienced yogis, doing yoga from a chair can offer new ways to explore familiar movements, says Pate, who incorporates a chair into many of her regular yoga classes.
asserted
who → do → classes
By sitting, the body’s weight gets distributed differently, which makes the muscles engage in new ways and can bring a fresh awareness to the body.
asserted
muscles → sit → body
“For example, with Warrior 2, having the chair underneath [my] pelvis, I'm able to feel where my sit bones are,” she says.
asserted
she → have → pelvis
This can help people better recognize if their hips are twisted or tilted.
asserted
hips → help → ?
Although most people assume that sitting makes everything easier, that isn’t always the case.
asserted
that → assume → ?
Sometimes the challenge just changes: Pate says she actually feels her outer hips working harder in Warrior 2 on a chair than they do when she’s standing in the pose because she’s forced into a more neutral alignment, and bigger muscles can’t take over.
asserted
muscles → change → alignment
Sitting on a chair can also sometimes help people go deeper into poses.
asserted
people → sit → poses
Say you’re trying to target your glutes with a Figure 4 pose, where one ankle rests on the opposite knee as you bend forward.
asserted
you → say → knee
When you’re seated, you’re able to focus more on the stretch because you’re not struggling to balance, Balakrishnan says.
asserted
Balakrishnan → seat → stretch
“If I was doing a standing Figure 4, half of my attention is going to be on the standing foot and keeping myself upright, so I may not sit as deep,” she says.
uncertain
she → do → myself
Pate says that the extra support of the chair makes it easier to focus on breathing deeply and intentionally—something that many students forget to do once poses get challenging.
asserted
poses → say → that
One group that might particularly benefit from chair yoga is people who are stuck sitting in front of a computer all day.
uncertain
who → benefit → computer
“For anyone who works at a desk, it is a lifesaver,” Balakrishnan says.
asserted
Balakrishnan → work → desk
A simple seated yoga routine can relieve tight, achy joints, and multiple studies have found that chair yoga can significantly reduce stress.
asserted
yoga → seat → stress
Balakrishnan regularly takes yoga breaks right from her chair, doing neck rolls, spinal twists, or anything else her body is craving to bring some movement and mindfulness back to her day—without feeling like she has to stop what she’s doing and carve out time for a full yoga session.
asserted
she → take → session
“You don't have that mental barrier of, ‘Okay, let me get out of my chair, go roll out my yoga mat, go get my blocks,’” she says.
asserted
she → have → blocks
“It requires less of you to begin the practice.”
asserted
It → require → practice
There’s also a simpler reason to do seated chair yoga: It just feels good.
asserted
It → ’ → yoga
The low-key movement can help stretch out tense muscles and get some blood flowing without feeling like you have to do a workout that impresses anyone.
asserted
that → help → anyone
Smith says that all the participants in his case series were incredibly enthusiastic about their routine.
asserted
participants → say → routine
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
