Mindful Chair Yoga - A 15 Minute Beginner Practice

Hello and welcome to Mindful Cherry Yoga .

This is a chair based yoga practice that emphasizes mindful awareness of body sensations .

While one engages in gentle postures and stretches that are linked with the breath .

Mindful awareness or mindfulness is the process or skill of paying attention to present moment experience with an attitude of curiosity and acceptance .

So throughout this practice , you will be cued or instructed to bring a curious and nonjudgmental attention to the sensations in your body .

You do not need any special clothes for this practice .

Although extremely tight clothes or skirts and dresses may not be comfortable or appropriate for certain poses .

If you feel comfortable , you can also untuck your shirt for this practice .

In order to make it easier to stretch your arms above your head .

For this practice , it is recommended to use a chair that does not have wheels and a chair that has a straight back in a seat that is flat and not tilted .

Keep in mind that everyone's bodies are different and it is important to honor your body and its limits .

If any movement or posture causes you pain , it is wise to back out of the posture rather than trying to work through the pain .

So please feel free to skip any exercise .

Finally , it is suggested that you do your best to set aside any goals for this practice , including the goal of trying to become relaxed .

You may indeed feel relaxed at times and it is also ok and normal for you to go through the practice and not feel relaxed at certain times .

It is suggested that you just follow the instructions and see what happens for you being open and curious about your experience and what your body has to say to you .

Now , when you are ready , let's begin before we start moving and stretching .

Let's take a moment to calm our minds and settle into our bodies .

We can begin by sitting back , letting our body rest and be supported by the back of the chair , but making sure not to slouch , close your eyes .

If that feels comfortable for you and place both of your hands on your belly without trying to change your breathing , begin to notice any sensations of breathing that are present in your belly .

What sensations do you notice ?

Perhaps you feel the subtle and gentle rising and falling of your belly on each in breath and out , breath , your hands on your belly may move slightly as your belly balloons in and out or maybe you do not feel much at all .

And if so reminding yourself that this is ok , just note to yourself .

What your particular experience is .

There is no right way to feel here .

We're simply taking a moment to become more familiar with our breathing and our belly continue watching your breathing in your belly for a few more moments here .

Now , when you are ready , open your eyes , if they were closed , remove your hands from your belly and just rest in your chair .

Now , we are ready to begin some gentle movements , come to the front edge of your seat and establish yourself in a comfortable sitting position .

If you have any lower back pain , you could sit back in your chair , but try to keep your spine upright throughout the practice .

Now , sit up tall with a straight back , but without being too stiff or rigid , have your feet flat on the floor about hips with the part and have your ankles directly under your knees .

We can call this seeded mountain pose .

This will be our home base pose that we will come back to in between different stretches and movements .

Let's try some simple movements in which we coordinate our movement with our breathing in your seated mountain post .

Take a deep breath through your nose and raise both of your arms to the side and then up towards the ceiling as you exhale , lower both of your arms in front of you , bringing your hands together in front of your chest .

Let's try this again .

Inhale and raise your arms .

Exhale and lower your arms in front of you hands together , continue this motion at your own pace , raising your arms on the inhale and lowering the arms in front of your chest on the exhale .

Go at your own pace .

Feel free to close your eyes or keep them open .

Whatever is most comfortable for you try spreading your fingers .

Now , as you raise your arms each time , notice the air flowing between your fingers .

Also feel the sensations of your palms pressed against each other as you lower your hands down , know whether your hands are feeling warm , cool or somewhat clammy or sweaty at this time , just notice what it's like for you as you continue raising and lowering your arms at your own pace and according to your own breathing .

Now , the next time your hands are together in front of your chest , keep them there and just breathe when you are ready , lower your hands to your lap and rest in seated mountain po as you rest here .

Remember that throughout this practice , it is perfectly normal for your mind to wander and for thoughts and emotions to arise .

Each time you become aware of thoughts and emotions , acknowledging them , letting them be and then gently bringing your attention back to the sensations in your body .

As you engage in various stretches and postures .

Let's try a technique in which we coordinate our movement with our breathing .

This technique is called cat and cow stretches .

It is a good way to warm up the spine .

Begin in seated mountain pose and place your hands face down on top of your thighs .

Inhale and gently arch your spine as you push your belly and your chest forwards and look up slightly towards the ceiling as you exhale round your spine , looking slightly down towards your belly button .

Let's try this a few more times .

Inhale in arch your spine , exhale and round your spine .

Inhale archos spine , exhale , round your spine , inhale and come back to a neutral sitting position .

Take a moment to acknowledge any sensations arising in your body .

After these movements , let's try the same movement and add our arms .

Inhale , arch , your spine , look up slightly and extend both your arms to the side as if you're going to give someone a big hug , exhale and round your spine as you cross your arms in front of your chest and look down slightly .

Let's try this again .

Inhale , arch and open your arms , exhale , round and cross your arms , continue this motion at your own pace .

Remember as you inhale , you are opening your arms and arching your spine forwards .

As you exhale , you are gently rounding your back and crossing your arms , go at a pace that is comfortable for you .

As you continue these movements , bring a curious attention to what you are doing with your body .

Where do you feel a stretch ?

What muscles are working ?

Just notice what it's like for you .

And now gradually bring the movement to a stop when you are ready and come back to seated mountain , poses , close your eyes .

If you are comfortable and observe any sensations in your body .

At this moment , let's try a simple stretch for a neck to start , take your right hand and reach over your head to hold on to some area on the left side of your head .

Now using your hand gently , bring your right ear towards your right shoulder , be gentle with your neck and do not force the stretch only move as far as what's comfortable for you .

Let your shoulders be relaxed as you do this and hold this next stretch and breathe naturally .

Notice how the stretch feels for you .

Acknowledging any sensations that arise and on your next exhale , slowly letting everything go and coming back up to seated mountain pose .

Let's try the other side with your left hand this time , reach over your head and hold on to some area on the right side of your head .

Now use your hand to gently bring your left ear to your left shoulder , hold this position and breathe naturally .

Notice how the stretch feels on this side compared to the other side .

And once again , acknowledging any sensations that arise , feeling into the stretch and on your next exhale , letting everything go and resting in seated mountain posts .

We will now try a simple upper body stretch .

Breathe in as you slowly raise both of your arms in front of you and then straight up towards the ceiling .

Now , keep your arms up and continue reaching and stretching your fingertips towards the ceiling .

Breathing naturally here during this stretch at any point , feel free to bring your arms back down to rest when you need to .

And you are encouraged to do this .

If this is what your body is telling you to do , continue stretching here , feeling your whole body here , breathing , stretching and reaching .

Let's hold this stretch for a little bit longer .

Continuing to breathe , reach and stretch .

And now when you are ready , slowly lowering your arms with awareness , resting them in your lab , perhaps noticing some feeling of relief in the muscles of your arms and shoulders .

Now , after having held your arms up for a while , take a moment to just sit in your chair and breathe , let's try a gentle seeded twist .

Begin in your seated mountain pose and bring your left hand to your right knee and your right hand to your right hip .

No , take a deep breath in and as you breathe out , gently , turn your body towards the right and look over your right shoulder .

Notice what it's like to breathe while you are in this twist .

Where do you feel your breath in your body ?

Notice any sensations of stretching and opening in your spine and continue to breathe as you hold this twist for a little bit longer on your next exhale , slowly come out of the twists and back to seeded Mountain post .

Let's try the other side , bring your right hand to your left knee and your left hand to your left hip .

Now take a deep breath in and as you breathe out , gently turn your body towards the left and look over your left shoulder .

So continuing to hold this twist here a little longer breathing and being mindful of any thoughts or emotions that may come , acknowledging them and gently coming back to the stretch on your next exhale , slowly come out of the twist and back .

Two seated mountain posts , observe how your back feels after doing these twists .

And so as this practice comes to a close , perhaps taking a moment to thank yourself or congratulate yourself for taking the time out of your day to nurture your mind and body in this mindful chair , yoga practice .

Remember that mindfulness practice is portable and you can bring mindfulness into your everyday life no matter where you are or what you are doing .

You can always pause for a moment and tune into your body and your breathing as a way to connect to the present moment .

In fact , you can never leave behind your body and your breath .

They are always with you .

I hope you enjoyed this mindful chair yoga practice .

Thank you .