Chair Yoga Improves Self Esteem

A recent attendee of a chair yoga class cited how her improved posture and breathing helped her in a training program. By speaking in a more upright position (instead of slouching) and in a slow paced, (driven by her breathing) confident and capable manner, the student received unsolicited praise and resulting improved self esteem. The practice of chair yoga helps you to develop greater awareness of the position of your feet and hips, which then support your upper body. From there, you can build better posture by drawing your shoulders back and down. This will allow your head to be positioned over and not in front of your shoulders. This affects your ability to stand upright, appear more engaged to your audience, take in fuller breaths to calm one self and develop energy, and then address the situation in front of you. Learn more by contacting me with questions and attending classes. My book on creating your own chair yoga practice is due to be published soon.

Chair Yoga Reduces Muscle Tension When Traveling

Have you noticed that even with additional lumbar support in your car seat that your body still can tend to slump? And where do you rest your left foot while the right one is doing most of the work? What about your elbows, do they rest against evenly against your ribs or where ever you can find someplace to put them?
These are questions and issues that may clarify why travel can be so fatiguing. By applying principles of Chair Yoga, you will first look at and assess the angle of your seat whether you are in transit, waiting to travel, at work or at home. If you develop a level, stable chair then you continue with your foot awareness. Can you comfortably keep the non working foot, or both feet if resting, flat on the floor and knees pointed forward? This may reduce lower back tension as you can then position your hips up and forward to sit in a more upright position. When you bring the hips up and forward, you can then relax your shoulders down and back. Your head can have a more level base to lift up and view ahead without creating pressure in the neck.
To help further relax the neck and back muscles, place a small pillow or folded jacket behind your back as a support and reference point. Play with gently drawing your shoulder blades down towards the middle of your pillow as you draw your hips up. You can alternate between drawing them straight up and down or across. Remember to breathe and keep focused on the road!
Develop more strength and balance with my DVDs, classes and soon to be released book,
Chair Yoga for Body Alignment. Contact me with directly any questions/order requests (as my new web site is being developed) at howie@youcallthisyoga.org

Chair Yoga Improves Muscle Strength for Parkinson's Sufferers

The chair yoga classes at senior residences draw several students who suffer from Parkinson's Disease. They have limited ability to fully control their muscles, resulting in poor posture and problems with balance while walking.
After attending chair yoga classes for several months, one student with chronic Parkinson's Disease has been able to maintain a flat footed, stable seated position and gain the strength and focus to sit upright for increased periods of time during our class. She sometimes "bursts" out of class with her walker.
When you establish an evenly distributed placement of your feet with the ground, your hips can properly support your spine. Your "foot awareness" starts with "four points of contact", the pads below the big toe and your pinkie toe, and the inner and outer edges of your heels. This sets the stage to properly sit, walk and play. Improve your muscle strength and balance by coming to a chair yoga class or visit the web site, www.youcallthisyoga.com to order chair yoga videos and begin to sit, walk or play better.

Chair Yoga Improves Blood Circulation in the Feet

Last week, a new student to chair yoga cited challenges from her arthritis, high blood pressure and diabetes as limits to her mobility and desire to exercise. The student also complained of poor posture. Fortunately, our chair yoga class is designed to gently develop a rhythm and balance to breathing and movement.
We applied our 90 degree rule to develop right angles at our main joints. The ankles, knees, hips, elbows and chin were positioned to nearly this position. With the feet flat on the floor and spine extended upward, we explored full even breathing and gentle weight bearing movements. By the end of class, our new student was able to sit in a more upright position and breathe with less constraint. The gentle pumping of her feet caused the purple magenta color of her feet to change to patches of pink, flesh colored skin. Her family was amazed.
You can benefit from improved breathing, posture and circulation anywhere by visiting my web site, www.youcallthisyoga.com to learn more tips, see class schedules and acquire Chair Yoga with Howie Shareff DVDS

Chair Yoga for Headache Relief

This result occurred last week for a young woman who participated in her first chair yoga class at the Helen Wright Center for Women. She had suffered for two days; over the counter medication was ineffective. Our chair yoga class focused on alignment of the body from the feet to the crown of the head. The coordination of sitting upright with the feet flat on the floor and breathing rhythmically for several minutes helped the group to develop better posture. From this Sitting Mountain Pose, we refined our balance of breathing and movement by drawing the shoulders down and back, the shoulder blades closer together and the head back over the spine. Proper posture helped her and other class members reduce muscle tension. The student with the headache experienced relief of her prolonged pain by the end of class.

Lessons of the Student Teacher

Friday, 1/29 provided two classes at the North Regional Library. The mat class drew seven students, five of which were new or limited in exposure to yoga. Four of the newbies were co-workers from the same office. After a brief orientation of yoga as a path to greater awareness, the group rested on their backs. We explored body awareness by focusing on areas that contacted the floor. Breath awareness began with focusing on one’s natural breath and then shifting to a deeper pelvic/diaphragm driven centering breath. A rhythmic pattern of nasal inhalation, pausing, then exhaling by mouth allowed us to expand the lungs in all three planes. We then developed mini-breaths to the belly, heart and chest areas to deepen the inhale, leading to an even deeper diaphragm breath that drew the belly to the spine. The reclining poses were similar to those in yesterday’s class at the Alexander YMCA. To complete the breath awareness, diaphragm driven core (Hara) breaths were employed with a Warrior and Victory Pose flow. This helped to build better balance as we shifted from side to side for each pose. The new students were juiced.

How juiced? Enough for all five to double dip and stay for chair yoga. Being office workers, we explored the 90 degree rule and foot awareness to develop proper posture. Foot position was emphasized as a foundation for the hips to support the spine. Drawing the shoulder blades down and in helped relax the neck and shoulders. The yoga for fliers regimen was presented: pelvic tips, hip sway, drawing opposite shoulders and hips together, and neck extensions. The “airport sets” of trunk twists (with spinal extension to decompress the discs), hip opening (using single legs for support) and foot flexing (for the calves and hamstrings) were then reviewed. We put it together in the Golf Swing Stretch to combine the rhythm of the hip sway and trunk twist with maintenance of the foot awareness (staying upright) and keeping the elbows drawn in. All this while focusing on the knee (the ball) and breathing. Who said golf/ yoga was easy?

Lessons of the Student Teacher

Thursday, 1/28’s gentle mat class at the Alexander YMCA drew 12 students with a broad set of yoga experiences. Two students had noticeable back issues and were positioned close to me for supervision. We built bolsters with a block and blankets for a supported rest back to help the hips, shoulders and neck to roll back and “open” more. Foot awareness was developed with emphasis on the feet each having four points of contact with the floor, placed under the knees. We explored loosening of the sacrum, S-I joints, hips, and waist in 3 dimensions, using the feet as a base and the upper body for further support. After a completing a Bridge Pose sequence (mini-lower back lift, half-lift up to the shoulder blades, full-lift up to the shoulders) to engage the core muscles. We turned over for Cat/Cow stretches to counter pose the reclining poses and moved to the Downward Dog series (half-to warm up, 1/4 to extend the side muscles, full to stretch the hamstring and activate the shoulder muscles) to lengthen the mid back and side muscles. The group arose to Mountain Pose and built further breath awareness by practicing deep centering (Hara) breaths. We engaged the legs for strength and balance with short lunges, Half Moon, and trunk bends. Combining the Hara breaths with left and right Warrior 1, Victory Pose, and vertical arm extensions created a nice rhythmic flow and heated the body up rapidly. We wound down the fun with legs up against the wall to calm the nervous system and drain fluid build up in the legs.