Free Chair Yoga for You: A Practical Guide by Clarissa C. Adkins, Olivette Baugh Robinson, Barbara Leaf Stewart Page A

yoga students practice poses while seated in a chair or use the chair for assistance in some standing poses. Anyone can practice it. Those with chronic conditions, weight issues, past injuries, disabilities, or anyone looking for gradual and gentle ways to increase his or her range of motion can all experience benefits from this practice. Chair yoga is also appropriate for students of more traditional yoga classes who want to rediscover poses that they long ago committed to muscle memory. In other words, people of all ages, levels, and physical conditions are able to start a chair yoga practice without hesitation.
    In creating this book, we sought to incorporate the needs of students studying on their own, as well as those wishing to design their own chair yoga classes. We are hopeful these pages will express our belief that anyone and everyone can discover the beauty and benefits of yoga, whether using chair yoga as a starting place or as an addition to their mind and body fitness routine. Additionally, we encourage youto seek out yoga classes in your area so you can enjoy the group setting. It is our goal that all yoga students discover one of the simplest rewards of yoga: being able to function through life’s daily activities and demands with ease of movement and peace of mind.
    HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
    We encourage you to read through the following paragraphs, which outline the principles of yoga, precautions, and how to begin your practice.
    Additionally, take a little time to read over the breathing exercises and poses before practicing them so your experience is more fluid. Accompanying most poses are photos to help you visualize the written descriptions. We divided the yoga exercises into the following categories:
    Breathing Exercises
Warm-up Postures
Endurance and Strength Postures
Balance Postures
Cool-down Postures
    At the end of this book, we include several sequences, or combinations of poses, for a practice of at least thirty minutes. You can also design your own sequences as you become more comfortable with the poses. Always start with a few poses from the warm-up section and end with a few from the cool-down postures. Because the universal language of yoga is Sanskrit, you will also find an index at the end of this book with English to Sanskrit translations of poses.
    PRINCIPLES of YOGA
    Although the following five principles encompass ideas from all styles of yoga, they originate from Sivananda, as taught by Swami Vishnu-devananda in
The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga
:
    PROPER EXERCISE: Yoga exercises are performed slowly, gently, and with awareness. Keep in mind that all bodies are different.
 
PROPER BREATHING: Deep breathing helps to nourish and strengthen the body.
 
PROPER RELAXATION: Releasing tension through relaxation is essential for a healthy body. Many yoga students consider complete relaxation of the body and mind to be most difficult, but important to work toward.
 
PROPER DIET: Simple, nutritious foods are basic for good health. A true yoga diet is a vegetarian diet.
 
POSITIVE THINKING and MEDITATION: Positive thinking leads to contentment—being thankful for who you are, what you can do, and what you have. There is no need to envy what others can do or what others have. Make peace with the past and move forward.
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    The body is as young as the spine is flexible.
    —Old yogic saying
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    PRECAUTIONS
    As much as chair yoga is a gentle, safe road to take toward fitness,
please follow the advice of your physician on exercises that you should or should not do.
    Yoga emphasizes “listening to the body.” The exercises and poses are sometimes challenging, but should never be practiced to the point of pain. There are manyways to achieve the same stretch or the same objective in yoga, so always feel free to skip a pose and move on to the next one. Before doing any endurance exercises or deep stretches, please warm up.
    Pay special attention to the following conditions:
    Disc issues or