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 consequently. Generally it’s unattainable to know which is the hen and which is the egg. At any fee, the autumn was virtually the tip of her.
Lengthy story quick, after a stint within the hospital, she was progressing nicely in rehab. A day earlier than she was to return dwelling, she went into kidney failure. Apparently, the mixture 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 might be the start of the tip for older individuals.
Greater than 800,000 individuals are hospitalized annually for accidents stemming from falls. One out of 5 falls causes a severe damage equivalent to damaged bones or traumatic head damage. The truth is, falls are the most typical explanation for traumatic mind damage. Listed below are some extra stats on falls and their sometimes-catastrophic results.
What’s Steadiness and Why is it Essential?
Put merely, stability is our potential to acknowledge our place relative to the objects round us, together with the floor on which we’re standing or strolling. A very good sense of stability permits us to carry out our each 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 pal requires a wholesome sense of stability. With out stability, easy actions develop into not solely difficult, however may even be harmful.
As we age, among the elements that contribute to good stability 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’ll additionally occur due to an absence of consideration or underdeveloped proprioception. The excellent news is, yoga might help. Many asanas are particularly designed to enhance stability. 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 various yoga poses that help stability. All of the standing poses—suppose Trikonasana (Triangle Pose), Virabhadrasana I and II (Warrior I and II), and so forth.—might help strengthen our legs and domesticate stability. And naturally, the one-legged standing poses equivalent to Vrksasana (Tree Pose) are balancing poses.
It’s essential to problem our stability in several methods. Whereas we frequently consider standing stability poses once we’re hoping to domesticate proprioception, balancing in several orientations can also be essential. That’s why I’ve a number of kinds of balancing poses within the examples under.
Most essential is to keep in mind that balancing, like all asana, is a observe, not a efficiency. Meet your physique the place it’s. For instance, if it’s essential stand near a wall in a standing stability pose, please accomplish that. Even with that little bit of additional help, you’re nonetheless growing the ability of balancing.
5 Balancing Poses
- Foot Therapeutic massage: Giving consideration to our ft, massaging them, exercising our toes, and so forth., retains them wholesome and aware of no matter floor we’re negotiating. Begin your observe with these easy workout routines. However you needn’t restrict it to your on-the-mat observe. You can too observe these when you’re sitting round watching TV or anytime you’ve got a spare second. One longtime scholar of mine who had by no means been in a position to stability on one leg practiced these each day for about 9 months and was in a position to stability 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’ll be able to observe to hone your stability. Comply with the directions in this put up. It’s useful to keep in mind that even whenever you’re feeling shaky in your stability poses, you’re nonetheless studying the ability of balancing. Whenever you’re flailing round attempting to not fall in Tree Pose, you’re really growing proprioception. So don’t really feel discouraged. Bear in mind, this can be a observe, not a efficiency!
- Parsva Balasana (Fowl Canine Pose): As I defined above, it’s essential to problem our stability in several methods. Fowl Canine Pose is a core strengthener and a stability pose. As a result of it strengthens the core—entrance, again and inside—it stabilizes us to extend stability. However the act of “standing” on one knee and one arm additionally develops proprioception. As well as, balancing together with your head able apart from upright helps stimulate your vestibular system. Learn these directions that can assist you refine your observe.
- Ubhaya Padangusthasana (Each Arms and Massive Toes Pose): This pose affords a chance to stability in yet one more means—in your rear. Practising this asana in its commonest type, with the legs and arms straight, might 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 an alternative of holding your ft. This put up can provide you some tips about practising 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 this can be a recipe for shifting by way of the remainder of the day and not using a sense of stability. Savasana is, in actual fact considered one of 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 observe is an hour or much less, and quarter-hour or extra if it’s longer.
In fact there are lots of 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. An important issue is the eye you carry to your physique as you observe. Maintain your focus inside your physique, on the sensations you are feeling. Keep in mind that frantic, shallow respiratory creates agitation—not an amazing recipe for balancing. Be certain your respiratory is steady, deep and calm.
About Charlotte Bell
Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and commenced instructing in 1986. Charlotte is the writer of Conscious Yoga, Conscious Life: A Information for On a regular basis Follow and Yoga for Meditators, each revealed 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 Purple Rock Rondo, whose DVD gained two Emmy awards.