Chair Yoga for the Elderly

When it comes to yoga, many people think that it is just a fashionable way to keep fit for young women. In fact, in addition to women, the number of men practicing yoga is also increasing day by day. In the United States, many elderly people are also obsessed with yoga as a healthy exercise. What is increasingly different from tradition is that they use chairs to assist them.

In California, the Joseline Elderly Center is the birthplace of chair yoga, which Lakshmi invented in 1980. At the time, a student in the traditional yoga class where she was teaching developed from rheumatoid arthritis, which was so serious that she couldn't dress and open the door by herself, let alone perform difficult yoga movements. After learning about her dilemma, Lakshmi tried to have the students sit in a chair and practice yoga, and adjusted various movements. "With a chair as a backer, students become more courageous and can relax and try various movements. So I think chair yoga is particularly suitable for the elderly to exercise ligaments and muscles."

Lakshmi introduced that chair yoga classes usually last for an hour, and the movements are all assisted by a chair. For example, the classic movement in traditional yoga is to stand your legs upright, then bend over and touch the ground with your hands. Chair yoga requires placing two chairs face to face. The old man sits on one chair, puts his legs flat on the other, and then uses his hands to reach the back of the chair instead of his feet.

Chair yoga reduces the extent of body bending and does not allow the head of an old person to rush down, which can easily cause cerebral hemorrhage. In addition to handstands, chair yoga basically has all the movements of traditional yoga.

Lakshmi's students all reported that practicing chair yoga made them realize that they had flaws in their balance ability. Through exercise, their muscle strength and resilience have been enhanced, and "the whole body is full of vitality"! "Many old people are getting more and more energetic as they practice, and keep asking me if I can try more difficult moves."

Chair yoga has been popular among the elderly since its launch. Currently, about 1.6 million middle-aged and elderly people over the age of 55 practice yoga in the United States. With the rise of yoga craze in recent years, I believe that more and more elderly people in China will join the ranks. (Internship Editor: Wu Jinyu)