30min Chair yoga for Beginners & Seniors

Hi , everyone .

I'm Tracy with yoga with Tracy .

Today is gonna be a sequence that's gonna stretch the whole body on the chair .

So just as a friendly reminder , anyone who is suffering from any discomfort or pain , we're always gonna take um , that pause and be ma making sure that you're honoring and respecting the body .

So if you are um recovering from any injuries or maybe surgery , you're gonna go slow , ok ?

You're not gonna necessarily do this pace that I'm doing it at .

So we're always gonna be practicing what is called in yoga aim , which is Nonviolence and that's Nonviolence to you .

Ok ?

So in a comfortable seated position with both sits bo on your chair , we're gonna make sure that the chair is nicely planted onto the ground and you'll notice here today that I have it underneath .

Um , on top of that , a yoga mat and my feet are gonna be planted firmly on the ground .

So I'm not very tall , which means I need to come onto the edge of my seat to be most comfortable and to make sure I'm gonna be nice and secure .

Ok ?

With my seat sits , bones per firmly planted , my feet are planted on the floor .

I'm gonna spread my toes nice and wide .

I'm gonna make sure that my shoulders are stacked right on top of my waist and my chin is gently tucked in that ensures that my spine is nice and tall .

I'm just gonna take a moment here to start the practice .

I'm gonna close my eyes .

I want you to do this with me and breathe in deeply from your belly up into the rib cage right into those collarbones .

And then I want you to exhale all the way out .

I do that one more time .

02 more times .

Rather breathing in all the way up .

Exhale , relax all the way out one more time breathing in through the valley right up into the rib cage , right to your throat and then exhale , release and relax .

Huh ?

Now , open up your eyes .

Let's take our arms all the way up to the sides .

Breathing in nice big breath .

Let's take your hands to the heart realigning the spine and making sure it's nice and top while breathing in all the way up with those arms and ax , I'll take your hands to the heart breathing in again and then touch those fingers and eggs .

He take your hands to the heart .

Now , taking the hands up the midline , we're gonna breathe in deeply life and through the spine .

Through the body , reach , reach , reach and then eggs will gently sway to the side .

Very good .

Keep those shoulders nice and soft .

Breathing in back to center and the ax .

So we're gonna sway to the other side .

There you go in , he'll come on back to center .

Then let's take our hands down on top of the thighs .

Nice and slow .

So let's pretend we're gonna paint , brush a wall in front of us , breathing in , opening up , maybe looking up if the body feels OK to do that and then exhale , softening paint , brushing this wall right in front , soften the shoulders , relax the fingers breathing in .

We're working on expanding our lungs , opening up our chests and then exhaling , softening the arms , relaxing the fingertips .

We're gonna do that one more time in Haley .

Expand , draw the bill , maybe look up and then exhale , soften , relax and see if you can breathe out through the whole breath coming all the way down .

Awesome .

Now we're gonna take our hands on top of the thighs .

Let's open up the chest for seated cow pro .

So I'm gonna roll my shoulders back , open up my heart and then I'm gonna round my back , bring my fingertips closer to my knees .

Draw my belly in to the back of the room , draw my chin into the chest , round my back , good .

Inhaling open up the heart for seated cow post , exhale , rounding the back for a seated cat .

Let's do that a few more times .

Think about breathing in from your tail up to your throat and then exhaling , breathing out from the throat and send it down to the tail bone .

Ok ?

One more time .

Breathing in , nice and slow , articulating that spine and then exhale , rounding the back , softening , please .

Very good .

Now , come on back to that nice flat back .

We're gonna take our arms down to the sides of us .

Let's roll the shoulders up and back .

I'm gonna do this three times , three times .

The charm here breathing in and out .

It feels good .

Feeding in and out .

Ok .

Now , taking your fingertips on top of the shoulders , taking the elbows up and around .

Now you don't need to be as exaggerated as my arms are going .

So maybe they're a little bit smaller like this .

So it's your practice , your yoga .

You need to do what's best for you .

So I'm just always connecting breath with movement .

So we're just doing a couple more of these , inhaling , exhaling , breathing in and exhale , breathing out .

Well done .

We're gonna go the opposite direction .

Sometimes this can be challenging depending what's happening in the shoulders .

Now , my fingertips are just lightly touching my shoulders going up and I'm gonna exaggerate the curl going around , going up .

I'm gonna exaggerate a little bit going and forward a couple more times .

Breathing in and out , inhale and exhale well done .

Release the arms here and let's go ahead and take that left arm all the way up .

So whenever we take the arm up .

I want you to be conscious of keeping that shoulder nice and relaxed .

Ok .

So we're gonna take that arm up , breathe in and you'll notice here that I can have my hand on my thigh or maybe it's securely on top of the , onto the chair or maybe it's down to the side .

So today I'm gonna take my hand .

Hm , when it feels good .

I kind of like it on the side of the chair today .

Ok .

So it could be here here or on the side .

Ok .

I'm gonna keep mine on the chair arms up lengthy through the spine .

Breathe in and axel , soften , breathe out .

So when we're swaying to the side , top shoulder and bottom shoulder , even though it's gripped onto that chair is relaxed .

Ok ?

Breathing in .

Come on back up ax .

He lower down very good in .

Help breathing in and exhale .

Sway to the sides , soften both shoulders , put a nice stretch of the side of the body .

Great .

So I did this in my last sequence .

I'm gonna nudge that elbow up , opening up my chest .

I'm gonna look up only if the neck feels OK to do this .

So breathe in , look up and then exhale , look down .

Very good .

Now from here , we're gonna inhale , breathe in , lift up , look up and release .

Oh , so that arm felt fatigued .

So what I'm gonna do now is gonna shake it out .

Shake that arm out .

OK .

Other side now .

So I'm gonna plant this hand down to the side .

I'm gonna equal out the body .

So I'm not gonna choose to take my hand on the , the uh the leg or the side .

I'm gonna put it right on top of the chair .

So I'm both nice and heated .

I'm gonna take the right arm all the way up relaxing both shoulders , drawing through the spine .

Inhale , lengthening and then exhale .

Suing to the side .

Very good .

Keep on breathing .

Inhale back to center .

Aha .

Sway .

Yeah .

Always connecting breath with movement in hill , back to center and exhale .

Great .

Very good .

Now , I'm going to nudge that elbow back , keeping that uh um the shoulder nice and soft .

I'm gonna look up breathing in and exhale softly , looking down to my bottom hand .

Very good .

Now we're gonna inhale , lift up back to center and exhale , release .

Very good .

Take those shoulder , roll them out three times one , breathe two and three .

Perfect .

Now , I want you to take the fingertips , breathe in , interlace them together and push up really lengthen out .

Inhale here and then add so come into that cat post , we're around our backs , draw the belly in , bring your chest in and push those elbows out , um contract them and push those um knuckles forward .

Good .

Now we're gonna breathe in , lift up , sit up nice and tall .

Take your hands behind the head , uh take them open up the chest , expand the elbows to the sides , engage your belly to support the lower back and look up , gently , breathe out .

So you're just in a nice holiday position .

We're gonna do that again .

We're gonna come back to center .

Breathing in , undo those fingertips .

Breathe out .

Release .

Ok ?

We're gonna do that two more times .

So breathing in , interlace the fingers breathe out in her left and then acts around the back with a nice tight belly .

Come on up , inhale to lengthen up and take your hands behind the head .

Draw the belly and lift your heart up to the sky .

Awesome inhale back to center and then exhale , release last one , we're gonna breathe in arms out , interlace them , breathe out , relax the shoulders and elbows , inhale , extend , breathe in and then ax around the back .

Uh Great breathing in , lift up , chest up , draw the belly and breathe out .

So tight , belly lifting up your heart , heart , open your hair , inhale back to center and then really breathe out well done .

Ok .

Now , how will we shake out those arms ?

I shook it out on that one side because that's my grumpy side .

But why not shake up both of them ?

And as I've done in other classes and you know that I am an acupuncturist , I'm all about that and the meridians .

So I like to tap on my body .

So I'm gonna go , I ask you to go ahead and tap onto your right shoulder .

So it's gonna sound like I'm tapping pretty hard because I am .

I need a good shoulder massage .

Ok .

So I'm gonna tap onto my shoulder , I'm gonna tap all the way down .

So you're gonna see that I'm tapping pretty firmly .

Then we're gonna tap on the inside of my arm .

Really tap it nice and hard .

Um Now your choice of how much you wanna tap or how heavy you're gonna go .

So it's not a no pain , no gain situation .

You're just gonna tap to stimulate the yang and the yin parts of your body .

It's gonna scroll down and ask you to tap on the inside coming all the way back up .

Very good .

Now that I've done that part , I'm just gonna ask you to tap gently .

I'm gonna close my hands in a gentle fist and just tap right here .

So it's right under the clavicle , right under your collarbones .

Give yourself a nice tap .

Take a breath in .

Perfect .

Now , release , I want you to gently or firmly your choice .

Press on the outside of the body down and up , come across all the way with gentle or firm pressure down and up and across .

I'm gonna do that again .

Three times the charm here .

So this is number two , pressure just enough .

OK ?

And I cross , this is three .

Perfect .

Awesome .

I'm gonna shake out my wrists and I really want this to be a full body stretch .

I'm gonna roll out the wrists outward .

Now I'm going maybe a little too fast .

So you can go slower .

You need to go slower , go slower and go inward .

It's interesting how the body is .

If you're going fast , then maybe the mind is racing a little .

Ok .

Now I'd like you to do your piano playing .

So , go ahead .

Don't forget those thumbs , those thumbs go ahead and play the piano and then let's do the grand piano from right all the way to the left .

Don't forget to sit nice and tall all the way right to left .

And this is a perfect little segue because we're going from right to left .

Now , it's a perfect segway to do our twist .

So it's released .

Ah Perfect .

Now , let's take the right up all the way up .

Breathe in here and then exhale release .

We're just getting used to our arms again , breathing in lift and then Axo release .

Ok ?

So now we're gonna take the right hand place it nice and firmly behind you on the chair , on the seat of the chair if you can .

Ok .

So it's nice and close to your tailbone .

I'm gonna take the left arm all the way up .

Sit nice and tall .

Breathe in here and then a so take it to the outside of that right leg .

Want do the inhale , lift and length through the spine , keeping your chin right on top of the sternum , breathe out , twist , relax your sit bones , relax your shoulders , inhale , lift and lengthen axle twist again , inhale , lift , lengthen and then exhale twist .

Now we're gonna try keeping that chin over the sternum breathe here in .

Now , I see if you can turn your head to look behind you in hell here and then eggs will stay in the twist .

Look over your opposite shoulder .

I always like to close my eyes in these gentle twists .

Breathe in and out .

Uh helps me to relax my shoulders even more .

One more breath here , breathing in and out .

Nice to get them out of the pose .

You're gonna inhale and then on the exhalation , we will unwind , breathe out , come back to center .

Fantastic .

So now we got that hand behind , we're gonna take this left hand , place it down behind us and notice how I'm trying to keep this back shoulder nice and relaxed in hell lift and then exhale , taking that hand the right hand now on over to the left side of that or the outer edge rather of that left leg .

OK .

We're gonna breathe in lift length then and then acts on Shadley twists .

So don't grind your six bones into your chair , relax the hips , breathe it in axle twist , keeping my chin right over my sternum .

So I'm keeping I'm really kind of working and twisting in my thick bony part of my spine .

The thoracic part breathing in and the exhale twist good .

Now , inhale here chin right over the sternum and then exhale .

Let's go ahead and see if we can look behind this and then inhale , stay in the twist and then exhale .

See if you can look over the opposite shoulder , relax your body and the shoulders .

If you still have that twist , close your eyes , if you can to really enjoy this twist , breathe it in and out , inhaling , exhale in and then to unwind , breathe out , unwind , come back to center .

Well done .

I'm gonna take the hands right on top of the thighs .

Let's go ahead and look over to our right again .

I'm sitting nice and tall .

Come back to center .

Let's look over to the left .

Is that already reading ?

Come back to center .

Now , let's go ahead and take that left ear to left um , shoulder .

Oh , my neck is super stiff today .

We're gonna try to relax here and then to send more , um , a little bit more open to this little stretch .

I'm gonna send energy through these fingertips outward , keeping my chest open my back flat against that imaginary wall behind me .

And I'm doing this nice little stretch here inhaling and then who acts out , release , release the hand , release the neck .

Let's go ahead and take it to the other side .

Is this your comfy side or is this just as good as the other side ?

Ah , take that here and then if you want to eat , this is good or not good .

Let's go ahead and send energy out of those fingers , send energy like those electrical rays going out of those fingertips breathing here and out inhale and then exhale .

Let's release , come back .

Ok .

Now , if you always want a little bit more in those stretches , feel free to do something like this .

We're gonna go back on to that side .

Ok .

Now , the weight of the hand is pretty heavy , so I'm just gonna place it on top of the head .

Notice how that may change a little .

So this , that's if you want a little more and then taking the hand out , sending energy through those fingertips .

Now with something a little bit different than I've done in my past sequence was like , you know , lower the hand down , releasing the hand from the head .

I want you to turn your head to look down to your left hip , taking your hand now to the back of the head , we're not pulling or putting any major pressure , just the weight of the hand in the arm , it's gonna do a nice , gentle stretch to the back of the neck and the side you're gonna breathe here .

Gazing down to the hip relaxing .

Good .

Now we're gonna release the hand down like you to breathe and look down to center , breathe out and then in how look up and then Axo release .

OK , let's do the other side .

We're gonna lower the head down .

Good .

OK ?

Now again , you don't have to do this .

This is this only if you want a little bit more , I'm gonna take the hand on top of the head because my hand is pretty heavy .

Ok ?

And then we're gonna extend those fingers , send the energy .

Now , please don't crank your neck .

Just the gentle weight of the hand is more than enough .

Release the hand down , release the hand above , turn your head down to look to the hip and take and place your hand to the back of your head and then place it on the head and you will feel a gentle stretch , breathe here in and out through the nose , gazing at your hip , shoulders , relax , inhale , exhaling , releasing the hand , breathing in , looking to center and out .

Now , inhale , look up , always breathing in when you look up and then exhaling .

How are you doing ?

Ok .

So now we're gonna take our hands to the sides of the chair and let's go ahead and work on our lower body .

Ok .

So feet making sure that they're planted on top on the ground here .

I don't want there to be shoulders into the ears .

No , no , no .

We want the body but sit nice and tall , nice chin tuck .

Ok .

So the back of the neck is long .

Ok .

So we're feeling strong and supported .

Let's go ahead and take that right leg up the knee up and release of her leg up , inhale and release .

Now , do you want to take your hands to the front on the side and see if that changes anything .

You will need to work on your core stability here , inhale and exhale .

So you see what's best for you in your practice .

In all cases , we're drawing the belly in to support our spine in the back .

We're working on core strength , but we're also doing a nice low compression here in our , so as our groin muscle , our renal area .

Ok .

So it's already breathing perfect .

We're gonna inhale and exhale .

Now with support , we're having our hands to the sides or on your thighs .

Breathe in and then let's kick it out , breathe out , inhale and exhale , ok ?

Breathing in and out , inhale and exhale , ok ?

Inhaling , exhaling , you're noticing how you need to really engage your belly muscles , strengthening the core and your spine , your back muscles in and out , chest up , open , nice and straight in and out .

We're gonna do one more set .

Can we go breathe in , extend , breathe out , inhale and exhale , inhale , exhale , breathing in and out .

Oh , well done .

Now , I'd like you to take your arms all the way up , breathing in , touch your fingertips , breathe out , take your hands behind you on that lower lumbar spot .

I want you to rub it and warm up that lower back nicely where your kidneys are .

Ok ?

Now , I want you to breathe in , open up the chest and then , so we're gonna calm down down as we've done before .

In my last session , we're gonna take the hands down to the sides of the body .

Breathe out with a nice tight belly .

I'd like you to take your hands on the inside of the legs .

Gentle pressure .

So we're doing the whole yang and yin thing that we did on our arms .

OK ?

We're gonna do that again .

Breathing in touch , breathing out , you inhale as you rub and warm up our lower backs .

Breathing out .

Inhale , open up the chest and then exhale , gentle , press on the outside of the legs .

I want you to press , press , press and then breathe in hands on the inside of the legs , press all the way up , ok ?

We're gonna do that one more time .

Breathing in touch , breathing out in hell as you rub .

Exhaling , inhale , open up the chest a little and then exhale , we're gonna come all the way down , breathe out and then inhale , of course , tighten up those belly muscles press on up , come on up and then let's go ahead and roll the shoulders back .

Well done .

OK ?

Taking your hands down on top onto the sides of the chair .

Let's go ahead and give that leg a little shake and then switch .

Let's go ahead and shake that too .

Now we did tap on our arms , didn't we ?

And do that nice little rubbing .

We're gonna do that on the , on our legs as well .

So go ahead and tap on the sides of your hips and you're like , ok , she's making me tap onto my butt .

Well , a little bit of the butt .

Ok .

So the glutamate Max Misia are your biggest muscles of the body .

And for those of you who are sitting a lot , well , they take a good , they take a good beating sometimes .

So now you're actually gonna beat them to some degree .

So you're gonna have a little , a little or a lot of pressure with a nice tapping .

And I want you to go ahead and tap on the sides of your legs .

Let's go ahead and stimulate those , those uh young meridians and let's go ahead and tap on the inside legs generally .

So every time we do that , we're gonna breathe out as we go down and then we're gonna inhale as we come on up , I'm gonna tighten my belly muscles to support my spine as I come up .

Ok ?

I'm gonna do that one more time tapping and all the way to breathe out .

And then in here with a nice cake belly .

Come on up , well done .

Now , hand to the sides , please .

Let's go ahead and lift up back , straight .

Lift up that right knee .

Breathe in and let's go ahead and cross that leg here .

Ok ?

Now , taking your fingers and see if you can interlace your fingers with your toes , your Optus or podiatrist .

I'm gonna love you for this .

So think of yourself as um interlacing those toes and not everybody can get those fingers in between those toes and nice and easy .

So this is something that you may wanna start working on .

Go ahead and see how much you can get in between those toes , stimulating all those meridian , those beautiful channels according to Chinese medicine that are on the butt and gently , if you can rotate the ankle .

Ok .

So we're doing kind of a multitask here or rotating the joint of our ankle .

But we're also opening up the , our meals , the toes , the spaces between those toes .

Ok .

So now I'm gonna rotate the other way and of course , I'm breathing a lot of times we hold our breath when we're concentrating on what we're doing .

So try to breathe in and out .

Ok ?

Now I'm gonna release my to my fingers .

Sh sh sh sh shake out those fingers , wiggle my toes .

Now , sit nice and tall , breathe in .

Breathe out , hands down in hell .

We're gonna hinge at the waist lead forward with the chest and just when we feel like , hm , something is being stretched into this area and I'm feeling a little bit of a strain in my back right away .

I want you to round your upper back .

So there's no strain on your lower back , round the upper back and melt forward , relaxing into the hips , breathing .

We're gonna take two more breaths here in and out in hell and exhale very good , slowly , tight belly , come on up , breathing in and exhale , see if you can cross your leg .

So there's no window between those legs .

Great .

Let's go ahead for another twist .

We're gonna take that right hand place it as you had done before behind you on the seat .

Nice and close to your sits .

Bones .

Lift and lengthen , read in here and then exhale , taking that left hand on the outer side of that right leg .

Breathe in lift length in and then exhale .

Relax your hips , gently twist .

So now we're going for a little bit deeper of a twist here and only twist as much as you can or need to .

Ok ?

No strain breathing in axle , breathe out very good .

Inhale .

And then add , so we're gonna unwind , come back to center , back to neutral and then slowly with the assistant help that leg and switch perfect .

Take your hands back to the chair , give these legs a little shake before we do the other side .

Ok ?

Now , take , taking that left knee up , nice sitting nice and tall and then actually placing it over top of that right thigh .

Great .

Now we're gonna take that right hand and interlace them into those left toes and gently slowly with support .

We're going to slowly rotate our ankles one way and the other way with breath .

Ok ?

So go as slow as you need to and I'm just gonna switch ways .

Now , my ankle just gave a little crack there needed , it needed .

Had to release some of that um , air between the joints .

Perfect .

Ok .

Now we're gonna release those fingers , wiggle the fingers , wiggle the toes , sit nice and tall .

Breathe in , lift leg it up the ax .

He release the hands down .

Now , hinging at the waist again , we're breathing in and ax will come forward lead with the chest and this hip on this side seems to be a little bit more tight .

When I feel that in this space , I'm gonna round my upper back and melt forward for two breaths .

Inhale here .

Exhaling in hell and exhaling .

Oh , well done .

Draw the belly in .

So contract those belly muscles to come on out .

Inhale , lifting up and then exhale .

Let's go ahead and lose that little window between the legs into a nice cross leg position .

Perfect .

Now let's go ahead and take our hand .

So that's our left hand behind .

Nice and close to the sits bones breathing in .

Lift up with that right hand and axle twist .

Keep the chin right over the stir and breathe in lift length in an axle twist , relax your shoulders , relax those hips one more time breathing in an axel twist .

Very good .

Inhale and then exhale , unwind .

Breathe out .

Huh ?

Well done .

So with assistance , I'm gonna take my hands , help that leg and then of course , I'm gonna hand my hands down back onto the chair .

Give myself a little shake with those legs .

And then from here , I always like to take my legs out .

Scooch a little bit further back on my seat .

And then I give myself a little bit of a heart opener .

I give myself a little bit of reprieve into my hips .

I'm lifting up my hips .

A little lift up the chest and the heart .

And for those of you who are feeling really um adventurous , go ahead and lift the hips , maybe lift your butt , lifting your glutes , lifting those six bones off of the chair , lifting .

You're doing reverse table with a chair , breathe in that table , reverse clank inhale and then exhale .

Well done .

Awesome .

Now , placing your feet back down on top of those uh uh placing your feet nicely hip with distance apart nicely down on top of the ground .

Let's take the arse all the way up to close our practice breathing in and then taking your hands at the heart .

We're gonna do that two more times breathing in and axel , breathing out in her last time breathing in and then axel hands of the heart .

Well done everyone .

Thank you for joining me .

Now must say .