Chair

Intro:

WHO are your students? Can vary WIDELY. Could be ATHLETES injured. Could be seniors with very limited mobility. Could be businesspeople stuck in chairs all day looking for mini-breaks…and a million other scenarios.

What is the EFFECT, IMPACT, BENEFIT, PURPOSE of the pose? Start there. 

For example AIRPLANE pose

Why airplane? So what? 

Balance. Foot/earth/Grounding. Eyes/Drishti. Core. Hips/standing on one leg muscles. Open chest, long spine, Alive arms.

Possibilities: if they can stand up and hang ON to chair. From side. From front. From back. Use toes as kickstand, then lift a little, then more. 

Seated facing side. Seated facing front. Arms back. One foot up. 

Each variation: speak to the purpose and benefit… PRESS your foot DOWN and feel the earth. REACH through your WHOLE arm with energy and aliveness…. Etc. 

Part 1

Welcome! Today we will awaken your body, your breath, and your mind. We will inspire your SPINE to feel great in all 6 ways it moves.

Demo all things!

Palms together breathe wide arms like lungs. Imagine your lungs growing all the way out to the edges of your arms. 

Big sweep arms out and up and out and down with breath.

Hands on thighs, cat cow, flexion extension, study your spine. Your spine is your true center and the essence of you.

Opposite limb: one leg out, opposite arm up, switch slowly with breath. Add knee to elbow if appropriate. 

Seated twist - first, sit all the way back edge of chair. Inhale lengthen, exhale gently twist into the space.

Repeat sitting toward front edge of chair. 

Belly Breath: hands on belly, close your eyes if you feel comfortable doing so. Expand your lowest belly with breath. Imagine your lungs are all the way into the tops of your thighs. [gradually add on to this over the weeks, like…inhale for 4 counts slowly….exhale for 4 counts slowly…]

Upper chest breathing. Place one or both hands on upper chest, over your sternum. Breathe only into your upper upper upper chest. Into your armpits, into your upper back. Your lungs actually Go a couple inches up into collar bones, breath there!

Send your breath into forgotten nooks and crannies. Your breath HEALS you. 

3 part breathing. Imagine your torso like a cup with three parts: lower one third, middle one third, upper one third. Like you are filling up a glass of water, fill your lowest belly with breath, then keep going fill the middle part of the torso, then fill the upper part. As you exhale, reverse, so…exhale the top one third first, exhale the middle part second, and keep exhaling the lowest belly empties last. 

[give time]

So one inhale fill yourself up from the bottom to the top. One exhale empty yourself out from the top to the bottom. Be patient, keep practicing. 

Practicing intentional breathing can improve your memory and all your brain functions. It can improve your sleep, prevent and heal injuries and illness. It’s magic, and it’s free!!

Part 2

seated crescent moon lateral each side. Reach up and across. Press DOWN with the opposite hip. Switch. 

Repeat standing or again seated. If standing: hand ON to the chair and lean TOWARD the chair. Press DOWN with your feet, connecting to earth. Move to the other side of chair or turn around, so you can still hang on for second side. 

Warriors 1 and 2. Hang onto chair and reach the other hand UP or OUT

Wide legged forward fold:

seated: open your legs widely, come forward onto several blocks. Head down only if ok on your blood pressure. 

standing :facing seat of chair - hands or elbows on the seat of the chair. Come up and down SLOWLY. Going upside down is amazing for your spine and literally makes you taller, gives you more space and freedom!

Seated butterfly stack blocks or use a stool or bolsters.Can do one leg [like seated tree] or both legs. 

Seated pigeon cross ankle over thigh or or just cross at ankle if very intense. LENGTHEN your spine and move your chest and spine up OVER the shin to really feel it with integrity. 

Sit and twist several times both legs flat. Then One leg crossed over like half an eagle legs. 

Use the LIGHTHOUSE imagery mini lesson:

See your spine as a tall spiral staircase, like you would take to the top of a lighthouse. 

Start at the very bottom step. Gradually climb up each step with your mind, twisting as you go. Inhale LENGTHEN, exhale climb and twist. 

Part 3 carpal tunnel stuff AND ankle stuff AND neck stuff.

Part 4 more standing triangle, strap stretch, etc. then svsasna . 

• Be sure to teach whomever is present, not just from what you planned. You should never suggest for them to do anything too challenging, but gradually adding in possibilities as you SEE them ready for it. Lot of talking about the benefits of breathing and stretching and meditating:
  • Increased memory • Better sleep
  • Better energy
  • Better digestion
  • Increased mood/lessening depression • Reducing symptoms of
  • Asthma
  • Heart Disease • Diabetes
  • Cancer
  
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