Standing Pose Options for a Student who cannot Stand
Question:
I continue to slowly work through the course and I love getting new ideas for my class every week. An 89 year old man recently joined my class. He has a walker and he cannot do standing postures. In my 45 minute class, I probably do 15-18 minutes standing. I am having a hard time modifying certain poses for him, like balancing postures for example. I tell him to use his upper body and do the best he can. Do you have any resources for this type of situation? Do you have any advice?
Answer from Sherry
I periodically get students either in wheelchairs or who cannot stand for very long (if at all) in my group Chair Yoga classes where I also teach standing poses for about 15-20 minutes. I always encourage them to follow along with the upper body movements the best they can. I also would make sure to choose standing poses that have specific upper body components (like cactus arms, shoulder movements) that this fellow can join in. You may need to select specific standing sequences (Goddess, Tree with arm variations, Warrior with Cactus arms, Hip circles, etc) that will work for him and the others.
You might look at some of our wheelchair videos to get an idea of how you might offer some options. And I had one class filmed where I had a new wheelchair student join in… you might see how I handled that one.
Here you go. I hope you can get some ideas from these videos.
Love and Blessings,
Sherry
Wheelchair Yoga Videos
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