Balancing Flashcards
Why do we practice balance poses?
Balancing postures are generally those that remove an element of support to strengthen and stabilize the body and mind.
Balancing may be practiced from a variety of foundations including: standing on one leg, balancing on one arm and one leg, arms only, seated balance and head balancing.
Balancing strengthens, stabilizes and requires integrating various parts of the body.
Balance poses help students learn to hold and move their body weight.
Most balancing poses require strong core engagement.
“Because balance is a learned skill, we must challenge our balance in
order to improve it.” (Rachel Land)
- Describe five types of balance poses and provide examples for each
As Olga Kabel describes here, Balancing Asanas may be categorized by their foundation:
Standing Balance
Balancing on toes or on one leg
Examples: Virabhadrasana III (Warrior 3 Pose), Vrksasana (Tree Pose), Garudasana (Eagle Pose), Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (Extended Hand to Toe Pose), Eka Pada Tadasana (One Legged Mountain Pose), Eka Pada Malasana (One Legged Squat), Natarajasana (Lord of Dancer’s Pose), Goddess Pose Variation (Heels Lifted)
Arm Balancing
Bearing weight on hand or forearms
Examples: Bakasana / Kakasaa (Crane / Crow Pose), Lolasana (Pendant Pose), Tolasana (Scale Pose), Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand), Visvamitrasana (Flying Warrior Pose)
Arm-Leg Balances
Weight on one foot or knee plus one or both hands
Examples: Opposite Limb Extension, Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon) and
Vasisthasana (Side Plank Pose)
Seated Balances
Requires counterbalancing weight of the upper and lower body Examples: Navasana (Boat Pose), Upavistha Konasana B (Upward Facing Wide
Angle Pose)
Head Balancing
Balancing on head and arms, or head only Examples:Sirsasana variations
- What are the general physical effects of balance poses?
Increase coordination, balance and poise.
Build and maintain strength and bone density.
Improve reflexes.
Help to prevent falls.
Improve proprioception which relates not only to balance but also joint health. (Eva Norlyk Smith)
When asymmetrical, includes those benefits as well. Arm Balancing Strengthen Shoulder Stabilizers
We spend most of our lives in the bipedal position, walking, standing, etc. The hip joints are structured for weight-bearing in these types of activities. The shoulders, on the other hand, are highly mobile and designed for interacting with the environment through our hands. Practicing poses like handstand reverses this design by turning the mobile shoulder joint into the joint that must be stable for weight-bearing. This strengthens the muscular stabilizers of the shoulder. – Ray Long, Anatomy for Arm Balances and Inversions 2010 p 100
Engages Deep Stabilizers
[Balance requires] micro-adjustments. That’s where our deep stabilizers become vital: These smaller muscles create subtle engagement closer to the bone, supporting our joints and enabling us to coordinate different parts of the body to stand or move together. Our stabilizers include: [the core, the glute medius and the muscles that coordinate the arms and trunk, especially when bearing weight on arms or hands.] These muscles work skillfully together to coordinate the upper and lower body, generating support without rigidity. When we are in touch with our deep stabilizers, we feel centered and integrated. – Rachel Land, Yoga International, 3 Innovative Way to Improve Your Balance with Yoga
Improving Proprioception Impacts Balance & Joint Health
Proprioception… refers to the collective input from neural receptors in our joints, muscles and tendons, which in turn enables us to know where parts of the body are located in space. In other words, without proprioception you wouldn’t know
what position your limbs and joints are in at any given time in relation to the trunk… According to researchers, proprioception contributes to our sense of balance more than visual inputs…
When we lose proprioception, we also lose our sense of the specific position of our joints, and whether they are properly aligned… This in turn can lead to abnormal joint biomechanics during normal daily activities like walking. Once joint biomechanics get disturbed, we become more predisposed to degenerative diseases in the joints, a.ka. arthritis. In short, the loss of proprioception is closely linked to two of the major risk factors of age-related decline: Falls, which often lead to fractures or other serious injuries, and joint degeneration, which leads to the chronic pain of arthritis. – Eva Norlyk Smith, YogaUOnline, Yoga, Body Awareness & Balance – Slowing the Age-Related Loss of Proprioception
What are the general Energetic effects?
Increase absorption of the mind.
Promote calm and centering.
Increase presence, alertness and clarity. Increase capacity to “dual task.” (See below.)
Yoga increases capacity to dual task, decreasing risk of errors and falling
Dual tasking increases the risk for errors like not paying attention or falling. A 2016 study published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine finds that yoga may increase our capacity to dual task safely. – B. Grace Bullock, Ph.D., YogaUOnline, Long-Term Benefits of Yoga Include Greater Balance Control Study Shows
- Name three essentials to the practice of balancing.
Roger Cole sums up the essentials of balancing (here) as:
Roger Cole sums up the essentials of balancing (here) as:
- Alignment of the body with gravity.
- Strength to hold and adjust alignment.
- Attention to continually monitor and correct alignment.
- What is drishti and why does it help in balancing?
Typical first steps are to ensure student is on a firm surface with gaze gently fixed.
The gaze or point of focus (known as drishti) is an important part of teaching attention in balance. Fixing the gaze in balancing poses provides a visual anchor and helps the visual, vestibular and proprioceptive systems work in unison to achieve a state of balance. (Olga Kabel) See drishti for much more on this key asana topic.
How Drishti Helps
Fixing the gaze in balancing poses provides a visual anchor and helps all three systems (visual, vestibular and proprioceptive) work in unison to achieve a state of balance. To test this hypothesis just close your eyes while trying to hold a Tree pose and notice how much more difficult it is to balance. – Olga Kabel, Sequence Wiz, How to Anchor Your Attention in Balancing Poses
Drishti: Concentration, Alignment, Awareness
Through drishti you can cultivate a deeper level of concentration, improve your alignment, and tune into the inner sensations of the body in every pose, so that you’re practicing the way the ancient sages intended—with full awareness. As yoga expert David Frawley writes in Inner Tantric Yoga, “Fixing the gaze…not only concentrates the mind but draws our energy inward along with it, extending the action of pratyahara, or the yogic internalization of the prana and the senses.” – Jennifer Allen Logosso, Yoga International, How To Practice Drishti
Finding the Optimal Drishti
How to select the perfect visual focal point? First, pick a spot that’s not too close to you (about six to ten feet in front of you is a good guideline), and choose something that’s not moving (like not the person in front of you; if she falls out of the pose, there goes your focal point!). You may also find that choosing a focal point that’s closer to the ground makes it easier to stay steady. – Kat Heagberg, Yoga International, Tips to Find Your Balance in 4 Tricky Poses
- Aside from drishti, what else can support focus and attention during balance practice.
Another aspect of attention or focus is mindfulness of inner thoughts and emotions. See mindfulness and breath awareness practices for ideas such as noticing and letting go of thoughts, counting breaths, etc.
Leslie Kaminoff makes the important distinction between symmetry and balance, pointing out that balance in nature is not symmetrical. Symmetry is man-made.
Nina Zolotow recommends holding balance poses until “whichever body part is supporting you is quivering, and then try to hold 2-3 seconds longer.”
In addition to holding balance poses, a valuable practice is dynamic balance: moving in and out of a pose or moving between two balance poses, for instance. This helps with strengthening and in practicing how to recover one’s balance in everyday living.
Visualization as a Support to Mindfulness
I still remember all these years later the visualization that helped [me in a balance pose] and the lesson that something as subtle as changing what one is thinking about can make a huge difference in the perception of difficulty while moving into a pose and being fully present in it. – Elizabeth Domike, Sequence Wiz, What You Think While Balancing Matters
- Describe some teaching tips to help students manage their thoughts and attitude around balancing practice.
Teaching Considerations
Managing Thoughts & Attitude
Help students to identify their thoughts and to replace negative ones with more neutral statements.
Teach the benefits of practice—which includes falling! Encourage a lightness and humor in practicing balance.
Falling is Still Beneficial
As you start to practice, notice your thoughts. If they tend to be negative, such as “I suck at Tree pose,” try consciously taking a more neutral approach, such as, “Let’s see what I can do today…” And keep in mind that even if you fall (safely, of course!), you are still benefiting tremendously by practicing your balancing poses, so practicing is your real aim, not staying upright! – Nina Zolotow, Yoga for Healthy Aging, Techniques for Improving Balance
Laughing & Ready to Try Again
If you can laugh when you wobble or fall yet be ready to try the pose again in earnest, you have found true balance in your practice. – Roger Cole
If a student has trouble balancing, what are some options?
An unsupported variation of a pose may be referred to as “niralamba,”a term meaning “independent,” “on its own,” or “without support.”
When support is introduced, by using a prop or placing a limb on the ground, the variation may be referred to as “salamba,” meaning “with support.”
If a student has trouble balancing, tips include: In standing balance poses, bend knees.
Hold arms out to steady balance. Use wall or other support. Provide partner support.
As balance improves, gradually remove extra supports.
- Describe up to five ways to add challenge to a balancing practice.
Continue to add challenge in order to practice at the edge of stability. Challenge may be increased in multiple ways including:
1. Add a dynamic element. Olga Kabel lists some options here including:
move in and out of the balance pose, move within the balance such as moving arms while trying to keep the base steady, and move
between multiple balance poses.
2. Add more challenging poses or variations.
3. Shift the gaze to a more challenging spot or close the eyes. This improve proprioception, because of the need to focus less on external focal points and more on inner cueing.
4. “Play with your base” by reducing contact with the floor. Rachel Land provides photo examples in the link, including lifting the heel in standing poses and lifting the foot in kneeling poses.(Rachel Land)
5. Practice on unstable surfaces. (Nina Zolotow) This could include standing or kneeling on blocks. (Rachel Land)
6. Practice in a distracting environment. (Nina Zolotow) The Importance of Dynamic Balancing
When we work on balance postures in yoga we usually focus on maintaining steady position for a certain amount of time. This is a very useful aspect of balance training, but it is not the most important. After all, how often do we just stand on one leg for extended period of time in real life? In fact, the main benefit of static balance training is to improve dynamic balance. Our balance is challenged most when we are in motion – whether we are walking (especially on uneven surfaces), going up or down the steps, hopping from rock to rock to cross a stream, and so on. To make this process smooth and balanced we need to both initiate the movement and resist momentum that carries us forward. – Olga Kabel, SequenceWiz, Four Easy Ways to Train Your Balance for Daily Life
But Holding is Also Valuable
Learning better balance is like learning anything—we have to be in the process long enough to benefit. As children, training wheels helped us learn to balance on our bikes. In yoga, this means choosing options that meet, and gently stretch, our current capability. So if lifting the foot to the inner thigh in tree pose means immediately falling out of the pose, it might be more helpful to keep the toes of the lifted foot on the floor or the fingertips of one hand on a wall for a little extra support if that allows us to remain in the pose longer. It’s when we stay somewhere slightly unstable that our muscles and our nervous system learn to compensate, creating inner equilibrium that enables us to handle more challenge next time. – Rachel Land, Yoga International, 3 Innovative Way to Improve Your Balance with Yoga
- Describe general considerations related to sequencing balancing poses.
Balance poses may also be a backbend, forward bend or other type of pose. Therefore, these characteristics are additional considerations when sequencing. (Olga Kabel)
For best results, plan that over a few classes, you will include a variety of balance poses from the different types (noted in Introduction above).
Balance poses are often sequenced after standing poses so that students have achieved a level of grounding and stability.
Balance poses may be used as a transition toward turning the mind inward.
For beginners or other populations who tire from standing sequences, balance poses may be offered earlier in the sequence for greater accessibility.
- How can you sequence to prepare for balance poses?
Sequencing Balance Poses, in General
Balance poses may also be a backbend, forward bend or other type of pose. Therefore, these characteristics are additional considerations when sequencing. (Olga Kabel)
For best results, plan that over a few classes, you will include a variety of balance poses from the different types (noted in Introduction above).
Balance poses are often sequenced after standing poses so that students have achieved a level of grounding and stability.
Balance poses may be used as a transition toward turning the mind inward.
For beginners or other populations who tire from standing sequences, balance poses may be offered earlier in the sequence for greater accessibility.
Preparing for Balancing
Prepare for balance with axial extension postures. Lengthening the spine will help to integrate the whole body and manage it “as a unit.” (Olga Kabel)
Depending upon which type of balance pose you are preparing for, preparation includes strengthening and warm-up of ankles along with warm-up of wrists, shoulders and hips.
- What poses may serve as alternatives or preparation for arm balancing?
For those who are not ready for arm balances, typical preparatory
poses to strengthen upper body and core include:
Plank Pose
Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose) Chaturanga Dandasana (Four Limbed Staff Pose) Navasana (Boat Pose)
- Name arm balancing poses 1-15 plus 20 other balancing poses.
- Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Downward Facing Tree Pose)
- Astavakrasana (Eight Angle Pose)
- Bakasana(CranePose)
- Bhujapidasana (Arm Pressure Pose)
- Camatkarasana (Wild Thing Pose)
- Dwi Pada Koundinyasana (Two Legged Koudinya’s Pose)
- EkaHastaBhujasana(LegOverShoulderPose)
- Eka Pada Galavasana (Flying Crow Pose)
- Eka Pada Koundinyasana I (Pose Dedicated to Sage Koundinya)
- Eka Pada Koundinyasana II (Flying Splits Pose)
- HalfHandstand
- Handstand Hops
- Kakasana (Crow Pose)
- Kukkutasana (Cock / Rooster Pose)
- Lolasana (Pendant Pose)
- Name arm balancing poses 16-23
- Parsva Bakasana (Side Crow Pose)
- Pincha Mayurasana (Forearm Balance)
- Tittibhasana(FireflyPose)
- Tolasana(ScalePose)
- Utpluti Dandasana (Floating Stick)
- Vasisthasana (Side Plank) Full Pose
- Vasisthasana (Side Plank) Intermediate
- Visvamitrasana(FlyingWarriorPose)
