Week 7: Accessible to All

As part of my full time work as an exercise physiologist, I work with individuals with limited mobility. And in most cases but not all, these individuals have not participated in physical activity for years or ever. These clients constantly remind me of how disconnected/connected we can be with our bodies.

I already know that once I am a yoga teacher, I will continue to work with this population. In my opinion, yoga is an essential way to move people from inactivity to activity. I reflect back on the time I had a volunteer yoga teacher come to one of my group classes to teach. It was wonderful to see clients enjoy yoga and reap the benefits. At times, I think yoga can be very intimating and thus, I tried a chair yoga DVD this week to experience a class that's more accessible than your tradition mat class.

The DVD is called, Chair Aerobics for Everyone: Chair Yoga, and I found it on the shelf of a local library location that I rarely visit. I snatched it up instantly and was eager to try it for myself. These are the types of poses I want to perfect to teach to other newbies.

What stood out the most was how great of a yoga session it was and all the poses were in the chair! I wasn't totally surprised but it really drove home the fact that yoga can be accessible to all. I was shocked by how difficult Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II) was in a chair. I haven't competely figured out what it was about having a chair support me that made the pose more challenging. Maybe the seat of the chair allowed for a wider stance and thus a greater stretch? Not sure but I know I've never done a Warrior II pose and felt that same intensity.

I've decided that one of the contributions I want to make as a yoga teacher is to use chair yoga to reach the possibly unreachable populations particularly those dealing and coping with chronic disease and mobility concerns.

It's kinda nice to know where I'm headed already!
LW

P.S. I found a short clip on YouTube of the DVD. Very short!

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Photo credit: Sitka, Alaska (September 2009). Wouldn't that be a nice place to sit and do yoga?