Chair Yoga
by Francine Niekus

Fit people have many options for organized physical activities, but those who really need it, those with strong physical challenges, don’t have much from which to choose. Just imagine sitting home alone, feeling how your back or your hip hurts, trying to think of what you can do to take your mind off the pain. Most options involve more sitting, which will only increase your stiffness and add to your pain. How to get that feeling where you breathe deeply, stretch your back, and feel your blood flowing? Where to get the joy of moving, especially sharing it with others? It is hard enough to feel your physical limitations alone, you don’t want to add the embarrassment of joining a class and imagining everyone staring at you when your body can’t do what seems required. My chair yoga class at the Saskatoon CO-OP on 8th street is designed for this dilemma. Most of its participants have considerable physical problems, osteoporosis, heart problems, shoulder problems, arthritis, hip replacements, knee replacements, or very sore backs.

Teaching this class has really helped my understanding of yoga. My teacher, Patricia Dewar, always talks about finding lightness and joy in the pose. “What lightness, what joy?” I used to think, “It is hard work and it hurts.” But, I finally understand that yoga is about listening to your body and sensing how it works together as a whole. Knowing exactly what and where you feel and not fighting that sensation is “listening” in yoga. In class, I mostly say, “Can you feel this? Can you feel that when you raise your left arm, there is a lengthening in the left side of your belly?” After we stretch our side body, I ask, “Can you feel more energy in this side now? What about your breath? Is it easier to breathe on this side?” When we raise our arms, I may ask, “Can you feel that when you raise your arms, you automatically start to breathe in? At what moment, do you start to breathe in?” When someone says that something hurts, I ask what kind of hurt, a sharp pain, or a broader stretching of tissue. We decide how to respond, depending on the answer. And this is where the joy comes in, the joy of coming home into our body and living in harmony with it. My meditation teacher, the Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, often says, “When someone puts your house on fire, you don’t run after the people who did it. You start by putting out the fire.” Yoga is a wonderful way of doing just that.

New students are often anxious about their ability to handle the class. I remember one woman being particularly anxious. I then told the class how anxious I was when I started yoga. I was completely focused on the teacher, hoping that she approved of my yoga poses. It took a year for me to realize that yoga was about how it felt in my body. The woman responded quickly to my story, “Francine, you are silly!” Ever since, she has been one of the most loyal participants. She told me how yoga helped her, “When I was in the waiting room waiting for my doctor, I was really anxious but, sitting on my chair, I just did my yoga. I reached out my arms with my hands closed and started opening my fingers one at the time, and I completely calmed down.” Another participant spoke about how after doing chair yoga, she suddenly was able to reach her solitaire cards, and reach past her alarm clock. Another participant found it easier to fall asleep at night.

Much of the benefit comes simply from being together in a group, doing the same thing, with the same purpose in mind. One season, we had a woman in class, who by her own account couldn’t stop talking. The other people in the class were initially quite patient. They knew that you have to learn that the benefits from yoga come when you are quiet and focus on what your body is doing. Most people are talkative the first few classes. It’s an initial performance anxiety. However, when this woman didn’t stop, the others were getting irritated because it interfered with their own concentration. Finally, I explained to the woman that for me the greatest joy in yoga, and the best way of connecting with the people around me, is to just be quiet and concentrate on my body. I always feel the support from people that practise silently with me, and I appreciate them much more than if we actually would be talking. When the woman went into a long story about her talking and what her sister said about it, I interrupted and simply asked if she was willing to try. She did, and after class reported, with surprise in her voice, that this actually worked better. After that, she was quiet and able to focus on her body. Unfortunately, she had to move away, so she was no longer able to make it to class. At her last class, when I thanked her for her hard work and good concentration, everyone spontaneously applauded. It was my proudest moment, and I remembered someone asking me if we did “real yoga” in this class, and I thought, “Without a doubt, we certainly do!”

Francine Niekus teaches chair yoga at the Care+Learning Centre beside the pharmacy in the Saskatoon Co-op grocery store on 8th Street. Classes are Mondays from 1:00 pm–2:00 pm starting on January 13, 2014. For more information visit the pharmacy or call Francine at (306) 343-8558.