This image is a photo of a wooden chair, tipped over, upside down, on the floor, which is carpeted.

The Hot Seat: Chair Yoga

This image is a photo of a wooden chair, tipped over, upside down, on the floor, which is carpeted.

Have a seat. Now grab your toes and lift your legs in opposite directions, gently folding them around your head. Breathe. Use your core to resist falling face-first onto the floor. Welcome to chair yoga, sports fans.

Okay, not really, but I did view quite a few chair yoga videos to ensure I didn’t get myself into an advanced workout I couldn’t get myself out of. Instead, I settled on this “Gentle Chair Yoga for Seniors and Beginners” video that I found on YouTube. And it was actually just the thing I needed after sitting in a chair all day. Really. Because there’s “sitting in a chair” “doing work,” and then there’s bending and twisting all over a chair to undo the damage the first chair “doing work” did.

Overall, I like the chair yoga poses. They free the joints, back, and connecting sockets of the body with a popping sound that you hope the legs of the chair won’t buckle under. If you’re considering this workout, here are a few tips and tricks:

  • Do not use the padded, swivel office chair. For one thing, it has arms. You need a chair that’s solid, sturdy, free of arms.
  • It might be tempting to keep your feet warm by wearing fuzzy slippers. Don’t do it. At one point, you have to cross your feet over your knee and pull your foot in for a stretch and it feels weird in fuzzy slippers. Especially if you forgot you were wearing fuzzy slippers and you were expecting to feel a foot, but instead, you felt something like an animal’s paw with hard, bony like things inside. When all is said and done, you signed up for chair yoga, not scare yoga. Ditch the slippers.
  • Pull the chair away from the desk, or you will hit your head while doing “sun salutations” when you bend forward. (Luckily, there are yoga videos for those recovering from head injuries. I checked.)
  • While you can do most anything in a skort or shorts, I don’t recommend it. I worked up a little bit of a sweat and my thighs got stuck to the wooden chair I was using. Basically, I gave myself the equivalent of a rug burn on a chair. Saying things like, “Oh, that’s just a yoga injury” only leads to more questions. Wear light stretchy yoga-like pants instead.

And that’s it. I felt totally relaxed, like I could sit for more hours in a chair while “doing work.”  Also, you can do chair yoga anywhere you find chairs:

  • Waiting rooms
  • Classrooms
  • That big important board meeting
  • Libraries
  • Kitchen tables
  • The high school gym, where your child is graduating
  • Lectures
  • Author presentations/book readings
  • Duck, Duck, Goose conventions
  • Musical Chairs Anonymous (MCA) meetings

Your Turn: How do you stretch/unwind after a long day of sitting?

 

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Published by ckennedy

Author of the DIY blog: Fixin' Leaks and Leeks. Paper/Rock Writing Consultation, Sole Proprietor.

33 thoughts on “The Hot Seat: Chair Yoga”

  3. Thanks for your review! Much appreciated. I have been thinking about starting some yoga. I used to years ago but stopped completely because I was in a sitting position working! For years walking has been my way of keeping fit and I usually go every day. Being outside has lots of side benefits, too. I used to run, but my joints hate that now.

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  4. Remember when COVID-19 was at its peak, and everyone was stuck in a never-ending stream of video meetings? I stayed relaxed during those times by setting a timer and do 10 push-ups and 10 squats every 45 minutes. I was surprised at how much stronger I got! I could even do 30 push-ups each time. But as things got better and the lockdowns eased, my body relaxed and I could go back to my old self. 😆

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  8. I love your humor – and how you always add it into posts – and laughing at the rug burn.
    I do yoga and enjoy it- and I have a few standing poses that help me “reset” – like triangle post, chair pose, and warrior 3 are top ones to reset)
    I also got outside real quick and- touch – or hug a tree- it can ground you!

    Oh and I recently finally got a rebounder and LOVE IT. – I got one without the bar (40″) and I wish I had gotten one a while ago.

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      1. I am shocked at how much I like mine. So please keep me posted if you get one.
        The research about rebounding helath benefits are abundant – and one study I read about followed folks for three months doing the rebounder three times a week for 19 minutes each time – and their bone health greatly improved (along with better breathing for better blood health).
        Anyhow, I jump every day and my simple goal is to jump ten times for 120 jumps.
        Sometimes they are low bounces, or actual jumps, or I turn slowly.
        The longest I rebounded was for about seven minutes (to a song that I love) and it was great – but I do those little 120 jumps and it breaks up all the sitting quite well.
        🙂

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  11. Ooo I like this, it’s a great way for me to stretch for martial arts while doing homework. I come straight from school to martial arts most of the time, but sometimes I come home first and need to do homework, so this will help to stretch beforehand and being academically productive. Thanks!

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  12. After we have done health circuits in the High Energy Suite some of my class mates go next door to the Mind and Body room to do Chair Yoga. I head to the café for a cup of coffee, but it sounds as if Chair Yoga is not as boring as I imagined!

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  15. My ‘exercise’ changes up every few weeks! Walking is always on – my little dog, love her, needs that. Then there’s wall yoga and squats and rebounding; phew. But what I love best to relax is tapping the keys. Yep, music soothes all things; partner, dog and me. I’ve heard nothing but good things about chair yoga! I’ll see if I can manage to get my legs up behind my head… 😂

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