8 Chair Yoga Poses You Can Practice at Home

Chair yoga is a very wonderful and easy way to perform different yoga poses at home and that too without getting up. It involves modifications so that they can be performed while seated.

Chair yoga poses make yoga easily accessible to people who lack the mobility to move freely, cannot stand up or want a quick break from work. Moreover, it is also a great choice if you want extra support during your yoga session, and can help add some ease and comfort to your work-from-home schedule.

Performing chair poses makes the advantages of yoga attainable to people with various fitness levels and ages, and with mobility issues or injuries. You can do numerous bends, twists and stretches while seated.

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Chair yoga poses you can do at home:

Here are a few of the best chair yoga poses you can easily practice at home.

1) Seated mountain pose

How to perform?

• Sit up straight on a chair, and keep breathing deeply. Keep your spine lengthened.
• As you exhale, push your sit bone firmly into the chair. Make sure your legs are at a 90-degree angle.
• Take another breath; exhale, and roll your shoulders back and down.
• Relax your arms at your sides, and engage your abdominal muscles.
• Hold the pose for a few minutes; take deep breaths, and release.

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2) Chair cat-cow stretch

How to perform?

• Sit straight on a chair with your spine straight and both your feet flat on the floor.
• Put your hands on your knees, or you may simply put them on the top of your thighs.
• Inhale; bend your spine slightly, and roll your shoulders back and down. Bring your shoulder blades to the back to form a cow position.
• Exhale; arch your spine, and pull your chin towards your chest. Allow your head and shoulder to come forward to form a cat position.
• Continue to move between the cow and cat positions.

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3) Chair forward bend (Uttanasana)

How to perform?

• Sit comfortably on a sturdy chair.
• Breathe easily, and on an exhalation, bend your body over your legs.
• Let your hands rest on the ground (if you are able to reach them), and keep your head stable.
• As you inhale, raise both your arms up over your head.
• Continue to raise your arms, and bend your body forward. Keep repeating this move.

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4) Chair Pigeon (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana)

How to perform?

• Sit up straight.
• Bring your left ankle to rest on your right thigh. Ensure your knees are in a line with your ankle throughout the exercise.
• Breathe easily, and hold this pose for a few minutes.
• If you want to intensity the pose, you may simply bend slightly forward.
• Repeat the movement with your opposite leg.

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5) Chair eagle (Garudasana)

How to perform?

• Sit straight.
• Cross your left thigh over your right to form an eagle pose.
• You may also wrap your left foot around your right calf, if it isn’t a problem.
• Cross your right arm over your left arm at the elbow.
• Slowly bend your elbows, and let your palms touch.
• While dropping your shoulder blades away from your ears, lift your elbow.
• Hold this position for a few seconds and repeat the movement on the other side.

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6) Chair warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana 1)

How to perform?

• Sit on a chair, and keep your left leg over the side of the chair. Swing your right leg behind you.
• Put the sole of your right foot on the ground parallel to the seat of the chair. Straighten your right leg.
• Keep your torso facing your left leg, and raise your arms up on an inhale as you take the warrior 1 pose.
• Hold for ten seconds, and release.

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7) Chair warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana 2)

How to perform?

• Sit on a chair.
• Exhale, and open up your arms, with your left arm coming forward and your right arm going backwards.
• Take your right hip back, and turn your torso to the right so that it gets aligned to the front side of the chair.
• Look over your left fingertips, and hold the warrior 2 position for a few seconds.

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8) Chair savasana

How to perform?

Sit straight on a chair for a few minutes with your eyes closed and both hands on your lap. Breathe deeply.

You can end your chair yoga poses with a chair savasana. This pose will enable your body to absorb all the benefits of the yoga asanas you have done and help transform your day.

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Summary

Just like other variations of yoga, chair yoga poses also offer several health benefits, which include enhancing strength, flexibility and endurance, promoting mental clarity, preventing pain and fatigue, and stress and anxiety.

However, to avail all these benefits of chair yoga, it's important to practice each pose correctly in the right form.