The Richmond Park & Birklands Community Centre is on its way to becoming the hub of the community once again in our key neighbourhood, Richmond Park, Sheffield. Lots of work is going on behind the scenes to build the space up to provide our customers and other residents with a range of wellbeing provision. One of these offers is the ‘Chair Yoga’ sessions run by professional yoga teacher Helena, and these have been popular with older residents over the last 18 months.
Helena Turner has been practicing yoga for 30 years and has been teaching it for the last 20 years. Prior to this, her professional background was in caring, having supported a lady and her daughter who both had complex disabilities. The physical and mental benefits of yoga are well known, but of course, it is difficult for those with limited mobility to enjoy these benefits. So, Helena brought her two passions together and set up the first chair yoga class in Sheffield in 2010.
Recognising the benefits her sessions would bring, Helena was engaged by Great Places to run these chair yoga classes as part of a wider wellbeing initiative for the area, having previously run sessions for South Yorkshire Housing Association. There was an identified need for more health, fitness and wellbeing support in Richmond Park, particularly for older residents, and Helena’s Chair Yoga sessions were a great way to meet this need and make use of the community centre.
Funded via the Community Investment team’s Neighbourhood Initiatives budget and Great Places’ Yorkshire Board’s Community Chest, these sessions are free to attend, allowing residents to give it a go at little cost – and around a dozen are now regular attendees, with the oldest being 95 years old. At the weekly Wednesday afternoon sessions, the group sit in a circle – each on a chair – whilst Helena guides attendees through simple stretches and movements in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
Helena explained how the sessions provide more than just yoga techniques; attendees “like the social aspect, movement and mindfulness” that come with them. The sessions go to show that you don’t need to do the splits to feel the benefits of yoga; with attendees also reporting better sleep, less aches and pains, and they are able to maintain their range of mobility.
It’s clear that residents highly value this offer. After one of the recent sessions, one resident, Vicki, commented:
I enjoy coming to yoga with Helena as it helps with my mental health and stress. The group is very friendly and supportive.
Mary added:
This yoga session is really enjoyable and needs to keep going.
The classes are set to run until the end of the year, when it will be confirmed whether they will continue into 2026.
Our Community Partnerships Manager, Felix Dyer, commented:
Resident health and wellbeing is a key component of the community investment strategy for the Richmond Park neighbourhood. The chair yoga sessions have provided a valuable service to older residents of the community, both in themselves but also as a way of engaging and signposting residents to additional services, such as our Warm Winter initiative.
It’s great to have some regular and engaged attendees. As provision grows at the Richmond Park & Birklands Community Centre, we plan to offer much more to support them.
