Why do we need to work on balance?
Many body systems — including our muscles, bones, joints, eyes, inner ear, nerves, heart, and blood vessels — must work properly for us to have normal balance. When any of these systems aren’t functioning well, we can experience balance problems. Aging, of course, impacts each one of those systems, so as we get older, we need to pay even more attention to maintaining our balance. One of the recent studies showed that balance begins to deteriorate at around 50 years old, even without additional physiological issues.
The CDC estimates that one out of three older people (65+) falls each year, but less than half tell their doctor. Falling once doubles your chances of falling again. Falling can lead to serious injury, but even if you are lucky and don’t get hurt, it certainly affects your self-confidence.
Obviously, we want to prevent falls, but we can accomplish many other things by learning how to balance. We train our balance to:
- Avoid falls and injuries
- Increase strength and stability
- Improve overall structural integration (different parts of the body working together for a common goal)
- Improve neuromuscular connection (communication between the muscles and the brain)
- Develop mental stability
- Improve our ability to focus
- Bring about a sense of accomplishment
- Boost our self-confidence
The question is, how do we train our balance if it is such a complex process involving many bodily systems? This will be our topic of discussion in this course. There is a lot of ground to cover, so let’s jump right into it.
Why do we need to train our balance?
Last winter, a blast of cold weather moved across the United States. In Portland, OR where I live, it brought the life of the entire city to a stop first due to heavy snow and wind and then because of ice.
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What it takes to maintain our sense of equilibrium
Simply standing in place requires contributions from our eyes, ears, brain, nerves, joints, ligaments, blood, and bones in a symphony of coordination. Take away one factor and the body can usually compensate.
Introduction
Lecture 1Why do we need to work on balance?
Lecture 2Test your balance with 3 simple moves
Lecture 3Functional Reach Test (FRT)
Lecture 4Timed Up and Go (TUG) Test for balance assessment
Hold your head up
Lecture 5Hold your head up
Lecture 6Yoga Practice: Challenge your vestibular system with short multi-directional practice
Lecture 7Yoga Practice: Base of support practice
Use (and not use) your eyes
Lecture 8Use (and not use) your eyes
Lecture 9Yoga Practice: Balance practice with eyes open / closed
Sense your position in space
Lecture 10Sense your position in space
Lecture 11Yoga Practice: Sharpen your proprioceptive awareness and relieve neck tension
Move from simpler to more complex
Lecture 12Move from simpler to more complex
Lecture 13Yoga Practice: Everyday balance practice
Lecture 14Yoga practice: Train your static and dynamic balance
Take care of your feet
Lecture 15Take care of your feet
Lecture 16Yoga Practice: Train your balance with heel raises
Lecture 17Yoga Practice: Strengthen your ankles to train your balance
Challenge your calves
Lecture 18Challenge your calves
Lecture 19Yoga Practice: Train your balance with balancing lunges
Lecture 20Yoga Practice: Challenge your calves to train your balance
Strengthen your legs
Lecture 21Strengthen your legs
Lecture 22Yoga Practice: Train your balance by moving between two poses
Lecture 23Yoga Practice: Strengthen your legs to train your dynamic balance
Stabilize your hips
Lecture 24Stabilize your hips
Lecture 25Yoga Practice: Train your balance by moving within a pose
Lecture 26Yoga Practice: Strengthen your hips and train your proactive balance
Engage your core
Lecture 27Engage your core
Lecture 28Yoga Practice: Strengthen your core to prepare for arm balances
Lecture 29Yoga Practice: Work your core to take the load off your back
Create movement synergy
Lecture 30Create movement synergy
Lecture 31Yoga Practice: Train you balance with twisting Tadasana
Lecture 32Yoga Practice: Train your balance with side bending Tadasana
Lecture 33Yoga Practice: Strenthen your hips and create a sense of spaciousness
Reassess your approach
Lecture 34Reassess your approach
Lecture 35Yoga Practice: Train your balance with three-directional challenge
Lecture 36Yoga Practice: Strengthen your legs, hips, and upper back while training your balance
Strengthen your upper body
Lecture 37Strengthen your upper body
Lecture 38Yoga Practice: Strengthen your upper body with arm balances. Stage 1
Lecture 39Yoga Practice: Strengthen your upper body with arm balances. Stage 2
Lecture 40Yoga Practice: Ease into arm balances yoga practice
Slow down and focus
Lecture 41Slow down and focus
Lecture 42Yoga Practice: Relieve stress and settle your nervous system
Lecture 43Yoga Practice: Yoga practice for stability and ease in body and mind
Summary. Balance training strategies
Lecture 44Summary. Balance training strategies
Lecture 45Full PDF. Find Your Equilibrium: Yoga for Balance Training
