The chair sun salutation is a newly designed educational flow by YogaVacation, done sitting on a sturdy chair. It is for anyone who cannot stand for long or get down to the floor: people with limited mobility, older adults, people recovering from illness (with their clinician’s agreement), wheelchair users who can move the upper body, and office workers who want a few minutes of movement at the desk. It follows the arc of a sun salutation, reaching up, folding, drawing one leg in, opening and rounding the spine, and coming back, with one breath per movement.
Chair versions of the sun salutation are taught in many chair yoga classes, but there is no single standard order. This is ours. Traditional orders are on the sun salutation overview.
Setting up
Use a stable chair without wheels or arms, on a non-slip floor. Sit toward the front edge so the back is free, with the feet flat and hip-width apart and the knees roughly over the ankles. If your feet do not reach the floor, put a block, book or folded blanket under them. If you are in a wheelchair, lock the brakes first and skip the leg movement or lift the leg with your hands.
How each seated step maps to the standing version
Arms up and prayer are the same as standing. The seated forward fold over the thighs stands in for the standing forward bend. Hugging one knee toward the chest replaces the lunge and keeps the alternating leg of the 12-position version. The seated cow, lifting the chest with the hands on the knees, stands in for cobra, and the seated cat, rounding the back, for downward dog. The flow keeps the rhythm and the pattern of breath, with no weight on the hands or knees.
One round, step by step
Begin sitting tall with the palms together at the chest and breathe out (step 1). Breathing in, sweep the arms up (2). Breathing out, hinge forward from the hips and let the hands slide down the shins (3). Breathing in, sit up and hug the right knee toward the chest, keeping the spine long (4). Put the foot down, rest the hands on the knees and, breathing in, lift the chest into seated cow (5); breathing out, round the back into seated cat (6). Hug the same right knee in again on an inhalation (7), put the foot down and fold forward on the exhalation (8). Breathe in as you come up slowly and reach the arms up (9), and breathe out as the palms return to the chest (10). That is one round. The next round repeats the order with the left knee.
The order mirrors itself, which makes it easy to remember: up, fold, knee, then the spine bending both ways in the middle, then knee, fold, up. If you lose your place, simply finish with the arms up and palms together and start again.
How the counting and sides work
There are 10 steps. In steps 4 and 7 you hug the right knee in the first round and the left knee in the second. One pass is one round; do an even number, four to eight, about five minutes. Inhale to lift and open, exhale to fold and round. Go slower than you think; there is no prize for speed.
How to practise it safely
- Fold only as far as is comfortable; rest the forearms on the thighs if a deeper fold makes you dizzy, and come up slowly.
- After hip or knee replacement surgery, ask your surgeon or physiotherapist which knee and hip movements are allowed before hugging the knee in.
- With osteoporosis, many clinicians advise caution with rounded forward bending; keep the fold small and the back long, and ask your clinician.
- Keep arm movements below shoulder height if the shoulders are painful.
This page is general information, not individual advice, and has not yet been reviewed by a qualified teacher. Stop with any sharp pain.
Easier options
- Take two breaths per step. If one breath per movement feels rushed, stay in each position for an extra breath. The flow becomes slower and calmer.
- Use the chair back. Sit back against the backrest for the arm movements and the knee hug if sitting upright without support is tiring.
- Arms only. Leave out the folds and knee hugs and do steps 1, 2, 5, 6, 9 and 10: arms up, chest lift, round the back, arms up, palms together.
- Fewer rounds. Two rounds (one with each knee) is already a complete practice.
Good times for it are first thing in the morning, as a break after sitting for an hour or so at a desk, or before a seated meditation.
Where to go next
Pair it with our chair yoga sequence or the seated moon salutation. If standing is possible, the gentle standing sun salutation is the next step. A few rounds of diaphragmatic breathing make a calm finish.
