This entry was posted on Sep 3, 2025 by Charlotte Bell.
A few years in the past, my mom fell and broke her hip. Or perhaps her hip broke and he or she fell because of this. Typically it’s unimaginable to know which is the rooster and which is the egg. At any charge, the autumn was nearly the tip of her.
Lengthy story brief, after a stint within the hospital, she was progressing properly in rehab. A day earlier than she was to return house, she went into kidney failure. Apparently, the mix of a number of medicines was an excessive amount of. Her caregivers stopped her medicine fully and he or she slowly recovered. However the incident made me perceive why it’s typically stated that falls will be the start of the tip for older folks.
Greater than 800,000 individuals are hospitalized annually for accidents stemming from falls. One out of 5 falls causes a critical harm equivalent to damaged bones or traumatic head harm. Actually, falls are the commonest explanation for traumatic mind harm. Listed below are some extra stats on falls and their sometimes-catastrophic results.
What’s Stability and Why is it Essential?
Put merely, steadiness is our skill to acknowledge our place relative to the objects round us, together with the floor on which we’re standing or strolling. sense of steadiness permits us to carry out our day by day duties with a way of stability and ease. For instance, one thing as frequent as strolling down the road and turning your head to speak to a good friend requires a wholesome sense of steadiness. With out steadiness, easy actions develop into not solely difficult, however may even be harmful.
As we age, a few of the elements that contribute to good steadiness can start to lower. Eyesight can dim. Interior ear issues can disrupt the vestibular system. Neuropathy can lower proprioception.
Exterior causes equivalent to slippery or uneven surfaces, intoxication or sickness could cause falls. However they will additionally occur due to an absence of consideration or underdeveloped proprioception. The excellent news is, yoga will help. Many asanas are particularly designed to enhance steadiness. And the centering of our minds on our our bodies sharpens mindfulness, in order that we’re extra apt to acknowledge subtler indicators of imbalance in our our bodies earlier than we fall.
There are numerous yoga poses that help steadiness. All of the standing poses—suppose Trikonasana (Triangle Pose), Virabhadrasana I and II (Warrior I and II), and many others.—will help strengthen our legs and domesticate steadiness. And naturally, the one-legged standing poses equivalent to Vrksasana (Tree Pose) are balancing poses.
It’s vital to problem our steadiness in numerous methods. Whereas we regularly consider standing steadiness poses after we’re hoping to domesticate proprioception, balancing in numerous orientations can also be vital. That’s why I’ve a number of forms of balancing poses within the examples under.
Most vital is to keep in mind that balancing, like all asana, is a apply, not a efficiency. Meet your physique the place it’s. For instance, if it is advisable to stand near a wall in a standing steadiness pose, please accomplish that. Even with that little bit of additional help, you’re nonetheless creating the talent of balancing.
5 Balancing Poses
- Foot Therapeutic massage: Giving consideration to our ft, massaging them, exercising our toes, and many others., retains them wholesome and attentive to no matter floor we’re negotiating. Begin your apply with these easy workout routines. However you needn’t restrict it to your on-the-mat apply. You may as well apply these whilst you’re sitting round watching TV or anytime you will have a spare second. One longtime scholar of mine who had by no means been capable of steadiness on one leg practiced these day by day for about 9 months and was capable of steadiness for the primary time in her life! On the time she was in her 70s.
- Vrksasana (Tree Pose): There are, in fact, a lot of standing poses you may apply to hone your steadiness. Comply with the directions in this put up. It’s useful to keep in mind that even while you’re feeling shaky in your steadiness poses, you’re nonetheless studying the talent of balancing. If you’re flailing round making an attempt to not fall in Tree Pose, you’re truly creating proprioception. So don’t really feel discouraged. Bear in mind, it is a apply, not a efficiency!
- Parsva Balasana (Fowl Canine Pose): As I defined above, it’s vital to problem our steadiness in numerous methods. Fowl Canine Pose is a core strengthener and a steadiness pose. As a result of it strengthens the core—entrance, again and inside—it stabilizes us to extend steadiness. However the act of “standing” on one knee and one arm additionally develops proprioception. As well as, balancing along with your head ready apart from upright helps stimulate your vestibular system. Learn these directions that will help you refine your apply.
- Ubhaya Padangusthasana (Each Fingers and Massive Toes Pose): This pose affords a possibility to steadiness in yet one more manner—in your rear. Practising this asana in its most typical type, with the legs and arms straight, will be difficult in case your hamstrings and calves are on the tighter aspect. Be at liberty to bend your knees and maintain onto the backs of your thighs as a substitute of holding your ft. This put up can provide you some tips on working towards safely.
- Savasana (Corpse Pose): Years in the past I attended an early morning class that was solely an hour lengthy. The academics reasoned that with such a brief class, they didn’t want to incorporate Savasana. Whereas I loved their instructing within the different asanas, the Savasana-free class all the time made me really feel scattered and ungrounded. On reflection, I can see that it is a recipe for transferring via the remainder of the day and not using a sense of steadiness. Savasana is, in reality one among yoga’s finest balancing poses. It balances your body-mind at a deeper degree than merely balancing on one leg. Give your self 10 minutes in case your apply is an hour or much less, and quarter-hour or extra if it’s longer.
In fact there are numerous extra balancing poses than the 5 examples I’ve given. Inversions are nice, and as I wrote above, all of the wide-stance standing poses are useful. A very powerful issue is the eye you deliver to your physique as you apply. Preserve your focus inside your physique, on the sensations you are feeling. Keep in mind that frantic, shallow respiratory creates agitation—not a terrific recipe for balancing. Be sure that your respiratory is steady, deep and calm.
About Charlotte Bell
Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and started instructing in 1986. Charlotte is the creator of Aware Yoga, Aware Life: A Information for On a regular basis Observe and Yoga for Meditators, each printed by Rodmell Press. Her third e-book is titled Hip-Wholesome Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Information to Defending the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Ache (Shambhala Publications). She writes a month-to-month column for CATALYST Journal and serves as editor for Yoga U On-line. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte performs oboe and English horn within the Salt Lake Symphony and folks sextet Pink Rock Rondo, whose DVD gained two Emmy awards.