Chair Yoga: Pause In The Middle

About This Class

Dan Ward leads this approachable chair yoga session designed to create space and ease throughout the whole body without ever leaving your seat. The class opens with a grounding breath awareness check-in, then moves into seated figure-four hip stretches on both sides, progressing to overhead arm sweeps with active lengthening through the side body. A prayer-hands and interlaced-fingers sequence warms up the shoulders and upper back before the class shifts into seated twists — first using the arm-against-leg bracing technique for spinal rotation, then catching the chair back for deeper thoracic turns. Knee-to-chest hugs decompress the lower back, followed by a neck side-stretch with gentle manual traction. The session closes with a wide-legged seated forward fold, inviting a soft release of the spine and head. Throughout, Dan emphasizes breath awareness, grounding through the sit bones and heels, and "pausing in the middle" to notice subtle shifts — making this ideal for stress relief, desk-posture recovery, stiffness from prolonged sitting, and general mobility.