Adaptive exercise in action: Chair yoga comes to Bigfork
Ten people sit in fold-out chairs, barefoot, in the Swan River Community Hall waiting for Krista Sanderson to start class on Thursday.
Sanderson started chair yoga in March as a way for people with mobility limitations to get in a good stretch and work on balance, flexibility and core strength. The yoga teacher, artist and mother has been teaching yoga in the Flathead for 17 years, and practicing ever since she sustained a running injury training for the Chicago marathon. Her doctor told her to try yoga.
“At the time, I was like, ‘I don’t want to do yoga!’ But I started doing yoga and I loved it,” Sanderson said. She received her certificate in 2002 and has been teaching yoga ever since.