Better Balance! Improve your Balance & Mobility - Kickstart Chair Yoga Therapy w/ Sherry Zak Morris

Hi. Are you ready to kickstart your yoga practice? Well, if you've been sitting too long, or lazing around too much, or just need a structured program to get you back into your yoga groove, then this series is for you. This is the kickstart program that has seven different practices. Yes, you can do seven different practices one day at a time, or just mix them all up. You'll find that they're easy, accessible, and guess what? They're fun. Hi, I'm Sherry Zach Morris, and I'm a certified yoga therapist, and I am the founder of Yoga Vista, and I welcome you to this practice. It's a seven-day challenge. Each class is about 15 to 25 minutes, and we focus on lots of different themes. We'll focus on posture, and balance, and back care, and movement, and mobility, and fun. This program is based on chair yoga. We will do poses that are sitting down. We'll do poses that are standing up. As always, you can pace yourself. You can stay seated the whole time, and when you're standing, you can hold on to the chair. That's the reason why we use a chair. It's our great companion to get us to be a little bit stronger. We are at the beautiful Rancho Guahomi Adobe here in Southern California. Look at this beautiful environment, and every single one of these classes, we're going to have a different location, so you'll have a beautiful tour of the Adobe as you work out with me. Always remember to check in with your doctor or your health care provider to make sure that these kind of practices are good for your health condition. As we age, we know that we need to take good care of ourselves, just like this Adobe is so beautiful because it's been well taken care of. This series will help you do that. I hope you enjoy this beautiful program I created for you here at the Adobe, and I'll see you at the Ranch. Namaste. Namaste. Namaste. Namaste. We'll see you at the Ranch. Namaste. Hi, I'm Sherry Zach Morris, and I'm a Certified Yoga Therapist, and today our chair yoga class will focus on movement, mobility, and motion. And guess what? We are filming in front of what we would say the Ranch's garage. We've got a buggy, we've got a cart probably pulled by a mule or a horse back in the day. This is the place on the Ranch where all of the work really is done by these machines. And if you think about it, our body is a structural engine. We think about the engine of our internal organs, right, keeping our digestive system going and our heart and our lung system going, but we also think about our bodies as a structure that needs to perform. In this class, we're going to focus on moving while we're doing our poses. And why is that important? It's a concept called proprioception, which is we're going to train ourselves to know where our body is in space at any time, so that if we should trip in the middle of the night, we'll be able to catch ourselves because we know exactly where our bodies and our limbs are. So we only can do that by practicing. So join me in this class, get into a comfortable seat, and let's get ready. So as we settle into this class on movement and motion and mobility, I want you to first find your beautiful static positioning, a position of peace and calm and stillness. So can we find that? Because if we can find that in our bodies, we can find that in our minds and we can find that in our spirits. So a lot of times the body is kind of the lead horse in that regard. So close your eyes, just find your stillness, plant your feet on the ground, just notice where your feet are positioned. Maybe if your feet are barefoot, you can find your little toe and your big toe, just find them connected to the earth. Find your heel pressing down, maybe even the balls of your feet equally pressing down. Finding that connection for your stability right now in the lower part of your body. And then the upper part of your body, just notice how your torso feels, if you feel like you're slumping or if you feel like you're a little bit taller and more erect. Focusing on that nice strong core muscle that will keep you strong in your posture when you're sitting. And as you're sitting here breathing, just for a few rounds, I want you to notice your mind and the thoughts going on and see if you can just push those thoughts off to the side as we settle into this moment of stillness. And then gently flutter your eyes open. Good. So mobility is the ability to move forward in life, right? To walk, our walking gait. But it also means to be able to move in the areas of our bodies that are meant to move. Anytime you see a function of your body that moves, that means there's a joint involved. So let's just start with the hands to begin with, right? Opening and closing the hands. This is something you can do every single day. This will keep your hands strong. They will keep them limber. They will keep them dexterous. So take one hand and just turn the knob. Yeah. We need all these kind of dexterous movements in order to function in our everyday life. And let's just do the other side. Good. There's a little gripping and a little twisting there. Good. Now how about opening the jar? Hold the jar and just open. Twist it. See that one gets the shoulder and the elbow a little bit. Good. And then the opposite of course. Hold the jar and then twist. Good. And now we're going to clasp our necklace or let's say the chain around our neck. So just go back there and just clasp. A little dexterity for the shoulder joint. Good. And then we'll do the hairspray. So taking one finger, it's the pump of the hairspray, and just go all the way back behind you. All the way around. Good. And just in case you need to do the other finger, let's just do it. All the way up and all the way around. Good. Getting those joints to be lubricated and moving. Very good. So taking your hands and giving them a nice little shake. Okay. We'll work the elbows a little bit. So we're just going to take one hand out and we're just going to touch the shoulder and open. Good. So carpal tunnel, tendonitis, golf elbow, tennis elbow, all of that comes into play with the elbows and the hands, right? So we're going to go and flick like this. Good. Like a little chop, chop, chop. Good. And then the other side. So we want to keep all these joints lubricated and moving. That will help us function better in life. Good. And then we'll do the chop, chop. Good. And then we'll do all the joints together. So open and close your fingers. Roll your wrists around as you open and close your fingers. Keep that movement going because you're going to get the elbows involved. So you're going to pull in and out as you're rotating and moving those fingers. Yeah, we're multi-talented. And then take one shoulder back and then the other as we're moving all the joints. All the joints in the arms. Good. Yeah, we're oiling the tin man, so to speak. Oiling our equipment. And then take it off to the side for the hula. Moving and moving. Good. And the other side. A nice flow. Good. And then we'll do a little wave up here. A little wave up here for a little shoulder movement. Good. And then shake it on up here. Shake it on down. Shake it to one side. Back to the middle and over to the other side. Back to the middle and then place your hands palms facing up on your lap so that gets your shoulders back. And just take a moment. Oh, maybe you could feel that energy kind of moving through the upper part of your body. Good. A gentle fluttering of your eyes. And we're going to take it nice and wide and we'll get the lower part of our body moving too. And then we'll be standing up doing a lot of motions standing up. Okay, so we're just warming up right now. So we're going to do this with Cat-Cow. So when you inhale you're going to arch your back. Roll your palms towards your hip bones. Arch your back. And then exhale. We're going to tuck the chin. Tuck the shoulders. Draw the belly in and round. Good. So there's an inhale and an arch. And exhale and around. And again. Inhale and arch. Exhale and round. And one last time. Inhale and arch. And exhale and round. Good. Keeping that nice wide stance. Hands are now in the middle. We're going to take the left hand over towards the right knee. So a little crisscross. A little twisting motion. We're going to do Rainbow. So we're going to follow the arc of the arm as we arch. We're going to look at it all the way. So a little neck action as well. Good. And then we're going to take it all the way forward. All the way forward. And back to the knee. Good. And then one more time. Inhale. Take it all the way back. And then exhale all the way forward. Good. And then we'll switch to the other side. Take it over to the knee. And we're going to inhale. Rise up. Looking at the Rainbow arc. And then coming back. And again. Up we go. And then coming back. Good. Double Rainbow. Both hands together. We're going to go Double Rainbow. We'll do a small one. Good. And another small one. Good. And two big ones. We can do it. Warm it up. Here we go. Up, up, up, up, up. Big circle. And again. Up we go. Double Rainbow. Maybe this time looking up. And exhale. Good. And bring it back to the center. Since we're in the work part of the ranch where all the heavy lifting is done, let's do some of our motions for cleaning. For instance, cleaning the window. We're going to take the hand and we're just going to move it around. Washing the windows. Right? And then move it up to the top a little bit. Off to the side. Maybe even that lower part. Yeah. Just circling around. Good. And then take it to the other side. Circle, circle. Cleaning and washing those windows. And that's how we can remain independent when we can do all these motions. Right? Good. And now we're going to do the same with our feet. We're going to wash the floors. So we're just going to take one foot forward and we're going to make a circle around. And a circle around. Good. Moving into those hips a little bit. And then the other side. Good. And now we're going to do double duty. Let's do washing the windows and washing the floor at the same time. So here we go. Looping around. Looping around. And another one. And one more. Good. To the other side. Cleaning up. Using those joints. And last one. Very good. And now let's wring out our tall. Let's wring it out. Good. Do the gripping part. That's an important part. Right? We lose our grip. Our grip is actually an indication of our strength. So right now I want everyone to just grip as hard as you can. Just grip, grip, grip, grip, grip, grip. And then release it. The other side. Grip, grip, grip, grip. Good. And release it. Now we'll stretch those hands out. So just open and close them a little bit. And then make a knuckle fist and then wave at me with the knuckles. Yeah. Does that feel good? That's your forearm extensors we're stretching. And those are really important for keeping your digits mobile. Good. And then give it a good shake. All right. Good work. Since we're talking about movement, motion, and mobility, we're going to start our moving right now. So here we are. We're just going to be walking in the chair. Good. Maybe it's marching in the chair. And then we're going to go a little bit faster. Good. We're going to get the heart rate up a little bit. Just keep it going. Good. If you want to add a little bit of the motion of your arms, you can go like this. Good. Keep it going. Keep it marching. Getting the heart rate up just a little bit. You can do it. Remember on the ranch, we had to walk a lot of places to get the work done. Yeah. A lot of walking going on here on the ranch. Good. You got it going? You feel that heart rate going? Good. A few more steps. We're almost to the destination. And then release it. That felt good, huh? Put your hand on your heart. Take a moment. Honor your beautiful heart for all the beautiful beats of blood that it pushes through every single vein and artery of your body. Oh, yeah. Good. And then flutter your eyes open. Take it out nice and wide. And we're going to stretch those muscles that we were just working so hard by doing the windshield wiper. So it looks like this. As you pivot, you're stretching this area of your body. As you pivot, you're stretching that front hip flexor. Yeah. These muscles tend to get a little tight if you walk, march, and run. Good. And then we'll stay to one side, one leg in front, the other one drops, and we're going to take the outside arm and rotate it. Yeah. Just to get some mobility and a little length here in that hip flexor. Good. And if you've got that, take your arm all the way up and then maybe some circles backwards. You can keep your elbow bent or you can do the full circle if that feels good. Remember, shoulders are always precarious for everybody, so you take it to where it feels good for you. You're in charge. Good. And then we'll just pivot to the other side. And we'll have one hand on the shoulder. You can hold on to this chair if you want to, or you can say, no hands, mom. I can do it myself. Good. And then you'll let go a little bit. The circle gets bigger and bigger. And then maybe it's the full range of motion, the full range. We don't have to lose our full range of motion as we get older. If we do this often enough, we'll always keep it. Good. And when you come back to the center, keep your legs a little wide because we're going to do a couple rounds of cat-cow to bring the spine back into the center. So we're going to inhale arch and exhale round. And it's the arch and it's the round and it's the arch and it's the round. Good. And then walk it all the way back up and then we're going to do our moving in motion sequences. So let's come on up. Come behind your chair. So we'll just warm up the legs a little bit by doing the pony. And as I always suggest, this is a really good movement to do if you tend to get dizzy when you suddenly get up. This will get the blood pumping back into your feet and getting all that circulation. So it will help with your balance and you always can put your hands on your hips and give it a little bit more challenge because hands on your hips will always allow you to have a little better balance. Good. And then down. We're going to take the chair off to one side. We are going to be doing a movement series called Tai Chi. And it's a beautiful series. If anybody has done Tai Chi, you know it's all about creating grace and balance and motion, right? So you're holding onto the chair with one hand. One outside leg is pointed outward and then we're going to take the hand on our hip and we're going to lean forward by bending the knee and all the weight is on that front leg. When we come back, we're going to take that front leg onto the heel. The knee is straight and the toes are up. The back knee is a little bent. So we're going to do that just a few times so you can kind of get the hang of it. We're shifting the weight forward as we bend the knee. Good. And then we're shifting the weight backward as the knee straightens and the heel is down. Good. Once you have that and if it feels good, you're going to take the hand with you. So as you're going to be pushing, you're going to be pulling. Good. So it's all about balance and getting that core to keep you straight and upright so you don't do a face plant, right? Now for those of you who feel like this is easy peasy, then guess what? Challenge yourself. Challenge yourself. And if you've ever seen Tai Chi done in a beautiful group setting, you see that they actually go quite slow. Quite slow and mindful. Good. We're all back. Good. Now your heel is down, your toes are up. We're going to do circle of the earth. It's the same motion with your legs, but now the arms are doing something different. We're going around in a circle. Good. Around in a circle. Take it slow. Take it mindful. Just working the joints, working our balance, working our core. Good. And we'll go the other direction. And for those of you who do want to let go and challenge yourself, feel free to do that. Slow is good. Good. How's that feeling? Feeling strong and steady? Good. And let's do one more circle. Good. We're back on that heel. Last one is circle of the sun. The palm is wide, and we're going to make this beautiful sun symbol all the way up and over. Oh, that feels good, huh? Yeah, we warmed up those upper body joints, so we're fluidly moving right now. Good. And again, if you want to take the full expression of this beautiful sequence, we'll take both hands and let them go. Circle of the sun. Oh, that feels so empowering, does it? And one more cycle. And when we come back to the center, let's do a couple marches. Good. Because we're going to switch and go to the other side. So grabbing ahold of your chair, remember we're holding on. The outside leg is going to be pointed outward. The toe is down. We bring our hands to our hips to start with, and then we'll just shift our weight forward so the knee is bent. And when we shift our weight back, the knee is straight and the heel is down. So this motion is important. Now you might find a little tweakiness in the standing leg, so you might have to adjust where that leg is positioned. Remember, it's all about keeping you safe, so just find what's feeling best for you. Good. And now you know we can add the hands to that. So we're pushing and we're pulling. Now this one I like because it's actually a very good multitasking sequence because we get a lot of upper arm strength when we do this by pushing and pulling. Pushing, good, is for your triceps. Pulling is for your biceps. And it only works if you're having a little resistance and slower motions. Good. You got it. And when you're back on your heel, we're going to do Circle of the Earth. So here we go around. Good. You got it now. Are you moving slow and steady? Are you challenging yourself a little bit? I hope you are. And if you want to, we're going to go the other way and maybe both arms. This is what's so great about yoga is that there's no competition, right? But we do want to challenge ourselves because we do want to get stronger. Right. Good. And when you're back on your heel, the last one is Circle of the Sun. Here we go up and over. Good. This one's a happy one. I love this one. And another circle. And of course we can do no hands and do the full expression of this beautiful Tai Chi sequence. And another one. And how about one more Circle of the Sun for good measure? It's a sunny day on the ranch. Good. Come all the way back. And then how about a little march? Good. A little shake out of the leg. A little shake out of the leg. So I want you to stay on the side of your chair because we are going to be moving in the tightrope. Okay. So this is going to be important for our balance, our coordination, and our mobility. So I want you to take the chair off to the side. You're holding on, but I want you to step yourself all the way back, all the way back as far as you can. We are going to walk a tightrope, but guess what? We're not going to be looking down. Okay. Take your outside hand to your hip. As you know, that's a stabilizer for your balance. And then you're just going to go heel-toe, heel-toe. And you're holding on to the chair the whole time. Yes, you are. Good. And go all the way forward until you can't go any further, and then you're going to go toe-heel. Good. Good. Now let's try it with the other hand out to the side with the palm up. Think about walking the tightrope over the Niagara Falls, right? Good. All the way forward until you can't go anymore, and then go backwards. Good. Are you trusting that your body knows where it is without you looking? That's an important part of proprioception, right? And when you bring it back to the center. Good. Now I want you to see if you can let go with both hands. If not, hold on to the chair, because here we go. You're not looking down, remember? Go slow. Go slow. You don't have to be a speed walker right now. Good. And when you can't go any further, then go the other way. Good. Back to the center. Good. Give it a little shake, and a little shake. All right. Now we're going to be moving our joints while we're balancing. So that's a very, very interesting combination, right? Balance, we always think of a steadiness that is stillness, right? But this one has a movement to it. So we're going to take the hand on the hip, stabilizing us. Good. One leg out in front, and we're going to move it out, and in. And out, and in. Good. Out, and in. And one more time. Out, and in. Good. Now we're going to match the arm with it. So the arm is in cactus. We're going to go out, and in. And one more. Out, and in. Now only if it feels good, we're going to do both. Here we go. It's challenging. Out, and in. And in, and in. Take it one more. Out, and in. Yes, balance is not perfect, but guess what? That's why we practice. Practice makes perfect. And actually, in yoga, there's nothing perfect, right? Okay. So we're going to do the balancing on the other side. So we're going to take the hand on the hip, leg is out. We're going to go out four times. So we go out, and in, and in, and in. And again, out, and in. One hand. Here we go. Out. Stay standing up nice and tall, I hope. And one more. Here we go. Double doubles. Here we go. Out, and in. Out, and in. Oh, can I do one more? Can you do one more? Good. And then release it. Good. Shake out a leg, and shake out a leg. With your chair in front of you, so we'll be moving into a warrior flow series. So this one is good because it creates the strength in our lower body as the upper body moves. So keep the right foot where it's at. The left foot will step back, making sure that your stance feels comfortable. There might be a sense of tightness right in here. This is your hip flexor, your psoas muscle. That gets a lot of tightness when we're sitting a lot, so it might not feel good to have a wider stance. Always feel free to scooch on in, but little by little, try to scooch on out. Good. And then as you look down and your knee is over your ankle, we're going to bring one arm up into cactus, and then the other arm into cactus. Good. We'll do bellows four times, which is bringing the arms together, and then out. Bringing the arms together, and out, and again, and one more, and again. Good. Take the arms all the way out to the side. Flip the palms up. Flip the palms down. Flip the palms up. Flip the palms down. Take the hands down to your side and bring both arms all the way out in front of you. Good. And then reach them all the way out in front. Take them all the way out back, and then out in front. Two more times. Out back. This is for the triceps. Good. This is for your shoulders. Good. And one last time. And then forward. Good. Taking your arms to the chair, we're going to do some push-ups for our nice, strong upper arms to do all those chores. So we're going to go up and down. Good. Keeping those elbows locked in nice and tight, and again, and again. Good. Very good. Step it forward, and now we're going to switch to the other side. So stepping that other leg back, and remember, you're going to check to see how that front thigh feels. If it feels a little too tugged, a little too much, then scooch that back leg in. Okay. Otherwise, we're going to take one arm in cactus, the other arm in cactus. Good. We're going to do the shoulder glide movement, which is that airport scanner move up and down. Good. Keeping the mobility in the upper part of our bodies as we stabilize the lower part of our body. Good. And we'll do one more. Up we go, and down we go. Good. Take the arms all the way out to the side. Flip the palms up. Flip the palms down. One more time. Up and then down. Take them to your side. Flip them all the way back. Lean a little bit, and then all the way forward. Take it all the way back and lean. This is for your core. You can do it. And then forward, and then two more. Back and then forward. And last one. Back and forward. Good. Hands to your chair for push-ups. Take a breath. Exhale, we're going down. Inhale, we're coming up. Keep it going. Keep those arms nice and strong. We can do two more, can't we? And then back up, and one more. And back up. Good. Coming all the way back in. Good. Very good. March it out. How does that feel? We're going to do one more flowing movement. This one is called the Halo. This one I love because it incorporates a Tai Chi movement as well as mobility for the lower and the upper body together, which is awesome. So the legs are a little bit wider here, and just like our Tai Chi movement where we are shifting our balance, right, we're going to be shifting our balance to one side as we bend the knee, and then we shift our balance to the other side. Now this is a lateral movement for the knee, and sometimes that is very precarious for some people depending on your knee health. So I want you to be able to shift in a way that you can let go of your hands and you can just feel like, oh yeah, I can do this. I can do this, right? If it means the stance is a little bit closer or the stance is a little bit wider, you decide. Usually a wider stance gives you a bigger base of support for your balance. Good. You got that? Good. Come back to the center. Hold on. Now we're going to do the arm movement and then we'll incorporate both, okay? So taking one hand, we're going to take it and we're going to make it around the head like this, like a halo. Good. Around the head like a halo. Good. And then the other side goes around the head. Shoulder mobility. Yes. Good. Now we're going to take both arms out. We're in a star position. Good. One arm swoops. There's the halo. The other arm swoops around. There's the halo. Let's do it one more time. Up and around. Good. Up and around. Good. Now we're going to shift the weight as we do the halo. Good. To the center and shift the weight. Once you get this motion, you get so proud of yourself because there's a lot going on here. Balance for sure. Mobility. Coordination. Agility. Movement. Right? Good. And then once you've got that, that's a little choppy, isn't it? Let's flow. Let's flow. Let's flow. How's that feeling now? Yeah. Gliding. And then exaggerate the flow. Yeah. Move your wrists. Move your fingers. Move your shoulders and move your elbows. Yeah. Your body loves to flow like this. This is an important mobility movement for our balance and our agility. Yeah. Good. And then bring it all the way out into star. One last time. And then falling star. To the center. Falling star. To the center. Bring your hands back in. Your feet back in. And how about a little march? Great work. I hope you feel a lot stronger, a little bit more coordinated, a little bit better balanced. Let's come on down to the chair to finish up. Take one foot up. Doesn't matter which one. And take a matching hand. We'll point and flex. Good. Good. We're working our hinging joints right now. Good. And then the other side. We have such beautiful joints. A lot of them are hinges, right? Which they go in flexion and extension. Some of them are rotation, right? Rotation. Good. And now we're going to do abduction and adduction. So it looks like this. In. Out. In. Out. Good. Like a windshield wiper. Good. And then the other one. In. Out. We're going to combine both of them. Now this one's going to take a little bit of core strength. So if you lift both legs up and you feel like, oh, I can't do that. It's too hard. That means we're going to work on your core a little bit more. But if you can, I want you to have both legs up. If you can't, just do one leg, okay? So we're going to do matching hands. We're going to go this way and that way. Good. This way and that way. Good. You got it. And now we're going to go out and then in. Two more. Out and in. And in. Good. Bring it all the way back together. And a little shimmy, shimmy, shimmy. A little shake, shake, shake. Very good. And all the way back down. So thanks for joining me on this chair yoga class that's focused on movement, motion, and mobility. Just like on the ranch when there was a lot of hard work to be done, we still have a lot of work to do in our lives, right? We clean our homes. We do our tasks. We do our chores. We do our hobbies. All of that requires the mobility of our bodies. So in order to remain mobile as we age, we have to keep moving. So thanks for joining me in this class. I hope I see you real soon. Namaste.