Have you tried Chair Yoga?
Kristin Mumper is a 500 hour certified and registered yoga teacher with a special interest in
chair yoga and adaptive vinyasa. Among her training includes certifications in Mindful Resilience
for Trauma Recovery through Veterans Yoga Project, Adaptive Yoga through Mind Body
Solutions, Chair Yoga through Yuva Yoga, and Brain Longevity through the Alzheimer's
Research and Prevention Association. In spring of 2023, she added Krista Fairbrother’s
Water Yoga to her repertoire. Her teaching style is lighthearted and dynamic, encouraging
individual exploration while embracing creativity.
The benefits of chair yoga are manyfold! One may believe chair yoga is not ‘real yoga’ or is
something only practiced by the elderly. This could not be further from the truth. Chair yoga can
be practiced by anyone nearly anywhere. It increases flexibility and strength. It aids in balance
and proprioception. Consistent yoga practice lowers blood pressure through increasing
cardiovascular health. School children can benefit from mindful movement and stretching while
at their desks. Breath exercises and meditation help reduce stress and anxiety, cool tempers,
and aid in focusing the mind. These same techniques are proven to aid office workers in
sedentary jobs, as well as those who frequently find themselves stuck in a car or airplane seat.
Those who are living with chronic illnesses benefit from gentle movement, allowing their bodies
to release mental and physical tension while tuning into their breath.
Frequently, I find that many of my students practiced mat yoga at one time but due to the
complications of aging found themselves no longer able to lower to the mat or rise again. Others
are intimidated by the pervasive images of acrobatics that are routinely misrepresented as yoga.
Still others live in bodies that make participation in traditional exercise of any sort difficult or
dangerous for them. What is commonly overlooked is how powerful the sense of community
becomes as we practice our yoga together. We battle isolation even with our pervasive use of
cell phones and social media. We often lack true interconnectedness with our neighbors. In
practicing chair yoga together, we learn to support one another in our individual journeys
towards wellness.
Personally, I find one of the most rewarding things to witness is restoration and preservation of
functional ability in my students. Regaining the ability to twist to fasten seat belts, raise the arms
to comb their own hair, maintain balance thus decreasing falls during daily activities. Evidence
that chair yoga helps improve quality of life is shown in each of their smiling faces.