5 Easy Chair Yoga:
Yoga has become a very widespread practice in the West, since it has great benefits to reduce stress and strengthen and improve body flexibility, although it can be a bit intimidating for some people because they think that they cannot bend taking certain positions, They either feel like they can’t follow the other class participants, or they just have a physical condition that doesn’t allow them to take a yoga class for a full hour.
Yoga chair
The application of Chair Yoga in therapeutic Yoga as prop is one of the most valuable tools we have. If you do therapeutic Yoga in your room, it is essential that you have a few of them. You can choose to have folding wooden chairs that you can keep. It goes without saying that the chair must have a backrest and that it is recommended that the height of the backrest reaches the waist. It is very important that the chairs have a certain weight, so try to avoid plastic or aluminum, since it can generate a lot of instability.
Chair Yoga Contraindications
Poor guidance on the use of the chair can be highly dangerous in vulnerable populations (spinal injuries, the elderly, obesity). It is not advisable to use inverted chair asanas for the following reasons:
Loss of balance and risk of falling
Increased intradiscal pressure of the spine, risk of spinal injury
Development of exercise outside the optimal ROM of the spine that favours the appearance of injuries
Cat-Cow Saddle Stretch
- Keep your spine stretched, with both feet together and well supported on the ground.
- Inhale, take the cow position, arching your back and dropping your shoulders.
- Exhale, bend your back, allowing your shoulders and head to settle into a cat position.
- Continue these movements, inhaling in the cow position and exhaling in the cat position for 5 breaths.
Benefits: This posture improves the flexibility of the spine and abdominal strength.
Pose of the hand up (Urdhva Hastasana)
- If you feel like your body is completely depleted before the end of the workday, especially after noon, yoga experts recommend doing this quick one-minute yoga pose to revitalize your body. To do it:
- Inhale and raise your arms above shoulder width, palms facing each other. Then exhale as you lower your arms.
- Repeat 5 to 10 times or grip your arms above your head for 3 to 5 deep breaths slowly, after that respire as you lower them.
Virabhadrasana II – Warrior II posture
Technique:
- Support the entire back of the right thigh on the chair and do not support the gluteus. Stretch your left leg. The right heel should be towards the middle of the arch of the left foot. If this is not possible, move forward with your left foot until the knee stretches.
- Raise your arms at shoulder level, palms down.
- Rotate your right foot 90 degrees to the right and your left foot slightly to the right, keeping your left leg extended and with your knee muscles firm. The right knee should be aligned with the right heel.
- Extend your hands to your sides, as if two people are pulling you from opposite ends.
- Turn your face to the right and look at your right hand. Fully stretch the posterior muscles of the left leg. The back of the legs, the dorsal region and the hips, should be aligned.
- Stay in position for one minute, breathing normally.
- Repeat on the other side.
Effects:
Through this position, the leg muscles are shaped and strengthened. Relieves calf and thigh cramps, gives resistance to the leg and back muscles and tones also the abdominal organs.
