These easy moves reduce stiffness, improve posture, and calm the mind, even if you never set foot in a yoga studio.
A new kind of yoga mat: your chair
We used to laugh at the idea of exercise that could be done in a chair. It sounded like something your grandmother might try in a church basement.
Then TikTok got hold of it.
Now millions of people, from students hunched over laptops to gamers glued to screens to remote workers welded to office chairs, are filming themselves twisting, stretching, and bending without ever standing up.
They call it chair yoga, and it has gone viral.
It makes sense. We sit more than any generation in history. A typical day means eight hours at a desk, a commute, and then more sitting at night. The result: stiff hips, tight shoulders, and a brain that feels fried before dinner.
Chair yoga offers a sneaky fix. No mat, no leggings, no incense. Just a chair and a few simple moves that undo the damage of sitting — and leave you calmer than you’d expect from a stretch between Zoom calls.