Gentle Yoga

Gentle yoga is particularly good for seniors, since it helps improve strength and flexibility, and helps relieve chronic joint pain. Gentle yoga also helps seniors develop better balance and stronger bones. Accessible to beginners, gentle yoga is a great way for seniors who have never done yoga before to get started with the practice.

Gentle chair yoga for seniors allows participants to stay seated in a chair while enjoying the benefits of gentle yoga. This type of practice is especially good for seniors who may have difficulty balancing, or cannot safely perform poses while standing. To practice gentle chair yoga postures are adapted to a seated position, and include asanas like neck stretch, seated forward bend, chair pigeon pose, spinal twist, cat-cow, and others.

To practice gentle yoga for beginners you can start with some basic postures. Start with a sun salutation that begins with mountain pose, moving to standing forward fold, lunge, downward facing dog, and upward facing dog. Other gentle yoga poses include chair pose, bridge, warrior I and II, child’s pose, plank, and extended side angle.

Gentle yoga stretches are a great way to get your body moving first thing in the morning. Because the movement is gentle, you likely won’t run the risk of overstretching, or causing injury to your body while it’s still waking up from a full-night’s rest.

There are lots of benefits to regularly practicing gentle yoga stretches, including improved flexibility and range of motion, decreased anxiety and stress, balanced digestion and immune system, and better sleep patterns.

Gentle yoga can help reduce back pain, as well as other types of chronic pain that affect the muscular system and joints. Gentle yoga poses that relieve back pain include child’s pose, cat-cow, downward facing dog, plank, upward facing dog, and standing forward fold.