Building Better Balance with Yoga!
Written by Steve Sampson, RYT-500, ERYT-200
Balancing poses have become a staple of social media feeds everywhere. And why not? Those pictures of someone serenely holding tree pose on a mountaintop as the sun crests the horizon can convey yoga’s ability to help us work towards broader equilibrium in our lives…and generate lots of “clicks” and “likes” for the page.
This week, let’s delve deeper into what balance is, what can affect your balance, and why working on balance is important (spoiler alert: it’s not about looking cool on Instagram, LOL).
What is Balance?
In the context of our physical body, balance refers to our ability to remain upright and stable. Balance comes into play both when our body is in motion, such as when we’re walking or transitioning between yoga poses (dynamic balance); and when we’re remaining in relative stillness, such as standing in place or holding a yoga pose (static balance). Remaining upright and stable seems like a pretty straight-forward idea, but it relies on our body’s ability to do three things: (1) take in sensory input, (2) process that input, and (3) make adjustments to our body based on the input. If we experience difficulties with one or more of those steps, our balance can be affected.
THE GEEKY SCIENCE!
Balancing is an ongoing process of aligning our body’s center of gravity over its base of support. This can be particularly challenging when we are in motion, since one or both of these elements are changing as we move. Think about the process of walking: our center of gravity is moving forward, and our base of support is constantly changing as our feet alternate contact with the ground. But even when we are not intentionally moving, such as when standing in mountain pose or even sitting on our yoga mat, lots of subtle actions are occurring to maintain stability.
What drives our alignment when we balance? It starts with drawing in signals about where our body is in relation to its environment. Three key types of input that our body uses are:
Visual inputs: Our eyes provide visual information to the brain that helps in evaluating where we are in relation to other objects. Thinking of this input in another context, have you ever looked at a picture hanging on a wall, and adjusted it to make it level? The visual queues of the picture frame in relation to another visual reference, such as the ceiling or a window, helped you to sense that the picture was askew. We similarly use visual references to establish our own sense of “level.”
Vestibular input from the inner ear: As we move, fluid-filled canals within our inner ear send information to the brain that helps identify our head’s orientation with respect to gravity. As our head changes position, movement of the fluid within the ear canals also gives our brain feedback about both the direction and speed of our movement.
Proprioceptive input: Proprioception is our ability to understand the location and movement of our body with the feedback being provided by sensory receptors throughout your muscles, joints, and skin. Try closing your eyes, and then touch your finger to your nose…feedback from these sensors in your body allow you to move in a particular way without needing to see the movement happen.
All of this feedback needs to be interpreted and acted upon by our body to help maintain balance. Our brain interprets the signals, and sends messages out to our muscles to make any movements needed to adjust the body’s position, bringing our center of gravity back over its base of support. Our balance can be impacted by anything that affects our ability to take in and interpret that feedback, or to move our body in response to those messages. While there are certain medical conditions that can cause anyone to experience difficulties with one or more of those functions, for purposes of today’s discussion, let’s focus on something that we’re all doing: getting older.
How Aging Affects Balance
As we age, our bodies can experience a loss of muscle strength, reduced range of motion due to decreases in muscle and joint flexibility, and we may have a decline in our sensory capabilities. As a result, loss of balance is common as we age, as our ability to perform those three key functions of balance may diminish. Reduced ability to balance can affect us in a variety of ways, and in particular leads to an increased risk of experiencing a fall.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1 in 4 older adults (aged 65 and above) fall each year, and that rate continues to rise. Of these falls, 37% will require some level of medical treatment, and 20% result in serious injuries. While this data reflects the falls reported by people age 65 and over, the age-related decline in physical and cognitive functions that impact our ability to balance can start as early as age 40. But while the CDC notes that falls are common and costly, they are also in many instances preventable.
How Yoga Helps Balance
A regular yoga practice can help to offset the natural physiological changes that occur with aging and affect our ability to balance. Let’s look at a few of these benefits:
Poses that involve movement and weight bearing exercise help to maintain the strength of our muscles and bones.
Lengthening or stretching activities help to keep us flexible and able to more easily move as needed to bring our body into positions of stability.
The mental focus that we develop through our yoga practice can help to improve concentration and maintain our brain’s ability to process and act on sensory input.
Practicing balancing poses gives us an opportunity to become skilled at keeping our center of gravity stable over our base of support, building both our body awareness and confidence in our ability to balance when we’re off the mat.
Now that we’ve explored what balance is and why it’s important, let’s put these skills into practice!
Working with Dynamic and Static Balance
There are lots of great balancing poses to choose from, but here are two poses that you can work with at home to explore your sense of stability. The first, a flowing variation of mountain pose, is an opportunity to practice dynamic balance, moving your body while altering your base of support. The second, tree pose, gives us a chance to try different ways to maintain static balance.
Flowing Mountain Pose:
Start in mountain pose, standing with your feet hip distance apart (or a little wider if hip distance does not feel stable), with your arms relaxed at your side. Take a few breaths here to experience how your body feels maintaining its position before adding any movement. When you feel ready, as you inhale take a sun breath (raising your arms up and out to the sides until your hands come together overhead) while raising your heels off the floor any amount.
With your exhale, lower your arms back to your sides as your heels return to the floor. Flow through this movement for several breaths, tuning in to how your body responds to help maintain balance as your center of gravity changes with the movement of your arms, and your base of support changes as you raise and lower your heels.
In addition to dynamically working your balance, flowing mountain pose strengthens and stretches your feet, strengthens your ankles and legs, and brings movement to the shoulder joint.
Tree Pose:
For tree pose, we’ll look at some variations that offer a different base of support. A yoga block or other prop that you can use as a support under your foot can be used for one of these variations.
Begin by returning to mountain pose with your feet hip distance apart, and your arms at your side. Shift your weight into your left foot, slightly bend the right knee, and then open your right knee out toward the side. If it’s comfortable to do so, bring your hands together at heart center.
Here’s where you can experiment with how your balance feels using a different options for your base of support:
As one option, the toes on your right foot will stay in contact with the ground, adding to the base of support created by your left foot.
For the second option, using a yoga block or other prop, lift your right foot off of the ground, but use the block as a support under that foot. In this option, we’re slightly raising the center of gravity and adding a little more work for the hip and leg, while continuing to use the right foot as part of the base of support for your pose.
Finally, you might explore tree pose with the right foot raised off of the ground. Bring the sole of your right foot to rest along the side of your left leg. It can be positioned lower towards the ankle or higher up towards the thigh…just be careful not to press strongly against the side of your left knee.
Hold one or more of these variations for a few breaths and then return both feet to the ground. Repeat on the left side. In addition to exploring static balance, tree pose helps to strengthen our leg and core muscles, lengthen the muscles in the inner thigh, and open the hip joint.
Tips for Stability in Balancing Poses
While regular yoga practice helps improve our overall ability to balance, there are also some specific tips you can try while in a balancing pose to find stability:
Have a firm base of support: sometimes, just the cushion of a yoga mat can be enough to affect our footing and decrease stability. Try stepping off of your mat and have your foot grounded directly onto the floor.
Fix your gaze: focus your eyes on a fixed point that is not moving (definitely not your teacher, if you’re in a class!). This gazing point (or Drishti, in Sanskrit) both aids in concentration and provides a stable visual reference for your brain to process.
Expand your foundation: don’t hesitate to add to your base of support by bringing a hand to a chair, or practicing at the wall. In addition to providing stability, this can allow you to emphasize some of the other benefits of a particular pose, such as the strengthening or stretching aspects of the posture.
And a final tip for practicing balancing poses: relax. Sometimes, we’re going to lose our balance and come out of the pose, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Interested in starting a yoga practice at home? Download our 10 Yoga Postures for Beginners Guide designed to balance out your physical body, reduce stress and improve your overall health. This guide will be the perfect start for building a regular yoga practice!
Steve Sampson has been teaching since 2014, and is best known for exploring the physical, energetic, and philosophical practices of yoga with an emphasis on pursuing functional health and holistic wellness.
You can join Steve for practice at Serenity every Wednesday night (Yoga Basics, 6:00 to 7:00 pm) and Saturday morning (Yin Yoga, 7:30 to 8:30 am).
Head over to Steve’s Site to learn more!