Chair Yoga

For me, Chair Yoga is about accessibility. 

I am deeply committed to the idea that the benefits of a Yoga practice are not just for the super flexible, but rather for anyone, at any age, or any “level of flexibility.” 

Larry Payne’s teachings in his Prime of Life Yoga® certainly informed this perspective. His “function over form” principle directly embraces the very concept of making the benefits of Yoga more important than how it looks. 

To delve more deeply into the practice of Chair Yoga, I had the opportunity to study with Lakshmi Volker and then become an LVCY-certified Chair Yoga teacher. Lakshmi is often credited with bringing Chair Yoga into the world of Yoga Therapy and I even attended one of her workshops at an annual conference of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. In fact, Lakshmi developed her “levels of flexibility” approach so that literally anyone, using a chair instead of a mat, can have a Yoga practice.

As a Yoga teacher, I want practitioners to see Yoga as offering many pathways into better mental and physical health. Chair Yoga is simply just another pathway.