Archive for the ‘Chair Yoga’ Category

By Carol Martin

I have been guiding students in Chair Yoga within senior living facilities for almost three years.  The blessings have been beyond measure.  I have made so many friends, the administrative staffs, aides, and of course, forged strong bonds with my lovely students.  I feel very blessed that they show up for class, week after week, to strengthen their bodies and minds. 

My first visit to a facility is complimentary.  I want to make sure that my students feel comfortable with me so they can relax in class.  It is also a good way for the activity director to make the determination if they want me to continue with the facility.  Due to the current recession and the budgets of some facilities in my area, I found that a complimentary visit is a win-win situation.  Most directors have me come back, some weekly, some twice a month, and a couple only monthly due to budget constraints.

When I first started, I realized a great fear for the elderly was that if they fell, they wouldn’t be able to get up.  As a matter of fact, that’s how they had arrived at an assisted living facility, they had fallen in their home and couldn’t get up.  Although they were now in a controlled environment, they were still very concerned about falling.  I stressed remaining calm and I began to show them the proper way to move after a fall, after assessing if they had injured themselves, of course, and how to get to a chair or object to help them up or to a call button.  So we worked on upper body strength and the muscles in their legs that would address the movements involved with moving along the floor or getting up.  I have had students tell me that they were successfully able to get up or get to a call button without panic because of our practice.  Actually, because of these incidents, and the students not being able to reach a call button once they had traveled to it, finding that it was too high on the wall to use it, the facility changed its standards for height on the wall for their assist buttons.  After several months, a few students in the class felt comfortable enough with getting down on the floor for Sivasana at the end of class, with the confidence that they would be able to get back up.  The feeling of liberation is empowering for the student.  I would like to add here, it is facility policy that they always call a nurse after a fall, even if they can get up by themselves and are not injured.  Of course, not all my facilities will allow them to get on the floor or even do any standing exercises at all and I respect that.  These things are discussed with the director before my first visit.

So many times in a senior facility, the only exercise they have is to watch someone on a DVD.  They just follow along with no interaction with the instructor. They can’t ask questions and don’t know why they are doing the exercises.  They are just parked there.  I feel it is so beneficial to get together for a class, have some conversation with the instructor, and have a few laughs (actually a lot of laughs!).  Once, during one of my explanations for doing a certain pose, one of my students said, let’s just exercise!  Upon reflection that week, I realized that she was used to watching a tape, not going to a class and really learning about her body/mind.  She just wanted to get it done, she didn’t know how to relax.  I feel like the information provided is beneficial for use in between classes.

Unforgettable, is one of the conversations I had with the director of one of the facilities a couple of years ago.  I had been there only a couple of months and it was at a nursing facility, many in wheel chairs.  Apparently, administration had told the director that he had to cut back on spending, so he let me know that I probably would not be able to come back.  About a week later, the director called me and told me that I had to come back.  I asked him if I had misunderstood and he said that no, he had gone past the dining room (where class had been held) and to his astonishment, the room was filled with people waiting for yoga class.  Apparently, because the class was already on the calendar and the residents didn’t know of the cut-back, they assumed I was coming.  Here is the blessing, he told me that in all his years as the activity director at that facility, he had not seen the residents show up to a class of their own volition, usually they have to bring them to an activity.  Needless to say, tears were streaming down my face, I was so honored that I could convey the importance of yoga, and I went back the following week.

Blessings that come from seeing my students progress, even if it is only a change in their color from looking pale to having rosy cheeks when they leave, improved mobility, and improved mood.  Every once in a while, there is one person who is skeptical and appears a bit grumpy but as time goes by, the edge dissolves and their mood improves.  They learn to relax, totally let go.  I had a lady tell me a couple of months ago that she had attained a quarter-inch in height when she was measured at the doctor’s office.  He gave her yoga class the credit.

Many employees of the facilities try, if their time allows, to sit in on yoga class, and of course, family members who are visiting their elder at the time of class.  A grandson of a student, who is to be deployed to Afghanistan later this month, said he was going to take the yoga techniques with him.  Many daughters come to class regularly with their mothers.

Several years ago, my mother was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer, with only six months to live.  Of course, there are no words to explain our emotions.  After spending every day with her, except when hospice was there, I would go home with so much tension, fear, and anxiety.  Of course, there were the prayers, counseling, and other things you do to try to relax and then I remembered I had done some yoga mixed into an old exercise tape years before, so I went to a local yoga class.  I was awestruck at the difference it made in my life.  I only wish that I had found it sooner.  I was retired and about a year after my mom passed away, I was trying to find a fulfilling and meaningful purpose for my life.  I was getting out of bed one morning and out of nowhere, a booming voice in my head said “Seniors”.  Now, I had to stop for a moment and think, seniors what?  Then it clicked!  Senior yoga.  I went straight to the phone books, without even having my morning tea, and within forty-five minutes, had three clients!  I did extensive reading and modifying and put a program together.  I had my yoga mentor (yoga teacher trainer) come over to observe my routine to make sure it was safe and effective.  I feel my calling was a huge blessing.

I began a Teachers Training Program at a local studio a year and a half ago because I wanted to receive certification.  I received certificates in Asana 1, Asana 11, Pranayama 1, and Sanskrit.  I felt like I had the information I needed to continue teaching Chair Yoga even though the program didn’t address it and all I lacked was Meditation, which I don’t teach my senior students.  We do a stage-by-stage relaxation at the end of class.  But I wanted to be able to offer my students the best class experience they could get from me.  That is where Aura Yoga comes in.  You have provided me with all the materials to meet my exact needs.  The decision to continue and complete my education with you has been wonderful.   

In conclusion, I have mentioned only a few of the many blessings of Senior Chair Yoga, they are endless.  Although I am guiding the class, my students are my teachers.  I take none of the praise, I give all glory to God.

Carol Martin teaches Yoga classes in St. Ann, Missouri.

By Robin Smith

Approximately 1.4 million people in the US today use wheelchairs either part or all of the time. There are numerous origins for such confinement: cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, amputation or paralysis, prolonged illness or coronary disease, or simply advanced age with its often accompanying lack of muscle tone. Many people cannot perform basic daily functions unless they are able to do them from a chair. Yoga is well suited to assisting all these individuals. Its non-competitive atmosphere, gentleness on muscles and bones, and overall lifestyle of health and cleanliness make it useful for persons partly or completely confined to wheelchairs.

First, the potential benefits of yoga will be explored. Then, specific poses, exercises, and modifications will be detailed.

PROBLEMS YOGA CAN ADDRESS

People who spend much or most of their time seated or in a wheelchair may develop a slouch. The strength in their back muscles has not been maintained since they are able to lean back most of the time. They have a tendency to become round-shouldered and concave in their thoracic area. As a result, their neck may also be unnaturally curved. If there is a one-sided weakness, or if there are tasks routinely performed only on one side of their body or with one arm, there may additionally be a slackness or a curvature to one side. The inner effects of this outward slouching or leaning are compromised breathing, weakened and contracted abdominal and thoracic muscles, reduced blood and lymph circulation, and sluggish digestion. Yoga, with its emphases on posture, deep breathing, flexibility, and balance in the body, can counter many of these effects.

Constant slouching, besides being a result, is itself a cause of other problems. The almost continual seated posture can reduce space between the vertebrae. Pressure is placed on the discs and the associated radiating nerves. Especially for persons with cerebral palsy who are already restricted in muscle control, this disc and nerve pressure further restricts nerve function and coordination. Yoga’s stretches and counter-stretches can work toward increasing the space between the discs. Muscular tension is released, messages between brain, spinal cord, and nerves is enhanced, and greater flexibility of movement is allowed.

Unlike the blood, which has the heart to pump it, lymph has no pump other than muscle movement. Therefore, it is circulated less in a person who spends much of his time seated. Lymph affects a person’s natural immunity, and yoga postures can encourage the lymph to circulate, improving the patient’s ability to fight off infectious diseases.

Additionally, wheelchair patients frequently suffer from kidney, bladder, and liver problems. Part of this results from not drinking enough water, as one’s thirst doesn’t get stimulated as much without exercise. But lack of movement can be a problem as well, reducing stimulation to internal organs. Seated twists and folds can “wring out” these internal organs, improving their tone and fitness.

When one is confined to a wheelchair, that person can lose the spatial and body awareness that most other people take for granted. Mental focus while focusing on breath and proper positioning during asanas helps such individual regain some of that lost awareness.

Another side-effect of being wheelchair-bound is the common feeling of inadequacy, or being unable to accomplish things “normal” people can accomplish. Especially in Western society, one’s self-worth is measured by one’s achievements, and when a person is unable to walk or even sit up without assistance, self-worth can disintegrate. This emotional stress and dissatisfaction can lead to higher cortisol levels, bringing–in addtion to simply the sadness and frustration–more calories being turned into fat and more frequent flare-ups of auto-immune diseases like multiple sclerosis. Yoga teaches relaxation of the mind, tranquility, non-competition, and compassion (even to oneself). A combination of right-thinking plus greater muscle control through asanas offers disabled persons a feeling of greater personal competency in their daily lives and perhaps longer intervals between recurrences or intensifications of disease.

PRANAYAMA

Even if individuals are largely sedentary in their work and home life, simple daily tasks such as climbing stairs, bending and stooping to pick up objects, gardening, or pushing a lawnmower or a grocery store cart require most people to periodically breathe deeply and clean out at least a portion of the stale air in their lungs. However, even people who do virtually no physical activities, or who necessarily adapt them so that the tasks require little exertion, can bring vitality to their lungs by practicing pranayama.

The first goal should be simply breathing deeply and in a controlled manner. Inhale deeply to a count of three (or any suitable number), hold for one, exhale for three, hold for one, repeat. The student should place his hands on his stomach and feel his abdomen inflate on the inhalation and empty out on the exhalation. He could also place his hands on his ribs to feel them lift and expand. This can be done while seated in a chair, but it is advisable to also doing this while lying on one’s back. It is usually easier to feel the breath’s effect on the abomen and ribs if the body is not contracted, and if a person is concerned about balance (such as, a fear of falling sideways if hands or arms are on the ribs instead of on the arms of the chair), lying down will eradicate such a concern.

It may be at first that only two or three deep breaths at a time are possible without a person getting light-headed. This is fine. Capacity will increase with practice. It is also not uncommon for a person to cough at times when they are breathing deeply after years of not having done so. This is normal. They should simply take it slowly, and as the days and weeks go on, their lungs will clear of the old, toxic air that is causing them to cough.

Alternate-nostril breathing is also valuable and not difficult to do. Breathing is slowed down when only one nostril is used, so the light-headedness possible with other deep breathing may not be as likely to be a problem, and body awareness is built.

If the student has enough control of abdominal muscles, bellows breath (or cleansing breath) is recommended. Through contracting and releasing the stomach area, the internal organs are massaged and stimulated. It is common for the wheelchair-bound to have kidney problems and slow digestion, and bellows breath has a beneficial effect on these organs.

SEATED YOGA POSTURES

Following is a sample, partial list of asanas adapted for students in wheelchairs or otherwise largely confined to seated positions, along with their benefits.

Tadasana (mountain pose) is quite adaptable, and there are many hand and arm positions that can be used as variations. Instead of standing tall and rooting down through the feet, the seated practitioner sits tall, thinking of lifting his back off his hips and lifting the crown of his head toward the ceiling. As with the standing posture, conscious thought is brought to lifting one’s sternum and rolling one’s shoulders down and back without curving the chest forward. It is a lift, not a curve. Arms can be straight down at the sides (if the student is able to sit in a chair without sides for support) or relaxed in the lap. With each inhalation, the student can picture himself growing taller and straighter; with each exhalation he relaxes into the pose. Mountain pose can reduce depression, boost confidence, strengthen the spine, correct the posture, and reduce pressure on vertebrae that spend much of their time constricted.

There are numerous hand and arm positions–variations–that offer additional benefits. The student can raise his arms straight overhead while continuing to pull his shoulders down and back. He could interlock his fingers and lift his hands overhead, arms straight and palms facing the ceiling, to give a stretch to the underside of the arm. This pose is very beneficial for carpal tunnel syndrome. Or, the student might fold his arms behind his back and either grab elbows with opposite hands or fold his hands into reverse prayer position. Both of these variations assist in opening up the chest and developing greater flexibility in the back. Reverse prayer position additionally helps made the wrists and elbows more supple. A last variation is cow-face hands, one arm reaching down over the shoulder and the opposing arm reaching up the back from underneath, and the two sets of fingers clasping in the middle of the back (or both hands grasping a strap). This stretch activities the shoulder and back muscles and relieves arthritis in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and fingers.

Parsvakonasana (side stretch) can follow the mountain pose variations. The student begins in mountain pose, arms extended overhead, and allows one hand to drop back to the chair or to a support (blocks or low table) to the side of the chair while stretching over that arm. The opposite arm is lifted and stretched over the body. It is important to continue to lift out of the spine rather than simply collapse into it. This pose helps the shoulders and shoulderblades align properly and relieves backache and neck tension. It is especially beneficial for sciatica and sacroileitis, and a variation of this pose (done while lying on one’s back) is a familiar and frequently used physical therapy exercise.

Dandasana (staff pose) can be adapted for those in wheelchairs by placing a low table in front of the wheelchair and assisting the student in lifting his legs upon it. A blanket can be placed under the heels if the surface feels too hard. The student then lifts up into a very straight posture while pressing his hands down on the sides of the seat. This posture stretches the legs, improves digestion, and tones the kidneys.

Baddhakonasana (bound angle pose) is a seated pose with many benefits if the student can move to the floor or sit in a wide chair without sides. It is especially good for women and tones their pelvic organs. The student sits flat on the floor (on a blanket or pillow if this is more comfortable) or on the middle of three armless chairs with the soles of the feet facing and touching one another and knees out to the sides. Bring the heels as close to the groin area as possible. Hands can be behind the buttocks, pressing on the floor, or in front of the student, holding the ankles. Sit very straight. This pose stimulates the heart and alleviates sciatica.

Paschimottanasana (intense back stretch) can be modified in many ways. If the student can sit in dandasana on the floor and fold from there, that is most beneficial, but if the student can only sit with the knees folded in a chair, there are still benefits. If the student sits in dandasana, it is desirable to lift and stretch forward, visualizing and attempting to put his chest on his toes rather than simply curling forward and trying to put his nose on his knees. If the student is seated in the chair, it may be more difficult to fold at the hip creases and not round his back at all, but the intention should still be there. This position soothes the sympathetic nervous system, stretches the ligaments of the spine, and has a beneficial effect upon the thyroid and adrenal glands.

Bharadvajasana (torso twist) can easily be adapted to a chair. If possible, it is best to be seated in a straight-backed chair without sides. The student would sit with his knees facing, for example, the right side of the chair, and while holding the back of the chair, twist around to the right, keeping his chin level to the floor and lifting his heart while rolling his shoulders down and back. He would then slowly come out of the twist and repeat the asana on the left side. Twists massage one’s inner organs and create suppleness in the spine.

Padangusthasana (big toe hold stretch) is another pose that adapts well to a wheelchair. It is usually difficult, especially for beginners, to reach the big toe with the hands, so wrapping a belt around the foot brings the hands and foot closer together without strain. Straighten the leg that has the belt around it, and while maintaining correct posture, pull the leg up with the belt. Never go so far that it is causing discomfort, only as far as a gentle stretch will allow. This helps prevent osteoarthritis of the hips and knees by stretching the calf and hamstring muscles. It also helps align the pelvis.

Agnistambhasana (fire log pose) can be adapted to a seated pose. One knee is bent with that foot on the floor. The other knee is also bent, but this ankle rests on the opposite knee. The intention is to keep the hips level, crease at the hip joint, and lower the knee, while maintaining good posture.

Gomukhasana (cow face pose)–arms only–is a good chest opener. If the student is able to sit on the floor, then the legs can be added as hip flexor stretches, but even reaching the arms behind the student’s back without posing the legs is very beneficial, reversing the tendency to slouch and opening up the chest area that is often allowed to collapse forward.

ADAPTATIONS FOR THE DISABLED

In a standard yoga class, the teacher stands in front of the students and models the postures, assisting or correcting as necessary. However, it may be necessary to move some students into the postures rather than simply demonstrate them. Some brain disorders (i.e., cerebral palsy, certain expressions of autism, sometimes after-effects of a head injury, etc.) make it more difficult for a person to get the thought in their brain to express itself in motor control. They may see that the teacher’s arm moves backwards but not be able to send that message to their own arm. Therefore, their teacher will need to hold their arm and move it backwards for them. The teacher moves it backwards, then relaxes it, moves it backwards, relaxes, backwards, relaxes, until the student can “feel” the movement for themselves and duplicate it on their own.

CONCLUSION

Yoga means hope to people who may have believed there was little they could do to improve their fitness or muscle tone. When a person has been limited to a wheelchair much or all of the time, especially for a period of years, they have become accustomed to thinking of what they cannot do. Yoga–because of its adaptability to any person’s body current strengths and level of flexibility and its lack of competition with others or even self–helps such people comprehend what they can do. Where previously they only noted such things as, “I am slouching even worse this year,” or, “Even though I am always sitting, my back still aches a lot,” now they have a medium or mechanism to mediate those observations. And hope builds on itself. Once a little more flexibility is reached, or a little more strength obtained so that muscles do not ache with use, there is even more hope and more enthusiasm to do the postures. In addition, as health improves through better spinal alignment and renewed internal organ activity, a more optimistic view of life in general usually follows, even if the practitioner (because of paralysis or amputation, for example) never is able to leave the wheelchair behind.

Yoga is compassionate to the wheelchair-bound.

Bibliography

Accommodation and Compliance Series article for employees with wheelchairs, Linda Carter Batiste, J.D., http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/wheelchair.html

Fishman, Loren M., and Small, Eric L., Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis: A Path To Health and Healing. Demos Medical Publications, New York, NY, 2007.

Freeman, Arthur, Cognitive Behavior Therapy in Nursing Practice. Springer Publishing, New York, NY, 2005.

Interview with Daniel O. Thompson, physical therapist, RDT Physical Therapy, Bluffdale, Utah, April 16, 2009.

Interview with Susan Perry, instructor of disabled children, Mountain Valley Private Academy, Bluffdale, Utah, July 24, 2009.

Iyengar, B.K.S., Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health. DK Publishing, New York, New York, 2008.

McCall, Dr. Timothy MD, Yoga As Medicine. Random House, New York, NY, 2007.

National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD.org)

Rehabyoga.com

Robin Smith is a certified Yoga teacher. She teaches Yoga classes in the West Jordan, Utah area.

Adjusting Triangle Pose

By Wendy Courtney

This essay on Yoga and its relation to Senior health is based on my past experience with my aging relatives and surrounding community and also from what I have learned from the Chair Yoga Teacher’s course.

I have lived in the country all of my life and a big part of that, was spent living with my grandparents, on the family farm. Over the years, I grew a lot of respect towards Seniors, probably because I grew up surrounded by Seniors like my grandparents, great-aunts and uncles and my great-grandmother, especially knowing their past and how hard they have worked all their lives, trying to make a better life for their children and their children’s children.

I was 11 years old, when my great-grandmother passed away at the age of 94. She was a petite lady but, as I recall “she had an appetite like a horse”, not junk food either, we ate mostly everything grown or raised off the farm, three square meals a day and every day, at the same time.

As I grew older, I came to realize that my great-grandmother probably lived that long was due to a well balanced diet, and by eating properly it helped her to have a lot of energy and energy she had, you would think a little woman at that age would sit around taking it easy and enjoying everyone catering to her, but not my great-grandmother, up to the time she passed away and even after she has fallen down the stairs a couple of times and even broken her hip, she would not give up. But their came a time my grandparents thought it would be a good idea to make my great-grandmother a bedroom on the main floor, but because there was no washroom on the main floor, they had put a port-a-potty in her room, she accepted the idea of having her bed on the main floor, but a port-a-potty, she was not fond of. So when she had a chance, when no one was looking she would still sneak up the stairs, two flights of stairs at that, not only to get ahead of my grandmother to make all the beds, which was one of her morning shores she always done, but it was especially to use the washroom, oh! How she hated that port-a-potty. I remembered there were times she would come to me and ask me to guide her up the stairs so she can use the washroom, which was fine with me, at the age I was, it was like playing a game and I was her look out.

So remembering those things and knowing the things that I know now shows that balancing nutrition, exercise, keeping a healthy mind and having determination, is very important.

Although my great-grandmother had to live off the land and had to survive with the things she had on hand and still managed to eat healthy, exercised, the kind of exercise that was performed, mostly by hard work, and having a healthy mind, like the willpower and determination she had to be able survive and not to give up and in comparison to the life of that of a Yogi, I know that Yogis prefer not to eat meat and such and tend to do stretching with deep breathing for exercise and truly believe in the power of the mind, but All in all, there are similarities between my great-grandmother’s way of living and that of a Yogi, like a well-balanced nutritious diet, exercise and a healthy mind, when all put together they play an important role.

Introducing Yoga to Seniors would be beneficial, because yoga is low impact which is easy on the joints and great for the body, giving it energy, it would also be great for the mind keeping it alert and great for the spirit, which helps to keep us happy.

Yoga has the benefit to suit all ages, no matter what age you are, but you must always consult your doctor first, before your perform any kind of exercise, with your doctors permission, you can profit the reward that yoga can offer. For instance, the breath, with the correct techniques, will promote youthfulness inside and out, by providing oxygen to the blood stream, which it will generate through your body to help heel, repair and rejuvenate the body, making you feel and look younger.

After you have accomplished the correct way of breathing you can add some Yoga postures. These postures are to be done slowly and steadily with the flow of your breath, this will help lubricate your joints, develop flexibility and create more energy. This is especially good for Seniors, who will get stiffer with age, joints will get dry and Seniors will become less energetic.

Any time when you feel stressed, you can learn to use meditation techniques, this can be done at any time and anywhere. Meditation is a combination of deep breathing and relaxation of the body and mind. This will help you find inner peace and it will open the mind.

We need to keep our aging community active. The Seniors today are aging well and in better health, but after retirement, many get depressed because they don’t know what to do with themselves, especially in small communities that don’t have much to offer. When depression sets in, it doesn’t take long for some kind of illness to occur and then their health deteriorates quickly.

The community, where I live is trying to get funds to build a Retirement Home for active Seniors, which is badly needed, especially for the ones that don’t have family. We have nursing homes for those who absolutely cannot take care of themselves and need supervision all the time, but these places are not suitable for active Seniors with mild ailments.

Introducing Yoga to Seniors will help prevent loneliness through group gatherings and that itself will help reduce depression, while getting the exercise they need. Although there is no cure for depression, there are ways you can learn to cope with it, depending on the severity.

For those with certain disabilities, Yoga postures can always be modified to suite that person’s needs, without putting stress on the body.

You don’t have to be fit as a fiddle to do Yoga, as long as you are of sound mind and able to understand the instructions, you can do it.

For example, if you happen to have a person with an old back injury and his back became deformed from stiffness over the years and that he is complaining of muscle spasms and back pain, Yoga can help but with only certain Asanas. Twisting should be a no, no, because that person probably has herniated disk and probably has loss of bone density in the injured areas, twisting may cause more injury.

First start with basic warm-ups and some breathing techniques and how to combine movements with the flow of the breath then properly show him some Asanas like; forward folds, cat pose, child pose, downward facing dog, plank pose and cobra pose, without straining himself and to let him know that he will not be able to do certain postures perfectly because the spine has healed and the muscles and the tendons have become tight making the curvature of the back out of lined, through time it may get better, but it may never become perfectly in lined, so this person may never be able to do certain Asanas and you and your student shouldn’t expect to do them either, the main purpose of introducing Yoga exercise is do relieve pain, not induce it.

Another example, of a person in her sixties, a little on the heavy side and diabetic, with hip and lower back problems caused from improper posture alignment, she also has shortness of breath, a touch of asthma, caused from many years of smoking and incorrect breathing habits which was diagnosed from a lung specialist.

Now this person can’t stand for long periods of time and can’t lie on the floor, so I would have to prepare Asanas to meet her needs. First I would show her correct breathing techniques and work on that for a good month or more until she gets the hang of it and that she can to them on her own, in her spare time. Then I would slowly introduce some Asanas with support of a chair. I would first inform her and show her how important of combining posture movements with the flow of the breath and the benefits of doing them correctly.

I would first show her Asanas postures while she sits on a chair and if she was able, some standing postures with the support of a back of a chair, even if only for a short time, doing a little bit of movements will become better, she will become more flexible and stronger through time. I would start with some basic warm-ups then show her forward folds, side stretches and leg pendulums, something easy and something she can practice on her own. Through time I can introduce her more Asanas to help her maintain good health, flexibility and strength.

For my conclusion, I would love to be able to have the ability to introduce Yoga to Seniors and to the community, to show them the benefits of Yoga and how it could be set up in a routine, so that they can perform in their daily lives.

Yoga can be done in the morning for those early birds, in the afternoon, in the evening and because Yoga is not strenuous, you can even do Yoga before bed and still get a good night sleep.

Yoga can be done alone or in a group, but it is preferable to have a Yoga instructor just to make sure the postures are done properly and that they are the correct postures for you.

You can set up a Yoga class outside in a warm, sunny day, in a community hall, at a Seniors retirement home for active Seniors or you can give private classes in your own home.

Most importantly, meeting and greeting with the people and knowing you are there in their lives, spending time with them, getting to know one another, and learning from each other things from the past, present and dreaming of our future and the best feeling of all, is the feeling of accomplishments, knowing you are helping people with great appreciation.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my essay, I hope I didn’t confuse you too much, sometimes I get my sentences backwards, because I am fluently bilingual, and I tend to do that sometimes.

Wendy Courtney is a Certified Chair Yoga Teacher. She teaches Yoga classes in Gracefield, Quebec, Canada.

By Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

Ardha Chandrasana, which is also known as “Half Moon Pose,” is an energizing asana that leaves the practitioner with a sense of focused empowerment. It does not matter what age you are; if you can walk on two feet, you can still practice Half Moon Pose.

The modifications for my students range from using a firm block, stool, or chair for the forward hand to balance on, to using a wall behind the spine and extended leg. My morning Chair Yoga classes are filled with students, where the median age is 75 years.

Some students are older, and some are younger, but this posture can be modified to accommodate all of them. Balance can become a major issue as we age. Side effects from prescription medication, and inner ear problems, are just two of the many reasons why seniors may struggle with balance.

If we live long enough, very few of us will be able to avoid prescription medications. If we diet and remain active, we increase the odds for better health. Many active seniors begin to realize that Yoga, swimming, and walking programs may help reduce, or eliminate, prescriptions.

Ardha Chandrasana is a valuable posture for working on balance. If you live in a climate with snow and ice during the winter, you know that balance is crucial. After 55 years of age, very few of us want to volunteer for a fall on slippery pavement.

For seniors who live in warm climates, a fall is still possible. The most common place is stepping into a shower stall. It helps to have a grab bar on the side of the entrance to the shower stall, but seniors take falls going into the shower for many reasons.

The safest way to perform Ardha Chandrasana is with a chair in an open corner of the room, so that your back can lean against the wall if it is needed for stability. At the same time, the chair cannot go anywhere if it is in a fixed position in a corner of the room.

To do this modification with the right foot forward, face the side of the chair in Warrior I. Initially, both hands can be placed on the seat. As an option, the forward hand (right hand) can be placed on the chair seat. The left leg can slowly be lifted to a height that is comfortable.

The next option is to place the left hand on the left hip. Extend the left arm up, if possible. Extend the left leg completely, but do not lock it. Another option is to rotate the hips and shoulders so that the left hip and shoulder stack directly over the right side. Finally, if your neck allows, rotate your neck up to the left side and look up to the ceiling.

© Copyright 2009 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Yoga Teacher Training. FREE Yoga Report. FREE Yoga Newsletter. FREE Yoga Videos. Free Podcasts. Bonus: Free Yoga e-Book, “Yoga in Practice.”

http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/

Continuing Education for Yoga Teachers

FREE CONTENT: If you are a Yoga Teacher, Yoga studio, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste, Paul