Train your balance by moving within a pose

When we work on balance training, we also need to train our proactive balance that reflects anticipation of a predicted perturbation. This means that we need to be able to handle challenges to our balance that can be expected, for example, when we stand up in a moving boat or a bus.

In our yoga practice, we can train proactive balance by moving within a balance pose. It simply means that when you are holding the pose you would move your leg, arms, or body while trying to keep the base steady. This trains your body and brain to anticipate a potential challenge to your balance and adjust accordingly. Ballerinas do it all the time, which helps them develop extraordinary balance for all those arabesques and fouettes.

In this short yoga practice, we first warm up the body and then train our proactive balance by working with variations of the Tree pose, both statically and dynamically. We first move the legs and then the arms within the pose and try to work with each pose version for about one minute. Give this practice a try, and let me know what you think!