chair yoga question....yoga teacher in training needs help!

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chair yoga question....yoga teacher in training needs help!

(6 posts) (4 voices)

Started 7 years ago by butterscotchgal76
Latest reply from Mark Franklin

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butterscotchgal76
Member

Hey yogis and yoginis,

I'm currently undergoing my year long Kripalu yoga teacher training course (finished in a few months) and have undertaken volunteer teaching of a chair yoga class...I'm looking for some good resources or ideas or to hear from people who've taught chair yoga...I'm open and keen and would love to hear from all of you out there...I work on a physical rehab unit in a hospital and most of the people in the class have some physical or cognitive impairment (mild to moderate).

Namaste,

Stefanie

Posted 7 years ago #
Jeanné
User

Hi Stefanie!

Wish I had some advice for you, but I have no experience with chair yoga. I know that many people on this forum are knowledgable in that area. Hopefully, you will get some insight from them soon. Until then, best of luck to you!

Namaste,

Jeann

Posted 7 years ago #
butterscotchgal76
Member

Hi Jeanne,

I appreciate your encouragement and your post...I look forward to hearing from some of those experienced chair yoga teachers soon...
In the meantime I have found some modifications of postures that I can do for a warm-up, and a seated sun salutation (it's a mini-version)....I'm practicing to see how that will go!

Stefanie

Posted 7 years ago #
dslyoga
Member

Dear Stephanie,

I have a pretty comprehensive Chair Yoga routine I developed for training yoga teachers and coaching their (and my) private yoga therapy Clients. It leans toward what I call Let-Go Yoga, focused on releasing very specific and chronic tensions and more gentle releases. It also helps to isolate one muscle group at a time, using mostly gravity rather than musclar force, so one's focus can hone in on de-contracting individual muscles as much as possible.

So ... What exactly are you looking for and what do you need to accomplish, and with whom? ... I'm going to be teaching a training in the Boston area that has been approved by Kripalu for their yoga sciences requirement, which will include some of the Chair stuff. So let me know what you need and I'll see if I can help.

I look forward to a reply,

David Scott Lynn

Posted 7 years ago #
butterscotchgal76
Member

Hi David,

Apologies for the late reply...(tech problems at this end! and time just flies on by...) I appreciate your post. Sounds like a wonderful chair yoga program you've developed. I am definitely interested--however, I live near Toronto and it would be a bit far to travel for the course (Boston is at least a 10hr drive+). I do think the release of chronic tensions seems to be a key for this group. I am intending on using it with a group of hospital in-patients (90% seniors) , most are wheelchair bound or have musculoskeletal and/or balance restrictions.

I tried a sample routine already with this group, and it seems many have postural limitations and struggle in the gentle postures. I have found getting them to be more active by perching on more of the edge of their chairs worked well to improve this. I am not sure if it was correct or not, but I was trying to get them to almost use their "sits" bones and feet to feel the weight shift and grounding...

I am definitely interested in sharing information with you as I've still not had much success finding information on this topic....(I am still at a yoga teacher training and won't be fully qualified till June)...Thank you for your offer to help and ideas...I'm definitely interested in hearing more!

Namaste,

Stefanie

Posted 7 years ago #
Mark Franklin
Member

It's great to see someone so enthused about chair yoga! It's not very "*", but the students really benefit from it and there are too few professionals putting time into it.

Liz and I are trying to change that, and we're making some progress, I'm happy to say.

We periodically conduct chair yoga teacher training. We have received a generous grant from the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation that will sponsor 10 yoga teachers to be trained to teach Yoga In Chairs to people with MS. There is no cost to the teacher for the training itself!

In-person training is the best way to transfer knowledge, but we have developed an at-home training program that is affordable yet comprehensive. (The program is for yogis and yoginis that already know how to teach yoga.)

Finally, you might consider purchasing and studying chair yoga videos, which there a few of.

I've started a chair yoga blog which should have some items of interest to you. Paul Jerard has several articles about chair yoga in his blog at http://yoga-teacher-training.blogspot.com/.

If you have any particular questions about chair yoga, we'd be happy to help you out!

Posted 7 years ago #

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