DVD review: Seated Yoga for Life

Most of us associate yoga with mat-based poses performed by able-bodied practitioners. But this assumption paints only half the picture. An informative DVD, Seated Yoga for Life, offers an introduction to chair-based yoga.

Yoga classes are overwhelmingly geared towards younger, able bodied practitioners for whom sitting crossed legged on a yoga mat causes no problems.

Western practitioners' growing focus on vinyasa, and dynamic styles of yoga in general, mean there's plenty of scope for the less fit to be excluded from classes.

Yet yoga is for everyone - and anecdotal evidence suggests many older, or less able, people, are deterred from starting a practice because the majority of classes simply aren't suitable.

Yoga is for everyone
Produced by The Living Arts, Seated Yoga for Life is a clear, accessible and useful introduction to how yoga can be adapted for the chair.

The DVD is presented in a friendly way by yoga and tai chi teacher Graeme Waterfield, Thai yoga massage and chi kung expert Julian Trevle and Bodyworker Jas Panesar.

The aim is to bring together accessible-to-all yoga movements, tai chi energy work and breathing techniques to calm and energise. Viewers are talked through 20 gentle, flowing postures that encourage the body to strengthen and open whilst the student sits on a chair.

Waterfield's pedigree is impressive; he is working with the Stroke Association, Mind and Age Concern on an onging bases to provide seated yoga training.

The message is - loud and clear - that yoga is open to everyone, including those whose age and lack of mobility prevent them from attending traditional classes (and who would probably be far too intimidated to do so).

Mindfulness and traditional asanas
A notable, and vital, theme of this DVD is its focus on calming and stilling the mind.

Waterfield says: 'yoga is more about the mind than the body; so everyone can do it, including those recovering from illnes or injury '. The breath is mentioned throughout - phrases such as 'breathe into the whole of the posture', remind viewers of the pivotal role of breathing to yoga and wellbeing.

It is interesting to find some of the familiar asanas - such as cobra (bujangasana) - adapted; an approach that encourages experienced practitioners and teachers to re-visit asanas with new eyes.

Fish pose (matsyasana) is performed with hands crossed at the back, spine arched, while the practitioner is encouraged to 'feel the opening through the chest and the curve in the spine'.

Waterfield, who does much of the presenting, talks us through the moves (which also include leg raises, twists and forward bends) slowly and clearly, never assuming prior knowledge.

His guidance on leg lifts, for example, encourage the student to 'breathe in, raise the leg and start to rotate the ankle gently, but not mindlessly.' Move gently, he says, and remember to breathe into the whole body, shoulders relaxed and back straight.

This careful focus on mindfulness and awareness is a particularly enlightening - and central - aspect to this sensitively produced DVD, and prompts all of us to remember that yoga is about so much more than making perfect shapes on a mat.

The Living Arts run weekend workshops and training courses for existing yoga teachers. See The Living Arts website.