What Chair Yoga Can Do for Your Body

—Photo-Illustration by TIME (Source Image: MementoJpeg/Getty Images) At first glance, chair yoga might seem like a workout just for older adults with mobility issues .

The gentle, accessible workout offers a modified take on the ancient movement and meditation practice, usually from a seated position.

No one’s asked to climb down onto the floor or independently hold themselves upright in tricky standing postures—which makes it ideal for those with limited strength or balance .

But experts say chair yoga shouldn’t be pigeonholed, because anyone can benefit.

“It is a practice that meets you where you are,” says Divya Balakrishnan, a yoga instructor in New York City.

“You’re still using your strength and flexibility , just in other ways.” What is chair yoga? A yoga teacher named Lakshmi Voelker first began adapting some yoga poses to a chair in 1982 to make the practice more accessible for a student with arthritis.

Since then, numerous instructors have found ways to use a chair for adapted versions of a surprising number of traditional yoga movements, like lunging warrior poses and standing-to-lying sun salutations.

While students typically crouch, sit, and lie down on a mat in traditional yoga classes, the chair, in a way, brings the floor closer.

Some chair yoga classes are done entirely seated, moving through modified variations of classic yoga sequences without ever asking participants to get up.

Other classes transition between sitting and standing while holding onto the back for a little extra help with balance, or doing poses like downward dog with hands on the seat instead of reaching to the floor.

In a sense, the chair is simply another prop.

“Just like you would use a strap or blocks to increase the accessible range of motion or bring different awareness to the body, the chair can be used in a similar way,” says Jessica Pate, a Boston-based yoga teacher.

Experienced yogis also use a chair for athletic feats that wouldn’t be possible on a mat alone.

In particular, the Iyengar style of yoga uses a yoga chair (designed with an open back and a completely flat seat) for advanced postures like an upside-down inversion where the yogi’s shoulders rest on two chairs while their head hangs in between.