Stairs by Javad Hamidi
The ability to balance is so important for healthy aging that we’ve been writing about it here on the blog from the beginning (see Balance and Aging: An Interview with Shari Ser). Maintaining the ability to balance is essential not so you can stay in Tree pose without wobbling; it’s essential so you can walk around your house, walk up and down the stairs, or reach for a spice jar on a top shelf without falling. In other words, it’s one of the skills you need to live independently as you age. And if you don’t continue to work on balancing, the natural aging process will gradually reduce your ability to balance (see Balancing and Aging (and Yoga)). I'm sorry to say I've seen this happen to more than one older person. Fortunately the ability to balance is a skill that you can improve, no matter what state you’re starting from, even if you've lost your self confidence. And yoga provides many different ways you can maintain and even improve your balance. Today, I'm going to provide a guide to the sequences and poses we currently have on the blog that can help you improve and/or maintain your ability to balance.Before you get started with practicing yoga for balance, it’s a good idea to learn something about what happens in our bodies as we balance ourselves throughout the day, all without ever thinking about it. Learning about how balance works is helpful because balancing is a surprisingly complex activity, requires coordination between three different systems in our bodies: our visual system, our vestibular system, and our somatic sensor system. When you learn more about how balancing works, you can better understand what you can improve—and what you cannot improve—and what you yourself might need to be practicing. See How We Balance for a complete overview.Before I provide the list of sequences and balancing poses we have on our blog, here are some links to posts that can help you figure out the basic approaches you should take to practicing yoga for balance:Techniques for Improving Balance. I wrote this post to provide general recommendations about how often to practice, how long to hold poses, what kinds of poses to practice, how much to challenge yourself, and more.Planning a Practice for Improving Balance. Shari Ser, a physical therapist as well as a long-time yoga teacher, wrote this post about what is helpful to include in a practice that’s focused on balance.Shari's Techniques for Improving Balance. This is an interview I did with Shari about the basic techniques she, as a physical therapist, recommends for improving balance. It includes other ideas besides just practicing balance poses.Balance and Safety. In this post, Shari addresses how to stay safe as your work on improving your balance,Friday Q&A: Glasses and Balance. Baxter and Shari both address a question about whether wearing glasses while you do a pose influences your ability to balance.
Yoga for Balance Sequences and PosesEasy Balance Sequence for Regaining Ability and Confidence. In this post, I present a simple sequence I wrote to help someone who fell and has lost confidence in their ability to walk in everyday life.Featured Sequence: Easy Balance Practice. Baxter designed this sequence to help you on your way to better balance.Challenging Balance Sequence by Practice. Baxter designed this relative short sequence though challenging sequence to focus on several essential balancing poses.Winter Ice, Fear of Falling and Yoga. In this post, Baxter recommends poses and practices you can use to improve your balance at home.Featured Pose: Hunting Dog describes how to practice four versions of this pose, where you balance on hands and shins, so you can work your way from an easier version to a more challenging one.Featured Pose: Boat Pose describes how to practice four versions of this pose, where you balance on your sitting bones, so you can work your way from an easier version to a more challenging one.Featured Pose: Side Plank Pose describes how to practice four versions of this pose, where you balance on one arm and the side of your foot, so you can work your way from an easier version to a more challenging one.Featured Pose: Tree Pose describes how to practice four versions of this pose, where you balance on one leg, so you can work your way from an easier version to a more challenging one.Featured Pose: Warrior 3 Pose describes how to practice three versions of this pose, where you balance on one leg so you can work your way from an easier version to a more challenging one. Featured Pose: Warrior 3 (Wall Version) provides detailed instructions about how to practice a supported version of the pose that's a good way of preparing for the classic version.Putting together these lists made me realize we should probably add more balancing poses as well as sequences, so stay tuned….Subscribe to Yoga for Healthy Aging by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook ° To order Yoga for Healthy Aging: A Guide to Lifelong Well-Being, go to Amazon, Shambhala, Indie Bound or your local bookstore.