Accessible yoga
Accessible yoga is a form of modern yoga as exercise with adapted asanas designed to be suitable for people who are unable to follow a standard yoga class through age, illness, or disability. It includes various forms of what has been called Chair Yoga, and has also been described as adaptive yoga.
Context
Yoga is an ancient meditational spiritual practice from India. Its goal, the isolation of the self or kaivalya, was replaced by the modern goals of good health, reduced stress, and physical flexibility.[3] In the early 20th century, it was transformed through Western influences and a process of innovation in India to become an exercise practice.[4] Around the 1960s, modern yoga was transformed further by three global changes: Westerners were able to travel to India, and Indians were able to migrate to the West; people in the West became disillusioned with organised religion, and started to look for alternatives; and yoga became an uncontroversial form of exercise suitable for mass consumption.[5]
The image of yoga marketed in the Western world is of a young, slim, fit female body, implying full health and physical ability.[1][6] Rosalie Murphy, writing in The Atlantic, comments that the image wrongly suggests that yoga is suitable for wealthy, white women from the upper classes of society, and possibly less suitable for other groups of people.[2]
Origins
"Easy Does It Yoga", created by Alice Christensen of the American Yoga Association in 1979, uses exercises with a variety of props: in chairs, on the floor, or on beds, and in later editions also in swimming pools.[7][8] "Chair Yoga" was created by the yoga teacher Lakshmi Voelker (given her first name by Muktananda, the founder of Siddha Yoga) in 1982, on seeing that one of her pupils, aged only in her thirties, was unable to do floor poses because of arthritis. Accordingly, she developed an approach which could be practised sitting on a chair, or standing using a chair for support.[9][10][11]
Since 2000, articles in Yoga Journal have made increasing mention of disability, but by 2019 the accompanying images did not reflect this, and the mentions were mainly of early-stage limitations of mobility.[12] The different varieties of Chair Yoga are now considered to be forms of accessible yoga.[13] These include the approaches of yoga teachers interested in making yoga more accessible, such as Howard Kent's 1985 Yoga for the Disabled[14] and Susan Ward's 2002 Yoga for the Young at Heart.[15] Jivana Heyman, who had started to teach yoga to people with disabilities in 1995, developed a yoga teacher training program for his students in 2007, calling it "Accessible Yoga".[13][16] Other forms or descriptions of accessible yoga include adaptive yoga,[17] intended for use as therapy in conditions such as multiple sclerosis.[18] Since 2010, other yoga teachers have written books about making yoga accessible to everyone.[19][20][21]
Practice
Accessible yoga poses are adaptations of ordinary yoga
Suitability
Accessible yoga with its adapted
The physician and yoga teacher Baxter Bell notes that yoga includes pranayama and meditation as well as asanas, so that some form of yoga is accessible to everyone. This, Bell writes, is glossed over in recommendations for people with disabilities and limitations when yoga is equated with asana practice.[29]
Effectiveness
A 2019
References
- ^ S2CID 216338897.
- ^ a b Murphy, Rosalie (8 July 2014). "Why Your Yoga Class Is So White". The Atlantic.
"You can look at all those journals and you'll not see one woman of color," said Raja Michelle, herself a white woman, who founded the studio. "We associate yoga with being skinny, white, and even upper class."
- OCLC 290552174.
- .
- OCLC 878953765.
- PMID 28012302.
- ^ Christensen, Alice (1979). Easy Does It Yoga for Older People. San Francisco and Cleveland: Harper and Row; Light of Yoga Society.
- OCLC 41951264.
- Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
- ^ "About Lakshmi Voelker". Get Fit Where You Sit. Archived from the original on 10 March 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
- ^ Voelker, Lakshmi. "About Lakshmi". Yoga International. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
- S2CID 59303534.
- ^ a b Kim, Dakota (14 December 2021). "Jivana Heyman Has a Revolutionary Idea: Make Yoga Accessible to Everyone". Yoga Journal. Retrieved 24 July 2022. See also Heyman 2019
- ^ Kent 1985.
- ^ Ward 2002.
- ^ Wagner, Priya Patrice (2016). "Widening the Tent: Accessible Yoga". Integral Yoga Magazine (Fall 2016).
- PMID 32063814..
There also exist general "adaptive" or "accessible" yoga classes, which are suitable for persons with a broad range of disabilities.
See also Eisenberg 2015 - ^ Hanc, John (June 2021). "Adaptive Yoga Helps Those with Disabilities". Brain & Life. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
- ^ Rohnfeld 2012.
- ^ Lee 2015.
- ^ D'Arrigo & Ni 2021.
- ^ a b McGee 2017, Warm-ups.
- ^ Harper, Jennifer Cohen; Gonzalez, Mayuri (8 December 2019). "Engage and Energize Your Body (Even on Days You're Stuck at a Desk)". Yoga Journal. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
This sequence from Mindful Chair Yoga Deck by Jennifer Cohen Harper and Mayuri Gonzales can be done from almost anywhere and is appropriate for kids and adults.
- OCLC 1080643786.
- ^ Kain, Cheryl. "The Surprising Benefits of Chair Yoga". Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
- ^ "What Actually Is Chair Yoga and How Do I Do It?". Aaptiv. 21 July 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
- S2CID 238794670.
- S2CID 208337812.
- S2CID 245149642.
- PMID 30953508.
Sources
- D'Arrigo, Christina; Ni, Christy (2021). Chair Yoga: Accessible Sequences to Build Strength, Flexibility, and Inner Calm. Emeryville, California: Rockridge Press. OCLC 1249751561.
- Eisenberg, Mindy (2015). Adaptive Yoga Moves Any Body. Orange Cat Press. OCLC 960153375.
- Heyman, Jivana (2019). Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body. Boulder, Colorado. OCLC 1084644757.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Kent, Howard (1985). Yoga for the disabled: a practical self-help guide to a happier healthier life. Wellingborough: OCLC 12504991.
- Lee, Kristine (2015). Sit n Fit Chair Yoga: simple chair yoga. Delray Beach, Florida: Sit N Fit Chair Yoga. OCLC 961922727.
- McGee, Kristin (2017). Chair Yoga: sit, stretch, and strengthen your way to a happier, healthier you. London: Piatkus. OCLC 974208268.
- Rohnfeld, Edeltraud (2012). Chair Yoga: seated exercises for health and wellbeing. London and Philadelphia: OCLC 823577725.
- Ward, Susan Winter (2002). Yoga for the Young at Heart: Accessible Yoga for Every Body. Novato, California: Nataraj Publishers. OCLC 48649783.