Enjoy this sample Chair Yoga class and feel what’s possible when movement is supportive, gentle, and effective.
Feel stronger, steadier, and more flexible with each session. Improve balance, support bone health, and move through your day with greater ease.
Live online • 30-minute classes • Includes full class library during series.
Designed for adults 50+ • All levels welcome
New series begins soon—your chair is waiting. I’d love to have you in class.
Today we’re going to focus on our shoulder mobility, our arm strength, our
shoulder stabilizing, and our upper back. Let’s begin by shrugging your shoulders up to your
ears. Squeeze them tight, tight, tight. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. And then a big exhale and let
them fall down. Feel the stress and tensions rolling right off your shoulders
like a water off duck off a duck’s back.
Again, we’ll squeeze up tight, tight, tight as possible. Tight, tight. And then big exhale. Let your shoulders fall down. Good. And let’s put your hands on your shoulders and see if you can just put the
tops of your hands in this and coax your shoulders down away from your ears. And please
close your eyes just for a moment. We’ll do a little breath awareness and body awareness
here. Hugging ourselves. Close your eyes. Initiate your breath from your belly. Inhale deeply. Exhale. Fully. One more time. Let’s all do a big inhale together. Deep exhale. Squeeze all the air out of your
lungs. Squeeze it out. And slowly open your eyes. Open your arms. Stretch your arms way out. Palms
up. And we’ll begin with some little arm circles. The shoulder is the most mobile joint in the body.
As a refresher course, we got the rotator cuff. It’s a group of four small muscles and
tendons that stabilize and surround the shoulder joint. Good. Now go the other way
with your arm circles. Spread your fingers way out. Our shoulder has a huge range
of motion. We got a flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, rotating inward and
outward. and big circular movements. Can you imagine a joint doing all that? That ball and
socket joint. Okay, now go back the first way, but make big big circles as big as you can.
Careful of any furniture in the way. Yeah, big circles. Open your chest. Draw your shoulder
blades together as you bring your arms back. Good. That’s it. Now we’ll do go the
other way. Back, up, around, and forward. Maybe you can round your
upper back here. Motion is the motion. Okay, now arms out again. If you can remember,
cross your Give yourself a hug the other way. It doesn’t matter. And then
we’ll do some circles like this. Good. Then we’ll pause. Let your arms
come on down.
Please get your weights. We want to keep our arms and shoulders strong. So they can help us keep reaching overhead, throwing things, stretching, moving, dancing. Okay.
So squeeze your weights together in front of your chest. Now open them up like this. Keep your elbows bent and then take your overhead. Tap overhead and then back down. Elbows still bent. They’re bent
the whole time. Now brace your belly, too. Engage your core. So, your whole torso
is helping with these moves, right? Good. Excellent. Oh, you look so good. Open
up. We’ll just do a hundred more. Surely I am kidding Just one more. I’ll
do it for something you love. and together and rest them on down. Good
job. Shake out your arms. Just shake them out. Shake shake shake shake shake.
More instructions below. Also on the video screen.
Okay, now take one arm out with your palm up. Reach it back as far as you can, but keep try to
keep your left shoulder back, too. So, you’re opening your pectoral muscle.
Now turn your palm down and rotate your shoulder down. Swoop your arm in front of
you wisfully and take it back behind your head. And then we’ll repeat. Palm up, pectoral
muscle open. And then round your shoulder and your hand sweep in front.
And you can take your gaze with your hand to make it even more dramatic. Round. Swoop in front and wisfully behind your head. And round. Good. Now we’ll stretch it out. Out. Out. And we’ll just bring it on down. And then we’ll take other one arm. Reach it back. Feel this opening in this, too. And then round your shoulder in. Swoop it in front, back, behind. Just make it feel good.
If it feels right, it is right. If it doesn’t feel right, it’s not. So, you know
your body better than anyone, better than me, better than any doctor. It’s why we like our yoga
to tune into our body, listen to it, love it. One more time like this. And then let that arm come on down.
Okay, let’s pick up our weights again. I’m going to sit up a little forward on my chair. Maybe you want
to do that as well so you have room. So, take your arms out and together and then up.
Good. Lower them down slowly. Yeah. Open in and then up. Slowly resist gravity taking them
down for you. Yeah, you get more benefit. Remember to squeeze your belly button
all the way back. So, it’s engaging, too. We get stronger every time we
do this. A little bit stronger. Take a rest or set the weights down anytime
you need to.
This is about caring for yourself. Okay, we’ll do one more. Out, in, up, and down.
Turn your weights down and set them on down. Let’s take our legs apart. You can keep your weights
right there to get a little extra grounding. And then slide your hands out, hinge at your hips, and
stretch your torso real long. Yeah. Lengthen. Now, make sure that your push is grounded on your
chair. And open your arms out. Open your arms out. Good. And then exhale. Swoop your arms
forward. Squeeze your belly button back. And then open like this. like eagle arms wide open
like a bird. Exhale. Contract your belly. Inhale. Feel real fluid. Exhale. Rounding
your upper back and your shoulders. Exhale. Squeeze your belly back as you round your upper back.
We’ll do a couple more like this. One more exhale. Inhale. Open your big beautiful
hearts. And then let your arms come down. Make the place better after you’ve left. They got to
get that quote arda. Okay. Please bring your legs parallel, your feet underneath your knees. We are
going to stand up. Take your weights with you. No, no, no arms. See if you can stand up with no
arms. No, no arms pushing down on your chair. Now, I hope that you can take a wide stance. Have
your chair nearby if you need it. Maybe you don’t. So, we’re going to do a couple
variations here.
We’re going to squat. So, first of all, just lift your weights up.
Keep them slightly in front of your shoulders, please. And of course, to modify, you
can hold onto the chair like this. And then we’re going to squat. Squat. Yep.
So, this just gives us extra weight. Shoulders back, but the weights
are just a little bit in front. Good. Nice and slow. Stand real tall. Exhale down. Check your knees. Make sure they’re out.
Headed out over your toes. Exhale. Inhale tall. Exhale.
Inhale tall. Two more times. And now you can let your weights come on down. Same position. Shoulders back, heart lifts.
We’re going to keep our chest up and just squat. So these are like dead weights. You’re
just holding on to them as you squat. Good. And then of course you need to. It’s fine to hold
on, but I don’t think anybody is holding on. Yeah, good. Cuz our legs are wider. We have a nice broad
foundation. Grounding down, squeezing the butt, squeezing the belly, standing tall. This will
keep us strong. This is our 25-y year plan. Exhale down. Inhale tall. One more time.
Exhale down. Inhale tall. Good job. And then bring your legs parallel. So we’re going to
take like chair pose.
Chair pose is like this you may remember with your knees bent back as far as
you can take them and then your booty back. Your spine straight. And then take your weights down
alongside your knees with your spine straight, your feet right underneath your knees. And
then exhale your left hand up towards your left hip. And then back down. And then on the
other side, bring it up and down. Up and down. If you need to, you could do it standing,
but this just adds a little extra dimension, sitbones apart. Engage your abdominal muscles.
You can always smile. Titnat says smiling is yoga for the face. Now, keep doing one
and then the other. Or you could do both. Nice and slow. Especially when
they come down. Squeeze your belly. Spine long. Good job.
Two more. And then we’ll stand on up. Go ahead. You can set
your weights down on your chair. Congratulations. Smile for yourself. Be proud of
yourself. You’re making yourself stronger. And we’re just going to swing.
Keep your hips facing forward. And then just let your spine decompress. Swing
your arms around, shoulders around. As we age, the shoulders can get tight or
weak. And this is all helping to balance that, keeping them strong and supple, flexible. Good. And then let’s bring our legs back parallel.
We’re going to stand up because I think most of you sit a lot. So, we’re just going to stand up
firmly with our feet right underneath our hips. Good. And then take your right arm in front of
you and take the left arm in front of that. If for some reason you want to sit down, you could do the
sitting down. That’s fine. Yep. Just like this. And then reach that same arm straight up. Reach
for the sky. And then bend your elbow. Place your palm behind your neck. Slide your other hand
up your tricep. And then coax a little more stretch in your underside of your arm. Those
exercises we just did activated your triceps. So they’re saying right now, thank you. Thank
you. Thank you. Thank you, Arveda. Thank you, Debbie. Thank you, Carrie. Thank you, Clip.
Everybody, your bodies are thanking you. And then you can slowly release
that one. Good job. Left arm in front. And then place your other
hand in front of your upper arm. And then when you’re ready, stretch it way up.
Lengthen all through your torso. And then bend palm behind your neck. Slide your hand up
here. See if it can encourage just a little more stretch. You can actually also press
your head your head back into your forearm and a little bit press your forearm back into
your head. Wow, that’s so good. Wow, good, Debbie. I can see progress here from when we
did this years ago, months ago. And then slowly release. Excellent. Good. Now take your right hand
out. Thumb down. Thumb down. And take the back of your hand to the back of your body. Just take it
back there. See how far it can go. And see if you can shimmy it up a little bit. Maybe put your
left hand on your right shoulder. Draw it back. And then maybe shimmy it up just a little bit
more. A nice opening here. And the hand on your back can help give you a little more leverage. Not
too much, not too little, just right. Good. Sue. Mhm. And then we’ll slowly release that.
Excellent. Left arm out, thumb down, and then bend it back your hand to the back of
your body. Just see wherever it goes is fine. And then maybe put this in here.
And you’re pressing the back of your hand into your back to get just a
little leverage, little more opening. Oh my goodness. We spend so much time
leaning forward, looking forward on what we’re doing. Our pottery, our
dishes, our computers, our bicycles. and then release. Good. Go ahead, shake
your arms out. Shake, shake, shake. And here’s just a very practical thing that
you can do anytime during your day. So, you’re standing, you think, “Oh, I’ve been
like this for a while.” What do you do? You take your hands behind you. You hold your
hands like you’re shaking your own hand, somebody’s hand, and then you take your
belly back. You take your throat back. You take your shoulders back. And maybe lift
your arms up. This is such a nice counter to being on your laptop or whatever you do.
I’m on my laptop. That’s why I do this. My little 5-year-old neighbor, I was taking them
all to the airport. She has two sisters and her mother and father in the car. and then release.
And the one teenage girl, she goes to work and hold your hands the other way. Make a deal with
yourself. She goes to work and Joelle, she’s five. She says, “You’re not working.” It’s, “What do you
mean? Why isn’t she working?” She said, “Working’s like this on your laptop.” She goes like this.
Oh, I think she’s got what a lot of us do. Not always. And release. Good job.
Go ahead and sit back down now. Sit back down. Good. Nice and comfortable. And let’s
do some shoulder rolls. Just roll one shoulder. Pick a shoulder. Any shoulder.
Roll it around. Warming up, lubricated. Consistent practice moving your body.
Go the other way with the same shoulder helps us age with grace. Live with grace. So
we can do all the fun things we like to do. And then just let that arm fall down. I know
we’ve been doing a lot on both shoulders, but just doing that one move on the one shoulder.
Do you feel just a little difference? Yeah. Yeah, I do too. Okay. So, let’s
do it the other way. Now, this is the beautiful thing is we’re tuning
into our own body. There’s so many distractions out there. It’s really important to
love our bodies, take care of them. Now, when you’re ready, go the other direction. You can do it any way you want.
From the mobility and stability in my shoulders to the mobility and stability in your shoulders.
Namaste. See you in two weeks. or more yoga to the rescue.