Today I taught my first chair yoga class of 2025! This class is one of my favourites to teach, not just because I truly believe in the benefits of chair yoga, but the friendly atmosphere is something I look forward to experiencing week after week. It was so good to be back after our Christmas break!
My chair yoga class is called 'Chair Yoga & Chat', because I always planned for it to be a social, light hearted class; a place where hopefully, friendships would be made. My hopes came true when a walking group was formed by some of the class participants!
Everybody says hello to each other at the start of the class and there are warm goodbye at the end; most have met at the class, but you wouldn't realise, you could easily assume they had been friends for years. That is perhaps what makes me smile the most.
Sometimes when we are holding a posture for a few breaths we might chat (this morning I asked the class if anyone had been watching Playing Nice, mainly because I can't stop thinking about it!) Often we laugh together, other times we are quiet - particularly in the guided relaxation at the end of the class.
Aside from the friendly atmosphere, I get such joy from seeing the difference chair yoga makes. The improved range of movement I observe in people after a few weeks of practise, the positive feedback I receive, the way people comment that they can tell if they have missed a session. All of this confirms what I already knew, but people sometimes doubt - that chair yoga offers benefits in abundance.
If people haven't tried chair yoga before, they often ask me if it as effective as yoga on the mat. I always answer this question with a strong YES. Some people come to chair yoga because they can't get on the floor for yoga on a mat, some people come to both chair yoga and mat yoga. Chair yoga is suitable for all and I do my best to adapt the class to suit the people in front of me.
So what are the benefits of chair yoga?
I will list some of the benefits, but it won't be all, that would be impossible; yoga helps people in so many different ways.
Improved mobility: Mobility is the ability to move with ease in your daily life, something that can be reduced by a number of factors including injury or age. Yoga can help to gently increase range of movement, helping you to move more freely.
Improved flexibility: Flexibility allows us to stretch within movements by the lengthening of the muscles and other connective tissues. Our muscles and joints can become less flexible due to lack of stretching, muscle imbalances from the way we move our bodies, or not enough movement, ageing or injury. I can confidently say that chair yoga offers a full body stretch from the chair. This helps to avoid those common overstretching injuries!
Improved strength: Strength is important, it helps us to be able to confidently perform daily tasks and it protects us from injury. Whole body strength is covered in the class, from hand exercises using foam balls that maintain hand and finger strength, to important core strength exercises that help protect the lower back from injury. We use a range of props (that I bring with me so you don't have to) to help build strength; resistance band, yoga straps, yoga blocks and the foam balls that may or may not get thrown at me sometimes...)
Breath awareness: In our daily lives, most of us don't pay much attention to how we breathe. When we take deep yogic breaths, our bodies get extra oxygen, our circulation and blood pressure can benefit, our stress levels reduce. But because we rarely think about breathing - we just do it, we don't pay attention to the effects the breath has on the body. One of yoga's most important lessons is learning to connect with the breath!
Reduces stress and tension: Stress makes us tense up, stress 'gets stuck' in the body! So many people can't relax fully due to the amount of stress and tension they are holding in their muscles! The combination of movement, stretch, and breathing deeply help to rid the body of the tension that's built up over time. Stress and tension don't just affect the muscles; stress is a if not the leading cause of illness, chair yoga is a great way to reduce your stress levels, and you can practise it anywhere, not just in class!
Eases anxiety: Week in, week out across my classes I meet people who suffer from feeling anxious. It was my own anxiety that got me hooked on yoga. Yoga taps into the parasympathetic nervous system, which encourages the body to relax, easing anxiety. So many people feedback to me they feel less anxious after yoga, feedback like this will never, ever get old. I am so proud of the people who come to my classes especially as some find it hard just to get through the door because they feel so anxious, to then leave an hour later looking relaxed and peaceful - turning up is the hardest part!
Better quality sleep: Yoga including chair yoga can help you sleep better for a number of reasons. Yoga helps you to physically feel more comfortable, so your sleep in undisturbed by physical discomfort. It also calms the mind so you can control racing thoughts that prevent you from sleeping. If you can't sleep, practising your yogic breaths, focusing only on the sensation of the breath will help your mind to relax so you can drift off.
If you'd like to try chair yoga, be it for the physical, emotional or social aspect, you will be met with a very warm welcome at my chair yoga class at Trusthorpe Village Hall, you can view my timetable here.
Don't hesitate to get in touch with any questions voa the message button or my social media channels.
And to those of you who already attend, be it regularly or dropping in as and when you can, thank you, you are a lovely bunch!
With love,
Steph
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