Chair Yoga Teacher Training
with Dina CohenA versatile, accessible practice that opens yoga to everyone including seniors, those with limited mobility, office workers, travellers, and anyone curious about a different way to access yoga. Learn to teach yoga from, around, and with the chair as creative support.
Overview
Yoga for every body
Chair Yoga is one of the most generous gifts a teacher can offer their community. It is a practice that meets students exactly where they are. It removes the assumption that yoga requires a mat, a floor, or a particular kind of body, and in doing so opens the door to people who might never otherwise step into a class.
Drawn directly from traditional yoga, this course takes a creative approach to using the chair, sometimes as support, sometimes as an extension of the body, sometimes as the whole stage for the practice. You'll learn to sit, stand, balance and move with the chair, and to design sessions that hold a wide range of needs within a single group.
This is a practical, hands-on training. Expect plenty of teaching practice, small-group feedback and discussion, and a generous body of pre-recorded material to revisit after the in-studio weekend has finished. Day one grounds you in the who, what, why and how of chair-based practice including the populations you'll serve, the rationale for the chair as a tool, and the essentials of structuring a safe, well-paced class. Day two moves into deeper application, working with specific health conditions, modifications and contraindications, and extending your toolkit into strength training, Yin, restorative practice and complementary modalities.
Take it as a stand-alone CPD or count it as an optional module toward your 300-hour Yoga Teacher Training.
" Chair Yoga is Yoga. The chair is another prop which makes the yoga more accessible. It's not a compromise – it's the practice.”
Who is this course for?
What's included?
Course Dates
Good to know
- On demand videos are released on 1 April and you are required to watch these before the In Studio weekend
- Hours count towards 300-hour certification or CPD hours.
- Prefer a different payment plan? Pay your deposit and email us to arrange. Full payment must be received before the course starts.
- Select bank transfer (BACS) at checkout — it helps us keep course fees down by lowering card processing charges.
- Bursary available: one 50% bursary place is offered each year. Learn more →
- FAQs Learn more →
- T&Cs Learn more →
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After this training, you will be...
A confident, creative chair yoga teacher with a clear sense of your own approach – able to adapt the practice to be inclusive for a wide range of bodies in the room
Equipped to open yoga to those who may have felt it wasn’t for them and to hold a mixed-ability group, weaving modifications for seniors, less able-bodied students, and stronger practitioners into a single, cohesive session.
Fluent in chair-based asana, warming up, sequencing, relaxation and restorative options – with a versatile toolkit for studio, care home, corporate and community settings.
Knowledgeable around the common issues and conditions that are likely to present in a chair-based class, and how best to provide safe and effective practices for these
What Our Students Say
What our students say
"An excellent training by a very inspiring teacher. The level of pre-course material was outstanding. Dina is patient, clear, and creates an accessible, inclusive learning environment. I have come away feeling confident that I can safely and competently teach a chair yoga session."
SC (Course Graduate)"An AMAZING course – so much knowledge shared in a totally absorbable way. Thank you Dina, I loved it!"
Course Graduate"Dina was an amazing teacher – inclusive, approachable, and so generous. The course was relaxed with lots of opportunities to practise, discuss and ask questions."
Course Graduate"Dina was amazing – so kind and compassionate, and her passion shines through. It was refreshing to be on a training where you're encouraged to follow your own ideas too. The range of postures shared was phenomenal."
Course Graduate"I travelled from Aberdeen to South London for this training and it didn't disappoint. Dina's chair yoga was fun and informative and has filled me with confidence and inspiration to take back to my own students."
Course Graduate"A great course for any teacher wishing to be more inclusive and reach a wider audience. Absolutely loved Dina. She explains things in a clear, fun manner, and the recorded content is easy to absorb in short chunks."
Luisa Zamboni"I got loads of ideas and inspiration from the course and feel like I'll go into my chair yoga classes with a lot more confidence now."
MF (Course Graduate)"Exactly what I needed to get more confidence adapting my teaching to chair yoga, and I appreciated [Dina’s] generous approach to sharing knowledge in such a down-to-earth way."
Beth Peach (Teacher)"Fantastic – I really enjoyed it and have lots of inspiration for my accessible classes."
Gabi Markham (Teacher)Your Teacher
Your teacher Dina Cohen
From care–home chairs to festival fields, from Royal Ballet dancers to refugees, Dina has spent two decades meeting students wherever they are and inviting them into the practice on their own terms. Her Dynamic Yoga and Mindfulness teaching is grounded in the conviction that yoga belongs to everyone, and that an accessible class is not a lesser class. In fact, it is often the truer one.
Gallery
Shala moments
Course details
- Who we are teaching – understanding the populations Chair Yoga serves
- What we are teaching – the scope and shape of a Chair Yoga practice
- Why we use the chair – the rationale, the philosophy and the invitation
- How we use the chair – practical mechanics and skilful application
- The essential ingredients of a Chair Yoga class
- Adapting traditional asana for the chair
- Teaching hybrid classes – mat and chair simultaneously, in the same room
- Strength training on the chair
- Chair Yoga & Yin – sustained, supported holds in seated practice
- Relaxation and Restorative Chair Yoga
- An overview of ageing – the biomechanical, physiological and nervous-system shifts that shape later-life practice
- Working with specific health issues and conditions in class
- Modifications and variations – meeting the body in front of you
- Contraindications – what to avoid, when to refer on, when to adapt
- Teaching viewed through the lens of the Koshas and the 8 Limbs
- Accessibility as an ethical foundation – yoga as a practice for every body, at every stage of life
- The chair as a doorway, not a downgrade – honouring the practice in its fullest form, whatever the shape of the body
- Holding space with sensitivity for older students, those living with chronic conditions, and those returning to practice after illness or injury
- Scope of practice – when to teach, when to refer, when to listen
- Structure and planning – building a Chair Yoga class with intention
- Class sequencing – the arc of a session from arrival to rest
- Health & Safety in a Chair Yoga setting
- Teaching hybrid classes – language, pacing and group management when teaching mat and chair side by side
- Holding space across mixed abilities and mixed needs
- Voice, pacing and the use of silence in slower-paced practice
- Breathwork – pranayama adapted for seated practice
- Qi Gong – gentle, flowing movement woven into Chair Yoga
- Games and dance – playfulness, joy and creative movement in the chair
- Chair Yoga in studio and community settings
- Corporate and office Chair Yoga – bringing the practice into the workplace
- Care-home, day-centre and one-to-one teaching contexts
- Schools
- Teaching practice woven through both days
- Practical application of sequencing, modifications and hands-on guidance
- Peer feedback and tutor-led debrief in a small, supportive group
- Two days of in-studio teaching
- Lectures, demonstrations and practical exercises
- Group and partner exercises with constructive feedback
- Course video library
- Class-planning resources in a printed manual
- There is pre-course homework in the form of video viewing/practicing and research for your chosen student group
- There is no post course homework
- Attendance across both training days
- Engagement with practical teaching exercises
- An open, compassionate approach to working with all bodies
- Yoga Alliance–accredited training
- Hours count toward 300-hour certification or CPD
- Certificate of completion issued on fulfilment of attendance and any post-course requirements
- YACEP / or a module on the RYS 300
- 25 hours
- Certificate issued on completion
Course Dates
Course dates & schedule
This course will run again
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