What You Will Learn

The Chair Yoga Sequencing Wheel

Most importantly, master the Chair Yoga Sequencing Wheel. This is the core of Kristin's training, developed over years of dedicated teaching experience. This innovative tool provides a clear, visual map for structuring and navigating your chair yoga classes with confidence and flow.

Unlike a rigid, rote sequence, the Wheel is a dynamic framework designed to spark and expand your personal creativity. It guides you through logical progressions. You start with centering and breath awareness, move into gentle warm-ups, build to peak poses for strength and mobility, incorporate balanced flows, and end with cooling down and integration. It allows endless adaptations based on your students' needs, energy levels, or thematic focus.

By using the Wheel, you'll learn to craft classes that are intuitive, inclusive, and engaging. This ensures safe progression, variety, and a sense of empowerment for both you and your students.

The Body & Breath Framework

Discover how gentle, intentional movement acts as powerful medicine for the body and mind. Chair yoga promotes the release of endorphins (natural painkillers) while reducing stress hormones, easing chronic pain, and improving mental clarity through mindful motion.

Explore the essential connection between breath and posture: Proper breathing mechanics support optimal spinal alignment, open the chest for increased lung capacity, and enhance overall stability and balance. You’ll learn practical techniques to synchronize breath with movement. This fosters deep relaxation, improved oxygenation of tissues, and targeted release of tension in areas commonly affected by prolonged sitting or poor posture.

Chair Yoga Foundations

Level One: Seated postures focused on building strength and stability Master foundational seated poses such as seated mountain pose (for alignment and grounding), seated cat-cow stretches (for spinal mobility), seated forward folds (for hamstring and back release), and gentle twists (for digestion and detoxification). These poses build core and upper-body strength, improve spinal flexibility, and enhance seated balance. All this happens without ever leaving the chair, making them ideal for beginners or those seeking gentle, restorative practice.

Level Two: Standing and flowing sequences, using the chair for safe support Progress to supported standing poses including chair-assisted warrior variations (for leg strength and hip opening), modified tree pose (for balance and focus), and gentle flowing sequences like sun salutation adaptations. The chair acts as a reliable partner for stability. This allows you to explore deeper strength-building movements, improve coordination, and reduce the risk of falls while building confidence.

Adapting for Special Populations

Gain practical skills in tailoring chair yoga to diverse needs and abilities:

• Seniors: Emphasize low-impact poses to preserve joint health, boost circulation, strengthen bones, and enhance fall prevention through improved proprioception.

• Injury recovery: Learn gentle modifications that avoid aggravating sensitive areas. This supports safe rehabilitation with controlled, pain-free range-of-motion exercises.

• Limited mobility: Discover fully seated or minimally supported options that maintain muscle tone, reduce stiffness, alleviate discomfort from prolonged sitting, and promote greater ease in daily activities.

These adaptations ensure yoga remains accessible. This empowers participants to experience physical and emotional benefits regardless of their starting point.

Mindfulness in Motion

Learn to seamlessly weave breathwork (pranayama techniques like diaphragmatic breathing and alternate nostril variations) and meditation into chair-based practices. Transform everyday movement into a moving meditation by syncing deep, intentional breaths with each pose. This integration calms the nervous system, lowers cortisol levels, reduces anxiety, and cultivates sustained present-moment awareness. This leads to greater emotional resilience and a profound mind-body connection.

The Art of Teaching Chair Yoga

Develop confidence and expertise in leading inclusive, transformative classes:

• Structuring inclusive and engaging sequences: Create balanced class flows with thoughtful warm-ups, progressive peak poses, and restorative cool-downs that honor varying energy levels and abilities.

• Providing clear, adaptive verbal cues: Master concise, layered cueing. Start with foundational alignment, then offer optional refinements. This ensures every student feels guided without feeling overwhelmed.

• Addressing individual needs with care and creativity: Offer multiple modifications, simple props (like blankets or straps), and personalized variations to ensure safety, accessibility, and a sense of personal accomplishment.

• Creating space for connection, empowerment, and joy: Foster a welcoming environment that encourages community sharing, self-compassion, and celebration of small victories. This turns each class into a supportive, uplifting experience that leaves students feeling connected, capable, and joyful.