Energizing Chair Yoga for Seniors & Beginners // 25 minute Dynamic Flow

Transcript

hi and welcome to this all seated energizing chair yoga routine you'll love this routine if you've done my other chair yogas we have a lot of big Dynamic moves here so there's a lot of flow we will be relaxing we will be focusing on our breath but it's going to leave you feeling energized and there's a lot of movement to this practice so getting started everyone seated in your chair prably a chair with outside arms is best and we're going to sit up nice and Tall the knees are straight in line with the hips ankles in line with our knees roll the shoulders down and back we engage our core by tightening in the belly button region and not allowing the ribs to flare out thinking about a rib hip connection here so the Torso is nice and firm and we have an imaginary string from the top of our head head allowing us to sit up as tall as we possibly can big inhale here exhale slowly through your mouth again inhale [Music] exhale and one more time inhale exhale out we'll be starting this practice today from the bottom and work our way up so simply putting the weight into our toes we lift our heels squeezing the calf muscles and slowly lower them back down lift and lower one more like this now the opposite let's lift our toes up and down heels stay on the floor feeling this in front of the Shins let's alternate one heel one toes [Music] up breathe in breathe out last two and last one lower those heels down extend the right leg straight out in front I really want you to squeeze the quad the muscles on top of the thigh here and then put it down four times like this we lift straighten the knee as much as you can and lower down we're just straightening the leg we're not lifting anything you might feel it a little bit in the hip really want you to feel working the muscles on top here important for knee strength let's leave this last one up and give me four ankle circles to the outside so four 3 2 one slowly lower that leg other side we lift and lower and the foot is neither pointed nor flexed it's just neutral squeeze straight straighten that knee hold this one up and again Circle the ankle to that outside lower down let's do that again right leg up for four 3 2 hold it here this time Circle the ankle to the [Music] inside relax it down lift for four 3 2 hold Circle [Music] in and lower down coming to the edge of our chair again making sure our feet are still in line here grow tall relax the shoulders again another deep breath in and and exhale let's take our right leg and we're just going to kind of butterfly it out to the side here rolling onto the side of the foot but everything else stays still and square bring it back in left leg out to the side and bring it back in so I want you to feel this in the outside of your hips and then the inner thigh using those inner thigh muscles to bring the leg back in out in out in let's do the legs together out and in remember your tight core here I have some specialized core work in store in this video for you guys let's go three two last one let's relax back into our chair so now our backs are pressed into the back of the chair supporting us taking a slow March alternating legs we lift up and down and again I want you to think about your core here those muscles are helping you especially the lower ones here lift the leg exhale inhale two more like this let's hold the right leg up we extend it bring it back in then lower down Other Side Up extend in and lower it's okay if your leg doesn't come very high up off that chair we'll get you stronger few more last one beautiful work coming to the edge of our chair again making sure we are all lined up working up now into our spine we're going to take a cat Cow we're going to tuck our chin rounding our back it's like you're gazing at your navl coming back a little C curve think about t tucking your hips and then the opposite into our cow our chin comes up and our shoulders come back and we Arch that back this should feel lovely on that lower back take this at your own pace let's exhale and then inhale allow the ribs to expand when we're in our cow I have a side view here on the screen so you can see what the back should be [Music] doing everyone's positions will be different [Music] here let's take one more finish in our seated cat and then we come back up to a neutral spine like to call this next move stirring the pot so we're going to flow through those two movements the cat and the cow when our torso is forward and back so we're going to start forward our chin comes up we're going to go out to the side we come through the back that cow position to the other side and end up back front so we're just making a nice big circle here remember to tuck those hips and front we'll finish three on that side and let's reverse we come forward shoulders back round gaze at your navl all the way through this should feel amazing again on that lower back really waking up that spine and we finish here come back to Center next we're going to open up our legs nice and wide I want you to make sure that your knees are pushed back and that they're in line with the ankle so I don't want you to your knees to come forward like this we want to keep them in line so if you need to bring your feet a little bit closer to keep the knees pressed back then that's the most appropriate position for you so as long as you are comfortable and knees stay pressed back again we grow tall give me a big inhale arms come up exhale push the arms down at the sides and we leave them there shoot some energy out through those fingertips having that rib hi connection again Naval into the spine just using the ABS and the Torso we lean to the side like you're trying to reach something come back to Center Reach come back to Center this is great for the obliques and again you might be feeling a stretch in that lower back maybe a peek down make sure that your knees haven't dropped forward reach and reach both sit bones stay in the chair think about just moving the top half of the body okay next one we're going to hold here lower the left arm so it's supported on the knee pick up your other arm it reaches over big side body stretch hold here and then just the arm is moving we rainbow it out to the side and slightly behind us and we come back trying to meet those hands together hand if it head if it's comfortable for you is going to follow the hand and reach exhale inhale and exhale one more [Music] time and we leave it open and out to the side push up off your thigh out to the side again four more times we reach side and Center let's grow taller as we do do [Music] this hold here drop the left elbow to the left thigh that was your right left hand reaches all the way up and over and then twist around opening rainbowing that arm down and back again inhale [Music] exhale I say you guys do you everybody's range of motion is going to be different here but this should feel amazing on that torso chest opener stretching those shoulders and we come back here back out to the side push up and relax down let's tow heel the feet in extending the right leg in front we're going to scoop down and then reach up Big Stretch so make sure your other leg here is is stable toes to the ceiling heel on the floor res scoop feeling a hamstring stretch and big reach up two more [Music] last [Music] one and down other side Flex the toe we scoop big reach up exhale inhale [Music] let's take one more hold it down here feel that stretch nice proud chest and walk your hands back up bending that left leg taking the hands underneath the thigh if it's available to you and we're going to hug that knee in again just as much as you're comfortable with relaxing the shoulders little hug in and if you're able to we're going to take that ankle Crossing it over into a figure four modification here is to cross at the ankle the idea is to open up that hip so wherever you're comfortable crossed at the ankle or above the knee give yourself a minute here to relax and this beautiful hip opener I do it in almost every my videos it is my favorite stretch if you'd like to deepen the stretch we can slightly lift our chin and ever so slightly hinge forward with a straight spine you'll feel that stretch go even deeper into the hip big inhale and exhale one more [Music] time let's lift the Torso and gently help that leg down right leg stretches out we're going to come down one more time holding the hamstring stretch again prow chest straight back inhale exhale let's gently walk our hands up our leg lacing our fingers underneath our thigh bending the knee we hug it in towards the [Music] body and once again you're either going to cross at the ankle or assist that leg Crossing above the knee remember to grow tall foot is slightly flexed allow the hip to relax taking deep breaths and again if you'd like to intensify we hinge forward ever so [Music] slightly take a couple deep breaths on your own [Music] here one more we lift the Torso and gently help that leg down bringing the hands to prayer we're sitting just about halfway back in our chair we inhale arms come up exhale press down flip the Palms inhale arms up and exhale down we're going to do this a few more times really reach up taking our hands here from prayer we're in a crisscross so fingers are on the opposite shoulder sitting up as tall as you can keeping the straighter neutral spine working on the core here we're going to lean back maybe touch your upper back to the chair and keeping that straight spine we come right back up so check out this side view here as you can tell I'm not moving anything except that hinge position so you're really going to feel this in your core making sure your belly button pulled into that that spine and you're breathing two more and last [Music] one nice job lower the arms inhale and they exhale elbows coming out to the side fingertips gently behind the head inhale here as we exhale we're going to pull the elbows together inhale open exhale pull feeling a beautiful shoulder stretch here and into the back as well open the chest elbows back and then squeeze together adding on here with a little crunch open exhale drop the chin round the back crunch down and open [Music] inhale one [Music] more open up stay here bringing the left elbow to the right knee we have a little Crunch and lift up staying on this side and it does doesn't matter if the elbow doesn't hit that knee we are doing our best it's about progress not Perfection one more other side we twist and come up inhale exhale on that twist let's alternate one in one crunch open [Music] up relax the arms down coming to the edge of our chair let's extend the right leg out to the side whatever is comfortable for you toe can be forward or toe can be out to the side and then lift your right arm up as well you can hold on to the side of the chair for some stability inhale reach up as high as you can and then side lean over inhale up exhale side lean one more time and relax it down that feels great after working those abs same thing other side extend the leg out wherever it's comfortable for you arm comes up reach up high as we can first inhale exhale side and [Music] [Music] reach lower the arm and bring that leg back in coming back to the position we started in everything is nice and square and Center here flex your hands towards me so fingertips are towards the floor Palms towards me straight elbows really open up that rest hold here trying to pull your fingers even further down and back and then the opposite let's point the fingers towards the ceiling or maybe even a little a little bit towards you feeling a beautiful stretch in the wrist here coming back to that flexed position if you were able to we're going to lace the fingertips together and then turn inside out here again only if it's available to you if not just bring your hands back in a prayer position inhale arms come up as we reach up I want you to think about dropping your shoulders down but your hands reaching higher to the ceiling beautiful stretch there for the arms and again we lean over to the side Center side and Center one more [Music] time release those fingers and drop the the hand extend the right arm out to the side then I want you to take your left ear towards your left shoulder you should feel beautiful stretch all the way down the side of your neck shooting out your fingertips we're going to hold that here and then take some nice slow wrist circles and really just release allowing that neck to relax reverse the wrist [Music] Circle lower the arm lift the head let's go to the other side right ear to right shoulder and extend the left arm out sit up tall relax the shoulders down and back wrist Circle [Music] back and [Music] reverse and lower down let's roll our chin down to our chest and hands are just relaxed at our sides nice and slow in a movement that's comfortable for you we're just taking a neck roll only to the front and a half circle so we're back to that ear towards the shoulder position and a slow roll coming through Center to the other side try not to lean forward here and if you have a sore spot and need to stay there and hang out for a minute allow it to release please do so one more time each [Music] side let's finish chin down Center and then we lift our chin and our final exercise do a big inhale arms come up exhale push the arms down and then give me a big shoulder roll up and Back Again inhale exhale shoulder roll up and back inhale exhale and shoulder roll arms out to the side cross them in front give yourself a big hug here and a nice stretch for a job well done I hope you feel amazing I know I feel better as well let me know how you guys like this in the comments I love hearing from my viewers thanks for working out with me and we'll see you next [Music] time