Introduction to Chair Yoga: A Mindful, Simple yet Effective Practice

Transcript

hi i'm judy barr lead yoga therapist in the cleveland clinic wellness and preventive medicine it's my pleasure to be here with you today and maybe drop a couple myths about what yoga is about and how easy and accessible it can be so my job today is to show you a few easy poses linking it with breath and movement and presence which helps to calm us right so calming that nervous system is a pretty darn good thing to do and move through some of the poses that we're doing so what i'd like to invite you to do is make sure you have a sturdy chair that's on on not on a slippery surface so maybe not on a throw rug make sure your your chair is sturdy right i'm going to invite you to take your shoes off now if you have neuropathy you want to be careful right the idea of taking our shoes off is to get some blood flow and move our feet which is really good for us but you want to be careful that when you put your shoes on you brush brush your feet off and if you're not in a place where you feel comfortable doing that of course don't leave your shoes on so the first thing we're going to start to talk about is posture now i'm going to kick my shoes off so that we can give you an example of that throw those over there now let's work on our posture right so scooch up and come as far forward on the chair as you can right so i'm not up against the back of the chair i want to be facing forward and off the back of the chair this asks your body to hold you up so it's actually automatically strengthening it's also going to help you to stay in the moment when you realize oh i'm slouching right so we want to we want to really sit up straight and continue to work on that so if you remember nothing else of what we're doing from this is begin to watch your posture right so we're sitting on the chair my heels are under my knees my shoulders are over my hips right shoulders up back and down and think real tall nice easy neck very tall palms down elbows in so let's take a couple breaths here in and out of the nose at your pace right now one other thing about this is no pain in yoga so if you happen to feel something if i ask you to do something and it doesn't feel right and if you feel pain in a joint don't do it numbing tingling edge tingling edgy kind of feeling um just adapt it or sit still for a bit so don't force right all right so here we are we're sitting straight elbows to your sides let's take a couple breaths in and out through the nose nice and easy now your pace see if you can feel that air coming in through your nose and out through your nose good so let's get started with the motion so i'm going to turn my nose looking one way take a breath in and exhale as you go the other now we're just moving that range of motion for the neck another big breath in one way breathing in right so we want to move and breathe at the same time let's come back that gets nutrients to the body drop your chin and put your ear to the shoulder so my nose is facing forward big breath in but my ears to the shoulder we're stretching the side of the neck and breathe so even if i suggest inhale or exhale just as long as you're breathing that's the main thing this is really nice you're gonna hear feel some popping sounds right and no pain though if if you notice anything i get to feel the stretch here big breath in drop it down and over we go really simple motions done mindfully breathe drop your head and come back up good nice big breath in exhale with a sigh ah good let your arms drop shake them out a little bit so shake your wrists and we get some arthritis here so we want to get some glide so getting motion in our joints open and close those elbows right and then move your shoulders a bit shake it out now lean back and shake a leg right so you're shaking your ankle opening closing your knee and moving side to side now you can do this in any type of clothing just as long as it's comfortable right breathe we don't need special clothing to do this now let's just tap our feet again if you have neuropathy be careful but let's just tap your feet a little bit get a little bit of energy going down there and then stop it take a big breath in and exhale ah so getting circulation going that support a healthy immune system too all right with your arms dropped let's just roll our shoulders around now again you might feel a little cracking and popping be careful no pain but nice easy roll all right now when you do it the other way we're moving forward pull it and see if you can pull the shoulder blade away slightly from the spine you can move your body breathe right remove and breathe so body awareness what am i noticing and then conscious breath awareness right up and down and forward and back good put your hands down take a nice big breath in and exhale ah good let's put your hands behind you on the chair sit up nice and tall and kiss your shoulder blades back it's almost like you're sticking your chest out right and put it anywhere on the chair that you can sometimes we feel a little tight up here but let's open this up press down on the chair if you can and just gently starting to look up and out right take a big breath in and big breath out we're open right we're open to new ways of thinking and being i like to say that when we open our chest like this it might even you might even notice that it helps you breathe a little bit better big inhale but this counteracts gravity and how often we allow ourselves to curl so we want to remind ourselves of that so that's fan pose when you reach back like that it opens and it helps you breathe a little bit better all right let's take a big breath in and then as you exhale we're going to twist this way so this hand can go here or here and this hand is really low press down sit up really tall and then exhale twist and look all the way around as far as you can go all right let's take about two or three breaths inhale and exhale stay really tall maybe you feel a little pop in your back it's okay again as long as there's no pain another breath in and out one more for good measure breathe and come back what does that feel like right so you don't have to go far don't have to push just listen to your body body awareness we're going to reverse it going that way hand here or here right either way this is a little deeper this is a little easier hand low up you go we really want to create some space in our spine right so as we breathe and that's the cool part about yoga it's moving so we're getting circulation but that also means getting nutrients to different parts of our body breathe in and breathe out good let's come around so how'd that feel all right let's take our hands and you can use your hands or your elbows and just lean forward a bit right so as you're leaning forward get some weight into your legs with your arms and see if you notice a little bit of a stretch or an ease in your back all right take a breath in and then if you feel comfortable let your head drop and the weight of our head is going to stretch your neck and breathe in and breathe out good tuck and roll yourself up and then bring your shoulders back and down and let's come back into our nice we call it seated mountain and yoga so nice big breath in and a big breath out maybe even out through your mouth like that all right now we're going to try a little motion of the spine this is great to soften the muscles and lower mid upper back but also again think about it's getting blood flow right so as you take a big breath in curl back so watch this we're curling low right don't we're not doing this we're going like that so as you sit up nice and straight take a breath pull the belly in curl roll your shoulders and feel your low back mid back and upper back as you come up sit tall pull your shoulders back lean forward i like to say it's almost like we're given a smooch right as you lean back we're arching our back just slightly the other way so this is called cat cow all right big breath in so cat curl right or cat cow curl down and inhale and up just breathe it doesn't matter if you're breathing how i'm suggesting right but just be inhale and exhale let's do it one more time low and curl come up and then pull your shoulders back and lean listen to your body no pain now let's try that a lot smaller if you're traveling somewhere if you're in the car an airplane maybe you feel a little bit tight what if you just kind of curled like this and then went back up i feel my lower back getting a little stretch there try it go really low here and up let's come back the key with yoga is that we're moving and breathing at the same time in that you say well of course we do but we're being conscious about it right all right so we just did that cat girl let's get another motion of the spine so let's put let's take this hand put it down on your chair because we're going to put some weight on it so make sure you feel supported take the other hand keep those shoulders back you're nice and tall palm out inhale scoop it up reach up big breath in press down keep your shoulder back so we don't want to go like this we want to stay tall big inhale exhale over you go now lots of weight here breathe in now you may find that it feels a little tight to breathe because our lungs are are pushing up against the muscles there another big breath in but how good it helps to build some lung capacity too as we do that another big breath in good exhale come up now while we're here look up at your hand and move it like this move your wrist almost like you're trying to grab a light bulb right get it really tall move that wrist then completely back up to neutral lengthen up let this arm flow down good all right let's try the other side you may want to scooch over just a little bit put your hand on the chair you're nice and tall shoulders are back palm is out big breath in up you go real tall right inhale keep the shoulder back and then exhale over and again just breathe just breathe however it feels comfortable for you inhale listen to your body you know i should have said this a little bit sooner if your arm doesn't go up that high take it wherever it'll go don't force it big breath in big breath out just moving alone is fine won't matter where that arm is another breath in and out and then push into the chair as you come up and then look up move your fingers move your wrist move that around a little bit and then reach up and exhale let your arm float down good shake that out a little bit sit up nice and tall notice how you feel good now put your palms out we're going to we'll do some motion again so as you lift your arms again if they don't want to go all the way up because of your shoulder or whatever don't worry about it just keep them low you can keep them even here take them as high as you feel are comfortable palms out now we're going to time as we bring our arms up come up to the inhale and then exhale as you bring your arms down let's do three of them we call it the sun breath it's opening to a beautiful day right all right inhale scoop it up big inhale arms only go as high as you want them to go and then exhale down maybe drop your chin a little bit you're tying your breath with your inhale right so my inhale is going with my the movement of my arm so tying the breath with the movement of our arms to be more specific right there's the finish of the exhale one more time so you may go faster or slower than me because of your breathing pattern right and that's okay exhale drop we learn to practice doing this at our own pace good sit up straight take a big breath in and big breath out nice okay we're going to open our legs and in opening our legs you want your hips and your knees and your toes pointed just in a gentle direction don't try to force it this is good for the pelvic floor but this also will help our knees and our lower back put your hands on your thighs roll your shoulders down and back and basically we're just going to lean forward but tummy in right so tummy halfway try this push it all the way out now pull it in so tight you can hardly breathe now let it out just a little bit all right now that's it all right take a breath and lean forward so we've got lots of weight here lean forward inhale and exhale see as you're pushing here this is going to help to stretch your legs big inhale and only go as far as you feel comfortable another inhale and exhale gentle accessible motion another breath in how's that feel the bod your weight of your body is helping to stretch right all right inhale and come up nice put your hands behind you now just do a little knee drop like this what we're doing is we're moving the thigh bone in the hip socket so in doing that oh it's really good especially if we have a little arthritis whether we do or not it just gets us lots of nice motion in here and it'll also stretch this area let's come the other way drop it down take stay nice and tall breathe and let it move nice and easy good all right let's finish that heels down right sit up nice and straight lean back and bring your legs together slowly and sitting up nice and straight all right take a breath in and a big breath out ah good all right now we're going to prepare to stand up and say oh it's maybe pretty easy but what i want you to concentrate on when we do this is are you using your hands to help you get up now if you are you may need to be safe so if you can do this without holding on great if you if you can't no worries all right so we're sitting up straight right and in doing this pulling your tummy in i'm going to turn and show you from the side as we stand up try not to use your hands if you don't feel safe absolutely use your hands but let's see if we can use our legs now remember tummy in a little bit i'm going to look in the direction we're going you don't have to turn to the side i'm just doing it to show you you can stand here or here whatever makes sense all right we're going to start to stand up together here we go ready inhale and then exhale slowly stand up and there you go all right so we were practicing sitting up straight right our posture let's see what that feels like standing what is our what does good posture mean standing now i'm going to move the chair so you can see my body you don't have to keep it in front of you because it will be using it for balance i'm just going to turn mine to the side for a moment all right so shoulders down and back let's put our feet a couple inches apart remember i took my shoes off it's up to you whether you feel comfortable standing wherever you are with your shoes off it'll be good for your feet but not no worries okay knees hips and toes pointed forward activate your legs pull your tummy in a little bit firm up that buttock think really tall shoulders down and back and put your palms out all right big breath in and big breath out ah oh that could feel so good now we're going to do the same arms we just did uh with scooping them up but we're going to keep them up so inhale take them up only as high as you can right so it won't matter where they are take them as high as you can and then think of a stretch right so if your arms are here it's okay wherever they are press down lengthen breathe in and breathe out so think really tall it's the spine it's really not our arms that are reaching all right lengthen up and exhale over to the side try not to let this drop a little bit and let's just do a sway so keep your breath going over you go up over you go up and you can hold on right here if you did put it to the side help yourself to feel very secure and safe look up just for a moment bend your knees hold on to the chair and come down good shake it out all right standing nice and tall hold on to the chair so you can be both hands or one and just let your feet move like this right so we're just prancing our feet this is that idea of getting more blood flow softening the feet so that we have a better gait that our foot just works with the ground as we move right good all right put those down shake that out a little bit and then now i'm going to turn sideways you can stay forward but i'm i want both hands on the chair and as we stand up really nice and tall shoulders are down and back come up to tiptoe and come down right so we're raising up breathe in and breathe out or just remember to breathe right so we're strengthening the ankles and also helping to strengthen our legs all right inhale come up now if you feel confident you want to take a finger off that's fine it's not important but the tummy is in everything is stacked up nice and sturdy to hold you up all right nice big breath in and then exhale lower down really slow all right see how that felt so ideally you'll want to practice as you walk feeling your foot on the floor or on the ground right and practicing that that your balance some even if just you take your foot off so let's try that let's hold on what if you put a toe down and then just lift it up right maybe you take your hands off how about when you're brushing your teeth try that right but always safe the most important thing is that you feel safe doing what what we're practicing right breathe and come down all right shake it out we're going to do a stretch on the chair now be careful you don't want to pull on the chair you're just going to lightly put your hands on the chair but we're going to walk back you can do this on the kitchen sink initially i called it kitchen sink pose after a long day preparing thanksgiving dinner i stretched so we're going to try that here big breath in walk back keep your feet under your buttock and head up especially if you get dizzy right you want to keep that head up and pull back and breathe in and breathe out i'm going to move my feet back a little bit more you can bend your knees keep your head up so you don't get too dizzy and see if you can feel this in your back and breathe in and out tummies in come up wag your tail then tuck your chin and bring yourself up stand tall now hold on because you might feel dizzy good let's try one more for our feet all right so i'll do this way let's pretend i have a chair right here i'm going to hold on you hold on with both hands big breath in and bend your knees right so i can be holding here i'm going to hold here pretend i have a chair here too right okay get your way back to your heels and then get your way to your toes and see if you can feel a stretch in the back of your heel and breathe good all right up you go oh that's nice let's stand tall we're going to prepare to sit down again just take a breath in see what this feels like make big breath in and out and if you've moved the chair let's turn it to come back to seated all right now we're transitioning to a slower part and hopefully you remembered when you to sit down to not use your hands right come into mountain pose nice and sturdy so here we are let's sit up straight take a big breath in big breath out we're off the back of the chair ankles are right under the knees we're nice and tall seated mountain let's take your hands scoop them under the thigh take a breath in and as you exhale bring it up wiggle those toes a little bit and circle shake it out and then hold it for a moment now the weight of the leg is in your hands if i let go my leg will go right so hold on to it and this will help to relax your back nice relaxed feet and exhale go down toe ball heel other side big breath in exhale come up wiggle those toes move that ankle a little bit shake it out hold it there and then come down toe ball heel now try that again with just your foot watch lift it up and go toe ball heel lift it up and go toe ball heel now in this one lift it up and go heel ball toe and then this one go heel ball toe so what's happening is we're moving our feet and keeping them a little bit more flexible so remind yourself do a little bit of foot exercises now and again get some blood flow like that all right another inhale and exhale let's move our fingers and circle your wrists now we didn't when they were raised up before but let's just touch your fingers open and close right and now just pull on each one of your fingers we're not doing it to crack knuckles but just to create space create space in those joints so pulling and then open and close right stretch them out and then stretch good now bring them up that might be hard try to keep your elbows straight right and then push it out stretch open and close and open and close so that's just to get some blood flow and get our hands moving and that also helps the the joints around arthritis right all right take a breath in and just do a little curl and come up and a little curl just slowing down the finish and come back up and down good sitting up nice and straight ear to shoulder let yourself drop and up and feel the weight of your head stretching your neck exhale over and up and then a nice big breath in a little easy twist here and an easy twist here good let's come to neutral now we're gonna relax we're gonna sit still for about a minute maybe two but to do this come back on the chair but your spine is nice and tall and maybe you can feel your shoulders against the back right put your palms up feet are flat and if you want to drop your eyes down or close your eyes whatever feels comfortable let's just slow that down and start to get a little more focused on our breath so i'm breathing in and i'm breathing out and just a very easy breath in and out of the nose your timing this slows us down yoga can help us also in our calming aspect to just down regulate that stress and that anxiety now as you're breathing think of something that makes you feel really good someone you love a grandchild a puppy a friend a beautiful scenery and just feel it in your heart as you breathe just attach it if as if you can attach it to your breath right breathing in just that that beautiful feeling of of love and gratitude and well-being another breath in good let's gently open your eyes and move forward on the chair again so we'll come back rub your hands together and put them gently over your chest feel the warmth of your hands against your chest breathing in and breathing out good palms out so we'll finish what are you grateful for today too often we look at what we don't have right instead of what we do so some of the simplest things in our life can bring such gratitude so with the deepest gratitude for all we have in our lives we know that even our challenges can be blessings in disguise and we have no complaints whatsoever so thank you for taking the time to do this with me try to do a stretch every day notice your posture and remember to be conscious of your breath thank you for joining me you