Chair Yoga for the Lower Body: Eliminate Back Pain and Stay Strong and Flexible
Lower body exercises are some of the most crucial chair exercises you can learn and do daily. Chair yoga for the lower body will help keep your lower body strong and flexible. This will take pressure off your lower back and vertebrae.
A lot of my students, especially women, ask me how to tone and tighten trouble spots in the lower body. Let’s face it, sitting on our butt all day gives us a flat ass! But you can do something about it. Doing simple lower body stretches and strengthening moves will help you lengthen and lean out hips, thighs, and love handles. You’ll also free yourself from lower back pain and feel much better throughout your day.
Benefits of Chair Yoga for the Lower Body
I never stop meeting people who tell me, “I can’t do yoga—my hamstrings are too tight,” or “I can’t touch my toes.” So many of my students ask how they can stretch the backs of their legs. The answer is chair yoga!
There are many perks to doing lower body yoga with your chair. Our buttocks and thighs are our largest muscles, and strengthening them gives our metabolism a nice boost. Most people in Eastern cultures sit in a squat position instead of a chair. They rarely have hip and knee issues. Their hips and knees are forced through a full range of motion and the long leg muscles are constantly being stretched.
Before we get started with chair yoga for the lower body, we need to remind ourselves that yoga is a process, not a destination. On our road to more flexibility, it takes dedicated time, awareness, and breath to continue to become open.
We do many activities that create tightness and tension, so just like brushing our teeth, we need to repeat lower body exercises many times to see results.
If you practice chair yoga for the lower body consistently, you will start to see amazing results and increased flexibility. You will learn to open properly by engaging your abdominals and breathing deeply into each pose.
Don’t Forget the Feet!
We often don’t pay attention to our feet. In addition to strengthening and lengthening the legs, chair yoga for the lower body gives our feet some TLC throughout the day. This can make a world of difference in our health and well-being. Our feet are our foundation. Using them properly and stretching and strengthening them daily can help correct postural imbalances, plantar fasciitis, cramping, and even bunions.
Chair yoga for the lower body starts with the feet. When you give your feet some attention, you also remind yourself to take break. Take a load off, and pamper yourself! You can then work your way up through the lower body, doing chair yoga exercises that include lunges, forward folds, and warrior poses among others.
If you’d like more details on chair yoga for the lower back, check out chapter 7 of my book, Chair Yoga: Sit, Stretch, and Strengthen Your Way to a Happier, Healthier You.
Kristin McGee is a celebrity yoga and Pilates instructor in New York City. She is currently teaching yoga with Peloton. She is the star of over 100 videos, seen in several magazines and tv shows and is a spokeswoman for many brands and causes she believes in. A proud mom to three, she sure keeps herself busy!