Iyengar Yoga with a Chair

Hello, everyone. Welcome. So for today's session, I'd like to showcase for you the chair. We're gonna go through a practice that utilizes the chair in all sorts of creative ways. It's a very fun prop. I hope you enjoy it. And it's a well rounded practice.

We'll target all sorts of different parts of the body. Alright. To begin, have the chair on your mat similar to this. Now one thing we need to understand is that the chair, whatever chair you're using, that's the size of the chair. So there's a little bit of modifying to make sure that the chair is gonna serve you in the best possible way as we go through these these poses. We're gonna start with verbatrasna too. Okay? So now for me, I'm I'm only 5 feet tall, and when I sit on this chair like this, I'm gonna sit all the way back so that my knee, the inside of my knee hooks here on the back of the chair. And then when I do that, my feet are sort of dangling.

So I need to to manage that so that the feet have a good grounded connection. So I've just brought a couple of bricks here. And I'm gonna place my feet on those bricks. Now when I do that, all of a sudden, I've become like tall person. And so now my knees are just a little higher than I want them to be.

And if you're just longer limbed in general, even with your feet on the floor, when you sit on this share, if you find that the knees are higher than your hips, you've got sort of this angle, then it'd be wise to lift the chair seat up. And you can do that by just adding a blanket. I would fold it like so so that the blanket is only on this back half of the of the chair and then have a seat here. K. So, again, you're sitting as far back on the chair as you can, and you're hooking your knees as close into the chair as is possible. K? Plant your feet down.

Just rest your hands on your thighs and then sit upright, sit tall. Think of this, almost like, seeded tadas now. K. Big broad feet. Remember those three points, big toe mount, inner heel, outer edge of the foot, sharply press, strongly press, and then lift your chest up. Now keep your right leg exactly as it is.

Take your right hand and just hold the back of the chair. And now with your left leg, open yourself up. So you're creating a right angle here. And once you've done that, your left buttock is literally off the chair. Okay? This is important. That's why I've told you to have that knee all the way back. Okay? So now bring it back.

Swing it back here, sit tall, and again, right foot, strongly press it into the floor, into that, for me, into the brick, and open the left leg up. Turn your abdomen to the left. Bring it back. Couple more times. Open yourself up.

Bring it back. Open yourself up. Bring it back. Okay. We're gonna carry forward. So now come to where we've left off.

Left buttock is hanging off of the chair. Now swing your left arm behind you and hold the chair seat. Turn or chair back, not the seat, but the frame of the chair. Turn your abdomen to the left. And now with the with that left leg, step it a step it out. Okay? And the challenge here is not to have it way forward, but how far back can you get it?

Press your left thigh back, and you can use sort of the structure of your chair as a little bit of feedback. You're pressing against it. Turn your right knee to the right, turn your right side to the right, and, again, using the chair, push back against it. Turn your abdomen to the left, and then holding the chair frame, lift your chest up, drop your shoulders. Virdrasma.

2. Okay. Last thing here. You're not exactly seated on the chair. I'm not collapsed into the chair. It's almost like I'm hovering, push into the feet.

There's just a little bit of buoyancy in the pose. Alright. Release slowly bring the leg back and then again back to the side here. Take a moment. Find your breath. And now that you have a better sense of where we're headed, let's try that one more time. Okay. Right hand on the chair frame.

You're seated well back on your chair seat and now open your left leg up to the front. Left buttock hangs off, turn your abdomen to the left, swing your left arm behind you, lift your chest up. Press strongly into your right foot. Those three points of the foot, press down, and then extend your left leg out. Press your left thigh back, turn your right thigh out.

And as you press into both feet, both feet just find a little bit of buoyancy, a little bit of left lift. K. On your left foot, roll the outside edge of the foot down. Turn your right thigh out again. Good. And then release.

Bring the leg back, bring it back, and seated tadasana. Okay. Let's go this much on the second side. K. So you've got to just reorganize your props. Take your blanket. If you're seated up a little higher like I am, and then move it.

And then same if you needed a little bit of lift for your feet, you're gonna move it over. To the other side. Start seated sideways on your chair. And again, hook the back of the knee as close towards the chair seat there as you can. Big broad feet, press down, lift your chest up.

K. Left arm. Can hold the chair frame, the chair back, and now open yourself up to the right. Foot comes down. Okay. Turn your abdomen in that direction and then swing your right arm behind you. Yes.

Good. And then bring the leg back. Okay. We'll take this leg. We'll just do a few rounds like before. Take the leg forward, even forget the arm behind you for right now.

Keep it like this, and then swing it back. Lake comes forward. Turn the abdomen. Bring the leg back. Take it out.

Bring it back. Take it out. Bring it back. Okay. Now let's go towards Virdrasna. 2. K?

Leg comes forward. Swing the arm behind you. Roll that shoulder back. Right? You can really grab the chair. Take hold of the chair to help you out. Okay. Remember that right buttock is hanging off the chair. Alright.

Now extend that right leg to straight and shift it back. Press the right knee, right thigh, back, back, back. Pressurize your left foot into the floor. Turn your left knee. Turn your left thigh. And, again, you can use the frame of the chair.

Push against it, revolve yourself from left to right, and lift your chest up. Maintain this. K. Roll the outside edge of your right foot down. Press your right thigh back. And as you're here, pushing your feet into the floor, just find a little bit of buoyancy, a little bit of lift.

So you're not sinking into the chair. Okay. Release. Bring the leg back. Come back to where you started. Okay. We'll go again.

Open the leg up, swing the arm behind you, turn the abdomen to the right, and stand the right leg and shift it back, see if you can work the leg further back. Roll the outside edge of your right foot down. Press your right thigh back. Now pressurize the three points of your left foot. Turn that left thigh out. Find the lift.

Find the lift. Virdressna to hold it. Breathe. Find the width, right, that opening across the front pelvis. Alright. And then release, bring the leg back.

Come back to where you started. Okay. One more standing pose using this setup. Okay. This standing seated pose, a seated standing pose. We're gonna go next for, Utita parsvoconasna. Let's stay on this side.

So we'll do it to this side first. And the beginning, the start of the Asana is exactly the same. So let's come to where we left off. Okay. You're here left hand is on the back of a chair, right leg comes forward, slewing the arm behind you, and verma drawsknut to walk that right leg back. Okay? Now from here, to go to.

You hinge at the hip here. So from here, hinge out the hip, and you can start first by laying your forearm on your leg like this. You may even wanna take a grip on the front lip here of the chair. And with the back arm, hold the back of the chair frame. And revolve yourself, haul, haul yourself around. Right? You're turning the abdomen, turning the rib cage, Roll that right shoulder back. Okay.

Now if you feel you can go a little lower, you can start to take your arm down. And hold maybe the chair leg. And you can experiment if you wanna hold the chair leg in front of your left leg, or behind. Do you just see there what kinda feels better here for you? And then again, continue to turn yourself from left to right. K? Roll the outside edge of the right foot down. Press your right thigh back. Externally rotate the left leg and turn your abdomen from left to right.

With the chair. Okay. And then come back up and slowly bring yourself back. Okay. Be here for a moment. Find your breath. Yeah. With the support, some people think chair yoga makes it easier.

You may not be finding that this is the case, but it is most certainly a deep penetration into the Asana. Okay. So it may allow you to hold the pose for longer, and really get in there, but it it It's deep. It's deep. So do manage yourself, manage your your timings, and the amount of effort you're able to to give to each us now. Okay. Let's do that. Let's do Utita parsvulkanasana with the chair to the second side.

Okay. Just switch it up again. As per your need. And, again, sit all the way back. Like so, and come to 1st verbatrasna 2. Left leg comes forward, swing the left arm behind you, turn the right knee, turn the right thigh, and Open your leg up.

Find that width, that breadth across the front pelvis. Roll the outside edge of your left foot down. Press your left thigh back. Now taking this into Utita, parsvulkanasnah hinge. Hinge to the right and lay your forearm on your leg here. K.

You can, again, grip the lip of the chair seat. And with the the tension that you've got by holding the back of the chair here, turn yourself to the left. Turn the abdomen, turn the rib cage, and turn the shoulders. Revolve yourself. Take a couple breaths here and then decide, do you feel you can go a little lower? In which case, you can start to work your arm further down the chair leg, but work to maintain this length on this underside of your body.

K? If your arm is in front here, press your arm against your leg. Turn. For your. K. If your arm is behind your leg, you may also be able to get a fulcrum may depend a little bit on your chair. K. Press strongly into your feet.

Remember not to sink. Find that little bit of lift. Hold it. Okay. And then release, slowly come back up. Bring your leg back and seated taught us.

Okay. Let us move to the next We are gonna work next on a pose called Vashistasna. And, again, with the chair, You will need the chair. You might wanna brick. You might wanna bowl or actually you will wanna bolster, but you might wanna strap.

Okay. And I'll show you what this one looks like. Okay. So Here. If you're just to have this strap ready, maybe have a small, small loop in this strap and just have it within within reach nearby. Okay. So first presentation, you're gonna adjust yourself with the bolster on one side of the chair like this. And position your outer hip right on the chair on the bolster here like this. K?

And then lay yourself over like so. Okay. And then your hand can come right to the ground here like so. And if you find you're not able to reach the ground, then of course, raise the floor up with a brick. K. Notice my bottom leg here, outer edge of the foot, sharply presses, and then I reach into the big toe mound. As if I'm trying to lay the rest of the foot down. K?

Feel how the chair just pushes, resists your outer hip, into the body, which is essentially what we try to do when we do this pose independently. Okay. And then turn your abdomen from left to right. K. Take that top arm, hold the back of the chair, and use that to to encourage that opening. Hey, revolve yourself. This is 1st stage of Vashistasana.

Lift your chin a little away from your chest. And be here. K. Now second stage, you will bend your top leg, reach and this is where you may find the strap comes in handy. But if you can reach your big toe, feel free and then raise the leg up. And then haul the leg back. And what's so nice about the chair is that it's there to catch you. Right? So you're fully you're fully supported.

Roll back, roll back any amount, any amount, and hold the leg over. If you've got the strap, you're just taking a small loop over there, and then you stick your fingers inside the loop there. K? Vashi Dasna. Either variation is lovely. Alright.

And then release carefully come back up and Shift the bolster to the other side, and we'll go here for round 2. Okay. So this time, connect your outer right hip. So you see I bend. I bend a little so that I can get my hip right at the edge of the bolster there and then lengthen myself sideways side side body there over the bolster. And plant my hand down. K. First, I've got my my strap here.

I'll show you how that that works. And first variation, you can just let that top leg hover. Turn yourself. Hey. Back arm can be on the chair frame. Revolve. Revolve.

And be here. Push the floor down, externally rotate your upper arm, the right upper arm, turn your abdomen from right to left. Take a few breaths. Alright. And then when you're ready, you can last sew. Last sew the strap onto your foot.

And then haul the leg over. Haul it over. Hey, chin comes away from the chest. Like so. K. I think this I'm a little shorter on this side, so I could use maybe a little extra something under my hand here.

So I'm can you see the difference there? So you gotta play around a little bit with your props, with your setup, to see what makes it just, just right for you. Hey. Turn the abdomen to the left. Roll that shoulder back. Good. Okay. And then slowly release and Bring yourself up. Okay.

Come to a steady position. Just steady yourself. Stabilize. And take a few breaths. Okay. Moving along, showcasing this chair in all its glory.

We are gonna go next to Meyerasna, and this is a super fun presentation. Turn the chair sideways like so. And then let's soften the frame of the chair here. And that can be done with a blanket, or sometimes if you have a thinner mat, you can four hold the mat and place it on the chair back as well. Both could be good options.

And here, So when you band, right right here, this crease, that's what you're looking to hook on the top of the chair here. So you wanna just adjust yourself. I need to get up on my my tip tip tip toes there to find that right spot, and then I come over. K? If you don't do that and you end up on your stomach, on your abdomen, it's gonna be very uncomfortable. Okay? So do make sure you get right into that crease.

Like so. Okay. Then take hold of the sides of the chair seat like this and bend the elbows to the side. Wrap the elbows in. Like, you're trying to squeeze the side of your body. Chin and chest forward and float the legs up. Turn the front of the thighs in. Lift your legs up.

Lift your chest up. Elbows are bent, lift the legs, lift the chest, and fly. Maya us now. K. Feel those paraspinal muscles. Hinge and chest forward reach into your legs.

And then lower yourself down. Stand up right. Tadas now. It will go for round 2. And in the classical positioning of myarasana, the arm position is actually like this with the fingers pointing back in classical classical, actually the arms are right together here like this.

Okay. So if there's wrist issues, I think you'll find that holding the side of the chair, the way we just did, will will be the best, will won't aggravate the wrist, But if you wanna see if you can go into that joint just a little bit more, then please feel free to experiment with turning the palms back. Okay? So we'll begin with the palms turned back, the fingers turned back, and still space between the wrists, between the arms. K. So, again, position yourself. Find that crease and then fingers pointing back. From here, bend the elbows. You gotta bend them towards you.

It's like you're trying to nuzzle your your elbows right up towards your your diaphragm area and then raise the legs, raise the chest. Hey, broaden the back of the thighs, broaden the buttocks, lift the legs higher, lift the chest forward and up. Forward and up and bend into the elbows. Hold it. Just up.

Good. And then release. And, again, Tatasna. Take a moment. And then go one more time. Okay.

So pick which variation you'd like to do. If you wanna give classical, classical, arm position to go, then you can bring your hands even more, close together. Okay. One more. Come up and over.

Bend those elbows. Bend those elbows. Reach forward and up with your chest. And just allow those legs to float up. And then release.

Okay. Let's go next to Viparita Dandasna with the chair. So for this, You will need the chair. You may want some height for your feet. So that could look like a bolster or some bricks.

But it's optional, and I'll I'll help you decide whether or not you need it. You're gonna turn the chair this way, like so. And depending on what kind of chair you're using. This particular chair has a nice soft cushion for the seat. If you're using a chair that's fully metal, try it out. You may wanna soften the chair seat a little bit. A lot of times when I use those chairs, I'll take a a thinner mat fold it in half, fold it in half again, and place it on top of the chair seat. So that that's an option. But I also sometimes just use the feedback from the hard metal, and that's also good.

So try them out and see what works best for you. This is what the Usna looks like. Okay? You're gonna sit through the chair. You know, one leg in, other leg in, think I'll move myself just a little back like this. And then position yourself like this right on the edge Okay. So my tailbone is being encouraged to move towards my feet, but, and I'm and it's almost like Like, I'm I'm barely sitting on the chair. Right? I'm just on the edge here. Then lift your chest up and lengthen yourself back and hook the tip of your shoulder blade on the front edge of the chair like this.

And then just pause here. Pause here. Okay. If there's any concern over the neck, feel free to take a couple bricks and just support your head. Even a second chair, you can place your head on a second chair seat there if you have an issue with letting the head fall back like this. Okay. Then extend your legs to straight. So here, I'm taking a little bit of height for my my feet here.

Which feels quite nice on my back. Okay? You can go to the floor, but depending on your structure, and your size, you may not like, for me, I'm not quite able to straighten my legs this way. Right? So I'd want just a little extra height so I can straighten the legs. Okay? So I'm gonna work with the bolster underneath, but see experiment for yourself, see what works best for you so that you can get those straight legs. And then be here in the supported backbend.

Turn the front of your thighs in. Press your knees and thighs down. And just push gently against the frame of the chair and roll those shoulders down. K. Roll the front body towards your face, but then from your back waist to your heels, extend toward the leg side. Let go of any tension in the neck and breathe.

Okay. And then slowly release, bend your knees, one leg, other leg. Take your hands a little higher up the chair, push your elbows into the chair seat. And now as if you had a string to your breast bone, right, come up with a lifted chest. And then the head just follows. Avoid leading with the neck.

Okay. Then sit all the way back on your chair, feet planted, hands on the chair back, lift your chest up, lower your chin down. K. After that back bend, sometimes the lower back is very it's kinda used to be being pushed in. So take a moment there and level the pelvis, navel towards the spine a little bit, Just stop, chin down. Couple breaths. Reyes your head up.

Breathe. Hey. We're gonna do this a a couple more times. I'm gonna show slight variations. And the holdings really are personal. So if you need to come out before I'm coming out please make that decision for yourself.

And at any time, if you're feeling you need as a release for the back, if just this naval back head up chest up head down isn't quite catching the the spot in the back for you, then please go for a twist. So in the chair here, you can turn like this. K. One hand behind, other hand across, and chair Bharad Vajasna. K. Anytime between the variations. Okay. 2nd variation, you're gonna start the same way Come right through the chair, hook the tailbone, lift your chest, you can come to the elbows first, and then lengthen yourself down and hook the tip of your blade, shoulder blades on the front edge of the chair.

Now this time, see, can you reach your arms inside the chair? One arm, other arm, and then walk your hands towards the floor, like, low down on those chair legs. Okay. So you'll end up in a slightly different position here. The chair may be a little bit more, lower down your back than before. Okay. Pressurize your feet into the floor.

Turn those thighs in. Take a few breaths here with your legs bent. Like, go through the neck. And then again, extend the legs. You decide with height, without height, turn the front of those thighs in, and press your knees and thighs down.

From your back waist to your heels, extend toward the legs. And then from the corners of your pelvis, through your armpits and towards the corners of your shoulders, roll the front body over the back body. Find a smoothness, a softness to your breath, and just be in this supported back extension. Hey. For those of you, for whom this is really enjoyable, you can stay in this position for a good amount of time. Okay. For some, the back gets cranky, totally understandable, and important to respect that. K.

So that's why I say the timings are really up to you. And when you're ready to come out, you bend one leg, Take your arm out of the chair, bend the other leg, take the other arm out. Now if you found coming up from the chest. The way I described before was a little challenging on the neck, then try lifting your chin towards your chest first. Right? Engage those neck muscles, then press the elbows and with a lifted chest come up. Okay? So Sit yourself back.

And again, navel towards the spine. Just up. Lower your head down. Take a few breaths. And then release.

Okay. We've got 1 more, 1 more variation here, and this will be most, it's a it's actually more of an erdvedanarasna even than a Viberita dundasna. K. So it'll look it'll look like this. Again, starting the way we we did before, come through the chair, tailbone just off, Lyft the chest, land on the elbows, and then hook the tip of the shoulder blades. Elbows come down. Right? Sometimes people get stuck here. Take the elbows, wrap them around, and then let the head go. I'd say the biggest mistake, the most common mistake that I see people make is they end up like this and only doing a neck bent.

So you've gotta kind of maneuver yourself. You gotta be enough off the chair that the chest is getting open. Okay? And then you can, again, extend the legs, and now see if you can extend the arms overhead. And here you can play around. You can have the palms facing the ceiling. You can have the palms facing each other.

You can even hook the thumbs one against each other, sort of like a butterfly shape, and then reach away in two directions. Back waist to heels in one direction and from your pelvis, the corners of your pelvis, through your armpits towards your fingertips, reach in the opposite direction. Press your thighs down, find the the softness and the length in your abdomen. Breathe. Okay.

And then release Bend your knees. Hold the sides of the chair with your hands. And then decide, are you gonna lift your head up first, or start with the arm action. Okay. Elbows into the chair seat and with a lifted chest, push yourself up. Shift all the way back on your chair.

Take a few breaths, chest up, chin down, Just feel that width across the upper back. And then lift your head to level. And let's twist one time here. Chair Bharad Vajasana. K. You may notice here I've got my feet. I'm seated far back.

I can just shift my heels just a little bit inside the chair, which is a nice container. You're hitting those heels out and then lift your chest up. Take your right hand across to the left side of the chair frame. Take your left hand behind you towards the middle of the chair seat. Now lift and turn. As you inhale, lift more, exhale, turn more.

And then release, come back to the center, and second side. Left hand across, right hand behind you, inhale, lengthen up, exhale, turn yourself. K. Press strongly into your feet as the anchor. Left hip, especially anchor it and turn your abdomen to the right. Turn your ribs roll that right shoulder back.

Good. And then release, come back to the center. Breathe. Okay. And then release.

And let's end the practice in with legs on the chair. And if you have the bolster, we can add a little bit of weight as well on the abdomen. So in this setup, a nice way to release the back. You'll lay down here. And position yourself with your calves on the chair seat like this.

Can you just take your hands? Roll the buttock flesh away from the waist to get length, length in the back pelvis, but please don't intentionally flatten. Your back. Just find that length. K. And then you can roll your shoulder blades under as well. K. Then if you have, whether it's a bolster or a blanket or some extra weight here.

You can take that and just kind of nuzzle it into the lower abdomen groin region, and that gives a little bit of weight which will help that lower back to also spread, which feels quite nice. And then just settle here, be here, and breathe. Hey. Please enjoy the Shavasna. Stay for a little while longer. But this does bring us to the end of today.

I hope this practice gave you some new ideas of ways you can befriend your chair.