Seniors typically have several challenges which affect their physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Some conditions may make it difficult to conduct exercises normally and may even require special support to make it possible. In this article, you will have the opportunity to learn great insights and benefits of chair yoga for seniors.
Chair yoga is a type or a form of yoga that anyone can perform while seated in the chair or while standing with a chair providing balance. It offers a gentle and effective way for seniors who cannot stand strenuous floor or standing yoga due to physiological conditions or constraints. While you could do these exercises on a chair, they actually follow the same principles as traditional yoga.
The physical conditions that we often witness in seniors include decreased mobility, issues of balance and coordination, sensory decline, slow recovery from injuries, and chronic conditions like arthritis that may affect the joints. All these conditions may make it difficult or challenging for a senior to conduct exercises normally on the floor. Due to the use of a chair, chair yoga can be a great option for this segment of the population. It provides extra support and does not require the up and down movements that are sometimes seen in traditional yoga.
Lakshmi Voelker developed this type of yoga in 1982 to benefit those who could not benefit from traditional yoga due to their age or other limiting conditions (1).
As mentioned, there are many benefits that a senior can gain from chair yoga. It is important to note that chair yoga is beneficial in the same way as traditional yoga is. Our center of interest is in the physical, emotional, and mental benefits of chair yoga for seniors among others.
Some of the potential benefits of chair yoga for seniors include the following:
Chair yoga engages the major muscle groups of the body including the core, upper body and lower body. This helps in toning and strengthening those muscles and with time, your strength can be increased. The chair exercises are good for hand-grip strength, and lower and upper limb muscle strength (4).
It is also important to note that when you repeat certain exercises or poses, those movements will build the endurance of the muscles gradually.
Chair yoga improves overall functional fitness and daily life activities. This is because of the overall benefits that come along with conducting these exercises. Studies have shown that chair yoga enhances grip strength, flexibility, and balance (4). All these make it possible for seniors to conduct their daily life activities with ease.
Seniors are often concerned with balance, since it is an issue that typically results in falls and injuries. With regular chair yoga exercises, seniors can gain confidence due to improved balance and coordination (4). This helps to prevent the risk of falls and injuries that would potentially come from a lack of agility and also the confidence to walk without the fear of falling.
Flexibility is important in carrying out daily activities that require bending, reaching, and walking. Chair yoga comes with stretches that target different muscle groups, hence improving flexibility or rather range of motion of the joints.
Elderly people with joint pain can benefit a lot from chair yoga. Studies have shown that a chair is safe and effective for people with osteoarthritis – a joint disease that makes the cartilage in the joints break down with time (3). But please be sure to contact your medical provider to ensure that you can safely complete this form of exercise.
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As we discussed in our previous post on chair yoga for stress relief, one thing stands out is chair yoga helps in reducing stress and lowering the levels of anxiety. We mentioned that chair yoga does the following in relation to lowering anxiety and stress:
Therefore, if you want to engage in an exercise that would be effective in lowering stress and anxiety as a senior, then chair yoga would be one of the options to try.
Read more: Morning Chair Workout: 8 Exercises You Can Do With or Without Weights
Between yoga and Pilates, there is no one that is better than the other. Both yoga and Pilates are good for seniors depending on what you want to achieve, your specific health condition, fitness level, and the benefits you want to gain. You may try both or choose one that is more appropriate depending on your level of fitness, health condition, goals, personal preference, or one you can easily access.
In our opinion chair yoga, hatha yoga, restorative yoga, yin yoga, and Iyengar yoga are all some of the best yoga types for seniors. Most of these exercises are three-dimensional and focus on the mind, breathing, and the body. In addition to that, they are gentle and slow-paced movements and hence are typically safe and effective for seniors.
Yes, chair yoga can absolutely work for the seniors. It offers a gentle way for seniors to benefit from yoga without having to do the challenging floor or standing yoga. The use of a chair can help with balance which can in turn reduce the likelihood of injury for older populations. As we have discussed, it has been discovered to be effective in improving flexibility, improving balance and stability, improving strength and endurance, enhancing functional fitness, and reducing joint pain among other benefits that we have discussed above.
To do chair yoga and benefit as a senior, you need to identify the type of chair yoga pose that you want to do. There are many chair yoga poses you can do. Some of the basic chair yoga poses that are typically easy for seniors include the following:
Let’s see how to perform these yoga poses:
Mountain Pose (Tadasana)
Cat-cow Pose (Marjaryasana-Bitilasana)
Seated Leg Extension
Seniors should avoid poses that have a high risk of injury, those that cause pain and discomfort, and those that put a lot of pressure on the spine, neck, or shoulders. Some yoga poses also may require a significant amount of strength and hence may not suit seniors. Such yoga poses that seniors should avoid, include but are not limited to, deep spinal twists, shoulder stands, headstands, and tree poses.
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Yes, you can lose weight by doing chair yoga. Though the amount of calories you can burn with this low-impact exercise is less than that you can achieve with high-intensity workouts.
As we talked about in our previous post, chair yoga can help with burning calories. With this type of workout, you can burn about 100 – 200 calories by doing chair yoga. Though it may not burn as many calories as you would want to, it surely does and can help you lose some extra weight.
But just like any form of exercise, weight loss comes when you are using more calories than you are consuming each day. Chair yoga can be a great tool to increase your daily calorie burn but weight loss will only occur if you are also reducing your total calories consumed.
Read more: Chair Yoga for Mobility: 10 Must-Have Exercises for an At-Home Practice
There is no conclusive finding that shows how often seniors should perform yoga. Some recommend at least twice a week, others recommend three times a week for a certain period of time depending on the goal or objective of the exercise (5). Therefore, you can adjust according to your body condition and increase gradually. For instance, you can start with once per week as you listen to your body, then increase to two times per week and to three times depending on your personal condition.
Yes, chair yoga tones your body. As we mentioned in a previous post, chair yoga helps to improve overall muscle tone and hence is an effective exercise for toning your body. You, therefore, need to conduct these exercises in proper form and target the muscle groups you want to work on for better results. This, on top of eating a healthy diet that fits within your daily caloric intake goals, can lead to favorable results over time. 70 is not too old for yoga. This type of workout is suitable for any age and it all depends on how you approach the exercises as a senior in that age. You need to understand that at 70, you likely need more gentle and slow-paced exercises than strenuous and high-intensity ones. Therefore, there are a lot of yoga types and poses that are very suitable for seniors and people with other limiting conditions. Seniors do chair yoga because it is an option that offers them a gentle, slow-paced, yet effective workout option. This can help them improve their flexibility, strength, and balance and achieve other fitness goals and benefits that we have discussed above. While yoga is beneficial to your body in a number of ways that we have discussed, there are limiting factors or conditions that may bar you from doing yoga. If you are asking when not to do yoga, some of the reasons you should not do yoga include the following: (2)Frequently Asked Questions
Does Chair Yoga Tone Your Body?
Is 70 Too Old for Yoga?
Why Do Seniors Use Chair Yoga?
When Not to Do Yoga?
As you have learned, there are a number of benefits from doing chair yoga regularly. It is a type of exercise that you can typically try out, whether you are a senior, have mobility issues or have conditions that may prevent you from performing traditional yoga. It will give you benefits similar to traditional yoga, though it is not as intense as other types of yoga.
Just to summarize, chair yoga can help improve your flexibility, improve your strength, balance, and endurance, and also help with enhancing your mental health, among the other benefits that we have mentioned. As a senior or an elderly person, you need to focus on what you want to achieve with chair yoga and find the right yoga poses that can give you the results that you desire.
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