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Considered one of the misconceptions many yoga students (and teachers) find most difficult to shake is that using props indicates lack of ability or effort. Some people see counting on a prop as a synonym for shortcoming–and this will be very true in the case of practicing with a chair.

There couldn’t be a more erroneous assumption. Chances are you’ll be considering: If we just sit within the chair, where is the hassle? Chair yoga can take as much strength and adaptability as any of the poses you’ll do standing or seated on a mat. Try any pose that requires you to lift or extend your legs, for instance, and see the hassle of your thighs and abs, in addition to the power to access a deeper range of motion in your twists. 

But who said you have got to be sitting right down to do chair yoga? Using a flipped chair gives you ways to approach a pose that blocks, blankets, straps, and cushions combined cannot. 

Advantages of Chair Yoga

There are every kind of reasons to make use of a chair in your yoga practice. 

It strengthens proprioception.

Proprioception is your awareness of where your body is in space. Having a chair as a touch point can assist you understand the position of your body and the way you’ll want to move to enter, hold, and exit a pose. In this fashion, practicing with a chair can transform your perception of many familiar poses. In Warrior III, for instance, using a chair to support either your hands or feet can assist you learn to square your hips and shoulders toward the bottom while drawing your legs and arms into their sockets.

With the support of a chair, you not have to focus on your balance, which allows you mental room to take into consideration details like pulling your navel toward your spine, flexing your toes, and squeezing your shoulder blades toward one another. 

It helps you experience the intended advantage of the pose.

Working with a chair may mean you can get right into a pose or stay in it longer than usual. It might assist you experience the intended alignment of part or the entire pose while safeguarding against injury, and it could aid in injury recovery by stopping overstretching or overexerting.

It gives you confidence.

Incorporating a chair into your asana practice gives you selections about easy methods to enter a pose and easy methods to make it accessible for you. It offers the chance to explore a pose more deeply and find different dimensions of it. A chair might help maximize stability. With this type of support, you could try a version of a pose you had previously ruled out.

It may well assist you chill out into the asana.

Using a chair allows you the posh of settling right into a pose and having fun with the depth of the stretch while also maintaining secure alignment. From a chair,  you may explore and unfold the probabilities many poses invite. 

Not So Easy After All

Perhaps essentially the most intriguing advantage of counting on a chair as a prop is its versatility.  The poses that follow will assist you embody elusive yoga shapes that otherwise could appear not possible to enter and difficult to carry. Start a chair more as a toy so as to add a component of fun to your practice.

(Photo: Andrew Clark. Clothing: Calia)

Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (Pigeon Pose)

Stand in front of your chair with the seat facing you. Place each hands on the chair back for support, then lift your left leg and position it so the skin of your thigh and shin are on the seat of the chair. Slide your knee forward and thru the open back of the chair as you lower your pelvis to rest on the sting of the seat. Square your hips and extend your right leg straight behind you together with your toes tucked. You possibly can place one arm on top of the opposite and rest your brow on them. Or keep your chest and head upright and make the pose lively by pressing your hands against the chair back. When you’re ready, press away from the chair back to return out of the pose. Repeat on the alternative side.

(Photo: Andrew Clark. Clothing: Calia)

High Lunge 

Face your chair with the seat facing you. Place each hands on the chair back and position your left foot gently onto the seat. Lowering your hips toward the ground, slide your foot through the open back of the chair, and find the ground together with your foot. Lower your left thigh and each hips onto the chair. Extend your right leg straight behind you and tuck your toes. Rest your arms on top of each other, or keep the upper body lively by pressing your hands against the back of the chair. Alternately, you may raise your arms alongside your ears and stay here or take a backbend. Try pressing into each feet and lifting your hips an inch off the chair and see how that becomes spicy in a short time.  When you’re ready, come out of the pose and repeat on the alternative side.

(Photo: Andrew Clark. Clothing: Calia)

Utkatasana (Chair Pose) With a Twist

Sit on the chair as you normally would and lean your torso forward, hinging at your hips. Resolve whether you’ll bring your hands into prayer position at your heart or open your arms straight out out of your shoulders. Turn your chest to the best to search out your twist. Allow your left arm or elbow to fall either in between your legs or outside your right leg. In case your arms are prolonged, your left hand may connect with the lower leg of the chair to further aid the depth of your twist. Whenever you’re ready, unwind and repeat on the opposite side. 

(Photo: Andrew Clark. Clothing: Calia)

Virabhadrasana III (Warrior III) With Arm Variations 

Stand facing the back of your chair. Chances are you’ll want to position a blanket on the chair back for padding. Lift your right leg and place the back of your ankle on top of the chair back. Make any adjustments to your stance so which you can stand together with your lifted leg prolonged straight. In the event you’re comfortable with the peak and position of the chair, take your foot off the chair and switch your back to it. Have two blocks on the ground in front of you (4 for those who need more height). Place them on any level positioned beneath your shoulders and place your hands on them for a supported Warrior III. Extend your leg straight back and hook the highest of your foot on the chair back. Square your hips and shoulders toward the ground. Engage your abdominals and lift your arms parallel to the bottom and in keeping with the remaining of your body. An alternative choice is to have your hands at heart center in prayer position. When you’re ready, come out of the pose and practice on the alternative side. 

(Photo: Andrew Clark. Clothing: Calia )

Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose)

Stand in the back of your chair and place a blanket on the chair back for those who need padding. Position a block near your left foot. Place your right ankle on the chair back. Make any adjustments to your stance so which you can stand together with your each legs prolonged straight. Keeping your ankle on the chair, internally rotate at your leg in order that your toes face left. At the identical time, pivot in your left heel so your toes and your body also face left. Lean to your left and convey your fingertips to the block. Stack your hips and your shoulders. Eventually you may play with lifting your left hand off the block. When you’re ready, support yourself with the block to take your leg off the chair and return to standing. Set as much as practice on the alternative side.

About Our Contributor

Noemi Nunez is a Latinx Renaissance Woman.  As an offering to her late mother, she created an progressive bilingual yoga class format and training program based on a somatic learning model. The mission of this bilingual yoga format, which has been featured by NBC Universal, is to offer a cultural bridge to further our understanding and supreme connection. Her bilingual yoga formula brings diversity and inclusivity to yoga rooms, one community at a time.