There are many different types of Yoga that are practiced today. You can practice Yoga without ever leaving your seat; you can take advantage of the many benefits of chair yoga. If age, illness, or an injury has made exercising challenging, it doesn’t mean you can’t practice Yoga. Chair yoga is a great way to practice and is safe and effective.

Who’s Chair Yoga For?

Individuals of all ages and activity levels can enjoy chair yoga classes. Chair yoga was initially introduced to the fitness arena to modify the hatha yoga style. Chair yoga had primarily catered to the special population with mobility and health issues, but soon it became popular among the young and the old alike. In the same way that a traditional yoga practice flows through motion and poses for increased flexibility, chair yoga flows through those sequences on the chair or with the support of the chair.

For many people working a desk job for 8 hours, just a gym membership doesn’t undo the effects of sitting long hours. If you are looking to introduce physical activity to your office or desk space, chair yoga is for you. Standing desks, stability balls, and walking breaks are all good practices. Why not add regular chair yoga practice? 

Debbie Kell, a ToneandStrengthen team member and certified yoga instructor, has been teaching chair yoga classes for several years. In her expert opinion, “those of us who are trapped all day in a desk job can find time to practice some yoga, right in our chairs, to help refresh the body and restore our energy. A few minutes here and there can make a difference.”

If your work involves frequent travel and you find yourself sitting at the airport or on the plane for hours, chair yoga is the perfect way to stretch and move. Chair yoga exercises during a long flight can lessen the potential risk of blood clots. According to the American Society of Hematology, for flights longer than eight hours, “Blood clots can sometimes form in your legs during air travel because you are immobile for long periods.” 

Benefits of Chair Yoga

Debbie shares many of the chair yoga benefits with us. They are listed below.

• Chair yoga helps us quiet the mind, calm our moods, steady our emotional fluctuations, and sharpen our mental focus.
• Chair Yoga brings us greater awareness about our bodies.
• It Steadies our breathing, expands our range of motion, increases our balance, and builds strength throughout our bodies.   
• Chair yoga gives us the ability to better cope with stress and stay balanced, both physically and mentally.  
• Chair yoga enhances our range of motion, and we build physical strength, especially in the core.
• When we use the chair as a prop, we can experiment with movements and postures that otherwise might be intimidating. Chair yoga practice lets us borrow the chair’s stability and build on it with our bodies.
• Practicing chair yoga can inspire us to transition to more traditional mat-based yoga classes (that’s what Debbie’s clients’ experience has been).

Debbie says that’s not all. She thinks, “there’s something that many don’t think about regarding Yoga. Yoga trains the body to find ease through functional and fluid movement. We’re not working with isolated movements when we practice Yoga. Our bodies are moving through space, balancing, finding leverage, becoming stronger in ways that enhance our ability to participate in our lives. Yoga treats the body as a whole system. ” 

You can do chair yoga nearly anywhere you can find a place to sit. Try a virtual Chair Yoga session with Debbie Kell on Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. ET. Click HERE for more information about the classes.

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Muscles Targeted-

This pose extends the hamstring muscles, semitendinosus and biceps femorus, hip adductors, and hip abductors. It strengthens the thighs and arms, activating rectus femoris muscles and arm muscles. It also activates deep glute muscles, namely the gluteus Medius muscle.

Benefits of Warrior-II –

• Stretches your hips, groin and chest
• Strengthens thighs and arms
• Opens the hips and shoulders.
• Stimulates your abdominal organs
• Improves circulation
• Increases stamina

How to Get into Warrior II –

Face the front of your mat, arms stretched into a T. Legs parallel to each other in a wide stance with right foot facing forward and left foot parallel to the mat.
• Bend your right knee and stack it above your ankle.
• Keep the crown of your head stacked over your pelvis.
• Align your shoulders over your hips.
• Press the tips of your hands in equal and opposite direction
• Turn and look past your right fingertips.
• Hold for 5–10 breaths.
• Repeat on the other side.

Modifications-

• If you struggle to stay in this pose, stand next to a wall. Place a block between your shin and the wall for stability.
• If holding the pose is very challenging, try to practice a flow. Move in and out of Warrior -II. Straighten the front leg and raise your arms above your head, as you inhale. Bend the front leg again and lower your arms parallel to the floor, as you exhale.
• To prevent the front knee from collapsing inwards, align the inside of your knee with the last two toes of your foot. There is a slight external rotation of you front hip.

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What is Barre?

Barre is a ballet-inspired workout that incorporates moves from ballet, Pilates, and yoga. Barre classes use mostly body weight for resistance and the focus is on small, deliberate movements that target certain groups of muscles, specifically muscles that are weak and aren’t used frequently like upper back and glutes.  It’s a great class for targeted workouts for abs, thighs, or glutes. 

Who Should Do Barre? 

Barre is an incredible workout for anyone. These ballet-inspired classes are good for beginners and advanced athletes alike who want to try a new workout. Emphasis in the barre class is on tall posture, balance, and core engagement. Barre is both low-impact and can be high intensity. Plus, it’s an extremely modifiable workout. These classes move at a slower pace than your typical aerobics class. That doesn’t mean you won’t be sore the next day.

Barre Gear and Equipment?

You might be tempted to wear tutu or ballet shoes. Well, you don’t need them. All you need is a pair of comfortable yoga pants. I like to teach my barre classes bare foot. You may prefer to be barefoot or purchase socks with grippies on the bottom. 

You can practice a barre class without any equipment. If you want to enhance your barre experience you can add a small core ball, loop resistance band, and hand weights to do floor work. You can also use the back of a stable chair for balance. Honestly, you need minimal equipment for these classes, and you can practice from the comfort of your home.

Why Barre Workouts?

In the barre classes emphasis is placed on proper alignment, balance, and core engagement means the classes move at a slower pace. You might not leave a ballet-inspired class drenched in sweat, but you’ll feel the burn after a class thanks to moves that target specific muscle groups.  Here are some of the reasons why you should add barre to your weekly workout routine.

Total Body Workout- Barre workouts focus on the whole body. They build strength through isometric holds, which require your muscles to stay under tension for an extended period.  It’s also a great workout that requires engaging your core for the whole length of the workout. Most barre classes are divided into four sections, warm-up, leg blast, upper body lower body combo, and core blast. As you flow through the class you work the arms, thighs, glutes, abdominals, and posterior chain. The best part about a barre workout is that it focuses on the muscles that you don’t normally use like glutes, obliques and tibialis. 

Low Impact Workout- Barre is a low impact workout with low stress on joints. It’s also great for developing balance and stability because the barre itself provides stability. Balance or stability. Plus, the focus on isometric holds allows you to strengthen the muscle group without placing extra stress on the joint. It has minimal risk of injury and is a safe workout for anyone including pregnant women and the older population.  

Improves Posture-Barre promotes a long and tall posture. Barre instructors are trained to cue proper alignment from the crown of your head to your tippy toes. After a few weeks of practicing barre classes you will be sitting or standing tall which can help reduce the chances of back pain and injury.

Muscular Endurance- In barre classes the number of repetitions is very high. The high repetitions increase your stamina to stay under tension and workout for longer periods of time. Stamina is muscle endurance in common terms. You’ll find yourself maintaining a higher level of activity regularly. Endurance has many secondary benefits like lowering your risk of chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancer.

Mind Body Connection- Barre classes help you channel the mind-body connection as they combine mindful movements to create new neural connections. The slow and controlled repetitions in a barre class help to calm the mind. Devoted attention to technique helps in keeping your workout movements intentional and harnesses a deeper connection with the brain.

Sample Workout

Perform 3 sets of 12 – 15 repetitions 

• Chair Squats with Ball squeeze/hip adduction
• Power Leg Pulses 
• Plie’ Squats with shoulder press
• Heel Lifts 

If you like it, TRY one of our classes on the Tone and Strengthen schedule. First class is always FREE. Contact us for a coupon code.

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The instructor will move with you, in a yoga inspired class, infused with strength and light cardio training, that will be sure to add heat to your daily routine, while toning every muscle group. The class will start with 15 minutes yoga flow, followed by a 20 minutes full body strength circuit, and ending with 15 minutes deep stretch flow.

All Virtual classes are recorded and recording is provided to registered participants for 48-hrs after class.

*Yoga mat and two medium – heavy dumbbells are suggested for this class *

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All Virtual classes are recorded and recording is provided to registered participants for 48-hrs after class.

*Yoga mat and two medium – heavy dumbbells are suggested for this class *

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Use the chair as a prop to make many of the traditional yoga asanas (movements or poses) more accessible. This 60-minute class will open with a short meditation, move through seated warm-ups, and progress to standing poses using the back of the chair for balance. Debbie will offer variations and options throughout the practice so that you can tailor your experience to meet the needs of your mind, body, and soul. Debbie’s teaching is passionate, respectful of individual bodies, attentive to alignment, and characterized by thematic flows. Feel both soothed and energized with this accessible yoga practice.

Set up your device and have a seat!

All Virtual classes are recorded and recording is provided to registered participants for 48-hrs after class.

*An upright chair like a kitchen chair or a stable folding chair is recommended for this class. No wheelies please*

The post Chair Yoga with Debbie – Mar 3rd – Apr 7th 0 (0) first appeared on Tone & Strengthen.

Set up your device and have a seat!

All Virtual classes are recorded and recording is provided to registered participants for 48-hrs after class.

*An upright chair like a kitchen chair or a stable folding chair is recommended for this class. No wheelies please*

The post Chair Yoga with Debbie 0 (0) first appeared on Tone & Strengthen.

Use the chair as a prop to make many of the traditional yoga asanas (movements or poses) more accessible. This 60-minute class will open with a short meditation, move through seated warm-ups, and progress to standing poses using the back of the chair for balance. Debbie will offer variations and options throughout the practice so that you can tailor your experience to meet the needs of your mind, body, and soul. Debbie’s teaching is passionate, respectful of individual bodies, attentive to alignment, and characterized by thematic flows. Feel both soothed and energized with this accessible yoga practice.

Set up your device and have a seat!

All Virtual classes are recorded and recording is provided to registered participants for 48-hrs after class.

*An upright chair like a kitchen chair or a stable folding chair is recommended for this class. No wheelies please*

The post Chair Yoga with Debbie – Jan 20th – Feb 17th 0 (0) first appeared on Tone & Strengthen.

Set up your device and have a seat!

All Virtual classes are recorded and recording is provided to registered participants for 48-hrs after class.

*An upright chair like a kitchen chair or a stable folding chair is recommended for this class. No wheelies please*

*No Class Feb 24th*

The post Chair Yoga with Debbie 0 (0) first appeared on Tone & Strengthen.

It’s a gentle yoga flow for all fitness levels to give you energy and help you focus throughout your day.  You will gain strength and flexibility in your muscles while having a strong mind body connection.  Each class will combine a balanced series of poses with a focus on opening up one of several potential areas of tightness, such as your hamstrings, hips, shoulders, or neck.  A selection of restorative poses will support your body with props, so the muscles, fascia and nervous system can take a break from the daily grind.  

All Virtual classes are recorded and recording is provided to registered participants for 48-hrs after class.

*Yoga mat and two blocks are suggested for this class *

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