Sitting Yoga: It’s that easy

Sitting yoga is not only easy on the joints, but you can also optimally integrate the exercises into your everyday life. We show you some chair yoga exercises.

Seated yoga, also known as chair yoga, is a gentle form of yoga that is easier to perform. The benefit is that you can easily perform yoga poses while seated during a break in the office or at home.

This way you can balance and improve your working posture at your desk. Yoga in the home office can help you prevent negative effects on the body from working at a desk. In addition, yoga while sitting also provides mental relaxation in hectic everyday work.

Seated yoga can be practiced by people of all ages. It is usually also suitable when there are injuries or restricted mobility, so that often older people can also practice this form of yoga safely. Get medical advice beforehand if you are unsure.

Just like yoga in bed, you can easily integrate chair yoga into your daily routine. Another advantage is that you don’t need any special material like a yoga mat or other yoga accessories. A chair with a normal seat height is sufficient. You should only use office chairs with castors if they don’t roll away easily and you can fix them.

Seated Yoga: Sun Salutation

The sun salutation is an integral part of many yoga styles. This is a sequence of several asanas that can also be adapted for seated yoga.

This is how the sun salutation works if you want to practice yoga while sitting:

1. You start with the mountain position. To do this, sit upright on the front part of the chair and let your arms hang down. Your shoulders are relaxed and not pulled up towards your ears.
2. Breathe in as you stretch your arms. The stretched arms go from below to the front and then up.
3. Next comes the bend. Here you bend your stretched arms with your upper body forward towards your feet. You breathe out. Try to touch your toes with your fingers and rest your chest on your thighs.
4. As you inhale, go into the chair. To do this, bring your outstretched arms back up with your upper body. Your torso should be tilted forward about 45 degrees compared to the arm extension (Step 2). Exhale again.
5. You continue with the cobra. As you inhale, sit upright again in the chair. Bend your elbows and raise the backs of your hands toward your shoulders. This brings your shoulder blades together and opens your chest forward. As you exhale, extend your arms forward. Point your palms forward and round your back. On the next breath, come back to the starting cobra position and repeat the step at will.
6. The last position in the sequence is downward facing dog. As you exhale, bend your torso forward again by 45 degrees and stretch your arms up over your shoulders. Back, head and arms form a line. Now straighten your legs and place your feet on your heels. Hold the position for several breaths and come back to mountain pose. Now you can start the sun salutation again.

Sitting yoga: two exercises for advanced users

The chair for seated yoga can also give you support for more complicated exercises. For example, you can keep your balance better. The following exercises are a bit more difficult:

• The Warrior: Stand at arm’s length in front of the chair and bend down so your hands can rest on the seat. Now stand on just one leg and extend the other straight back. Breathe in. Then, on an exhale, bend the lifted leg and pull it forward toward your chin. The back curves. Repeat the stretch, then switch legs. You should not use a chair with casters for this exercise.
• The Pigeon: Sit upright on the chair and place the ankle of one leg on the knee of the other leg. Grab your knees and the palms of your feet with your hands. Straighten your back and step forward into the stretch. You should now feel the stretch in your glutes. Breathe in and out, and after a few breaths, switch legs.

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