Chair Yoga for Seniors, Beginners

Hey there .

April .

Yes .

To next year with my mom .

I go hi today we have a gentle yoga inspired chair stretching session for you .

Um I , I love yoga .

It , it , it will strengthen your entire body , you know , from your core to your arms and legs also increase flexibility and you know , just make you feel good .

You know , I , I started yoga about 30 years ago and I , I just love how it not only makes my body feel but also in my mind .

So we hope you enjoy this .

You don't need any equipment .

Obviously , you need a chair .

We recommend a chair without arms .

Um That would be most useful and um and that's about it .

You don't need to do this in shoes .

We're gonna be doing this in our socks and um that's about it .

Any , any questions , mom ?

No , it's just different .

Both of us sitting .

I know I'm the one who's city .

It's weird to have a new city .

Nice to be , it's nice to be at the same level .

Right ?

All right .

So we'll take a quick pause here and get started .

We're gonna start just by breathing .

Ok .

So if you want to sit solidly in your chair with your feet solidly on the ground .

I just want to put your hands on your thighs , your shoulders , back and down , sit with good posture and you can even close your eyes for this .

Ok .

So all I want you to do is to take a deep inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth , ok ?

And breathe in , head out and let's continue this .

You go at your own pace .

I just want you to just connect with your breath .

Need to just monitor what's happening in your body right now .

Just breathe , connecting your body to your breath , you breathe in and I'll , let's take three more breaths and he exhale and how exhale and one more inhale in exile .

Very nice .

It's a nice way to start our session .

OK ?

Next thing we just want to bring our arms up , inhale and exhale and inhale , exhale and one more inhale and exhale nice .

All right .

So hands on your guys , we're gonna go into some head tilts and what we're gonna do is tilt your head to the right and then gently bring your left arm back .

OK ?

So you got a nice stretch on that left side .

OK ?

And hold that or three breaths .

Feel good breath in , out in one more and , and out .

Very nice .

OK ?

Come back to center , you're gonna see the other side .

So you're gonna tilt your head to the left and bring that right arm back in in hell and exhale .

Let's take three breaths from here .

Inhale and exhale .

Feel that nice stretch in your neck and now exhale and one more inhale and exhale .

Very nice and come back to center .

Uh You feel that nice neck neck open up there , mom .

Very good .

And let's do some shoulder rolls to the back .

Gentle one , two , breathe naturally .

31 more and four and let's reverse that one .

Got two , three and four .

Very nice .

OK .

Good job .

All right .

So our next move is just gonna be let's put our arms in a goalpost position here .

OK ?

And what we're gonna do is it's good for your wrists and also your hands and also obviously your upper body .

So as we move up , I want you to open up your hands , bring your arms up as high as you can and close your fingers into a fist and then open and then close and open and bring it down to shoulder level here .

OK ?

We're gonna do two more sets .

Oh yeah .

Right here .

I want you to open and close as well .

Close , open , close and open .

OK ?

Bring your arms up now , close , open , close and open , bring it down , close , open , close and open and one more set up , close , open , open and down and close , open , close and open and rest .

Uh take a breath , breathe in and I'll do very nice .

OK .

Go to work .

Now , our next move is and you're kind of at the edge of your seat by want your feet solidly on the ground .

And what we're gonna do is we're gonna lift one leg , one knee up and then lift one arm up .

So it looks like this .

So you're flexing your foot and bringing one leg up and the other arm up .

You really feel like you're engaging your core here .

So don't lean , make sure you're sitting up straight .

Hold for two more breaths .

Inhale in exile , inhale and exhale man .

Come on down .

Nice work , everyone .

OK ?

You have to do the other side flex that right flex that left foot and bring the right arm up and sit up straight .

You're probably feeling you may wanna lean but try to keep that core engaged , breath in and out , inhale and exhale .

Give me two more breaths and exhale one more and how and exhale and rest .

Really nice .

Everybody .

OK ?

Our next move is going to be called the goddess move .

So uh knee is wide apart .

So you're coming to the edge of your seat here .

OK ?

And all I want you to do is just , just kind of feel a nice stretch in your thighs here .

OK ?

It's all I want you to feel here .

OK ?

And you might want to just lean forward , slightly , no bending of the spine , but just lean forward slightly , can hold and breathe breathe .

Very nice .

Great .

Take three more breaths and he , we exhale , inhale and exhale and one more inhale .

Exhale .

Ok .

Very nice .

All right .

So now what I want you to do it's just the same position here .

But let's bring , oh , hello , boy , hello ?

Bring that arm up over your head .

Ok .

Have that right hand stretch .

Yeah .

Nice stretch .

Mochi .

Yes .

Hello ?

Oh , hello ?

Yes .

Good boy .

Hold this here and breathe everybody .

Nice .

Breathe .

Oh , very nice .

OK .

Let's go to the other side .

Now let's come back to center and we're gonna bring that right arm up and breathe .

Everyone .

Feel that nice stretch on the side of your body .

Yes .

OK .

Breathe in and out .

You're really stretching out your shoulders and your arms , you're engaging your core , even your back muscles .

Very nice .

OK .

And come on down .

Very nice .

Who , how are you feeling , mom ?

OK .

Young , good boy .

All right .

Good work .

Now we're gonna go into , you wanna come up here ?

OK .

We're gonna go into what we call warrior one .

So , um if you're you chair , so what you wanna do is maneuver yourself so that the center of your body is , is facing the corner of your chair here .

OK .

And so you want your right um Yeah , your right foot on the floor solidly and if you're a beginner , you can just stay in this position right here .

That's what I'm gonna do .

OK .

Great .

But if you're more advanced .

You can straighten out that left leg .

OK ?

And your hips should be squared to your right side .

So if you're with me here , you're feeling this nice stretch in your thigh .

Oh , hello .

Yeah .

Hello .

And then bring your arms up and breathe everybody .

So the goal is to bring your arms up the side of your ears .

If you can't get them high , that's fine .

But you just hold this here .

You stretch to the point where you feel the stretch .

It doesn't have to be what we're doing here .

You just wanna wanna feel to go to the point where you feel a stretch and over time you'll be able to increase your flexibility .

Breathe .

Oh , hello ?

Hi .

What ?

He wants to get in on a stretchy session ?

Ok .

Very good .

Hello ?

And so now let's bring our arms down to shoulder level .

This is Warrior two and breathe everybody breathe in and out .

Make sure you're breathing .

Keep looking .

Yes .

Nice .

Relax .

Eyes , shoulders , take two more breaths .

Inhale , exhale one more , inhale and exhale and bring it down .

Oh , very nice .

Everybody .

I've got a little helper in back of me .

Oh , hello ?

I have a little practicing yoga , practicing yoga with us .

Hello ?

Yeah .

Hello ?

Ok .

So now we're gonna move ourselves to the other side of the chair .

Ok .

So me , you , you son of your body right around the corner of the chair and if you're with my mom you're just staying right there .

If you're with me , you're kicking that leg , back toes , facing to the side here .

Ok ?

And so on the ground now , arms up , I was up to the side of your ears .

Mom , if you can bring up to your side of your ears , here you go .

And if you can't get that highly .

Oh , hello ?

You can do this too .

That's right .

You , you stretch to where you feel , you , you , you move to where you feel the stretch .

If it's here , that's fine .

If it's here , that's great .

Breathe .

Just breathe everybody .

Yes .

Very nice .

Very nice .

And your hips again are square to the side .

OK ?

Breathe .

Oh Hello .

Yes .

You want to stretch with us .

OK ?

And let's bring those arms down now to shoulder level .

Here you go .

Yes .

Very good .

Feel that stretch breathe .

You don't look to your left .

Breathe .

Very nice .

Take two more breaths .

Nice and one more and nice and come back to center .

Hope you felt that stretch .

OK ?

Nice work everyone .

All right .

We're getting down to the last move .

So we're in a chair .

So we're gonna do a modified chair pose is what they call it .

OK ?

So coming to the edge of our seat and we're gonna bring our arms up again , but we're gonna hinge at our hips .

This is , remember that , that direction don't bend at your waist but slight hinge at your hips and bring the arms up .

Yes .

That's right .

This is a chair post .

If you're advanced , you do this without sitting on the chair .

That's what it looks like .

Yeah .

Ok .

Breathe everyone .

Yeah .

If you wanted to go deeper into that hinge you could , but that's ok .

You don't have to .

It's just holding this , holding this position to really lean into the stretch and breathe .

Let's take two more breaths .

Inhale and exhale and inhale and exhale and come on down .

Really nice .

OK .

All right .

We're gonna , and we're gonna do one more move .

We're just gonna bring our arms up again .

Inhale and exhale good .

We're basically finishing how we started and now and exhale very nice and one more inhale with a little clap at the top , inside out hands and a nice little side lane .

Wow .

Good job .

That's good .

OK .

And come back to center and the other side really nice and come on down .

All right .

Very nice .

Now , let's just sit here , put your hands on your thighs , let me just close it out with a little nice chill .

Inhale , exhale , just inhale .

Exhale two more breaths and how exhale , add one more inhale and exhale .

OK , gently open your eyes and nice work .

Everyone on this chair , yoga inspired workout .

We hope that it was helpful and you feel refreshed .

Uh We invite you to try our other stretching videos uh that can also help you increase flexibility and relaxation and we thank you so much for joining us .

If you like this video , please give a like share comment and subscribe to our channel .

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So we look forward to seeing you in a future video and in the meantime , keep stretching and breathing .