3 simple yoga poses to improve your balance:
Do you struggle with balance? If you do, join the club!
Most of us wear shoes that lack proper support, we walk on perfectly flat surfaces and spend long hours sitting, it's really no wonder.
On top of that, balance tends to erode with time, so there's no better time than the present to work on improving your balance, ensuring better long term ability.
Benefits of improving your balance include:
Better Posture!
Improving whole body postural stabilityStronger ankles and legs!
Improving ankle and leg stabilizing musclesGood for your brain!
Challenging your visual system, vestibular system (vertigo/inner ear), body awareness and nervous system.
Three yoga poses to try today:
Mountain Pose (Tadasana)
This pose is wonderful, however it's often overlooked because it seems "too" simple. When in this pose first start with your feet, toes and heels together with even pressure, then checking that your legs are straight, hips are level, shoulders back and head straight. You may need to look in a mirror and make a few adjustments.
There are so many more cues, I could spend a whole class on this pose! You can even improve flat feet and knock-knees by working on this pose correctly! If it feels a little weird, you're probably doing it right!
Benefits: This pose helps improve posture, reduce back pain and strengthens stabilizing muscles throughout the body.Tree Pose (Vrksasana)
This is one of, if not the, most iconic pose in yoga. It's important in this pose to modify based on where you are today. If you're feeling balance challenged, you can place your toes on the ground and heel against the ankle of the support leg. If you are able to try to balance, place your foot on your calf. If you have the flexibility, place the foot on the inner thigh. NEVER place your foot on your knee!
Start out with hands on the hips and you can work towards arms overhead. Remembering to keep the shoulders relaxed and the arms straight.
Benefits: Improves balance and stability in the supporting leg, strengthening from the feet up to the glutes. It also helps with pelvic stability and flexibility in the inner hip flexors.Balancing Star Pose (Utthita Tadasana)
There are many variations on this pose. The simple version is to start in Mountain Pose, step one foot out parallel to the other and approximately hip width apart, raise your arms up to your shoulders, relaxing your shoulders back and to shift your balance to one leg. The more challenging version is a variation on side plank, it will really fire up your core!
Benefits: This is an active pose which helps engage and strengthen your core allowing you to shift your balance and move your arms and legs to challenge yourself more if you’d like. It strengthens the outer leg, hip and glute of the raised side and strengthen the ankle of the supporting leg.
Simple ways to incorporate balance challenges into your day:
Stand on one leg while you're waiting in line
While brushing your teeth
When using the microwave
Balance challenged?
Try using a wall or chair and just removing one hand at a time, or both for short periods of time.
Looking to Level-Up?
If you want to take it to the next level you can always try standing beside a wall (in case you topple) and closing your eyes while you balance (but do this very carefully, it's harder than it sounds.).
It's also very beneficial to stand on uneven ground or a more cushion-y surface. When we continuously walk on flat surfaces, it creates repetitive motions in our joints and muscles. By walking on uneven ground, we are continuously shifting our center of gravity and challenging our body to work harder to stay balanced and use stabilizing muscles that are underutilized.
More challenging balance poses to try
- Eagle Pose
- Dancer's Pose
- Warrior III
- Extended Hand to Toe
- Half Moon
When you give it a try - let me know what you think by joining the conversation on Facebook!
💛 Bri
