Did you know that the ability to balance can be a reflection of how well your brain functions? On the Radio 4 programme ‘Just One Thing’ the late Michael Mosley mentions a study that connects the ability to stand on one leg in your 50s with your eyes closed and being alive 13 years later. This is because balancing requires the brain to integrate the different physiological systems that are needed to balance. If the brain is struggling to coordinate these different messages, it could point at a more general decline in brain function. Luckily, it’s never too late to improve one’s balance, and doing that will have a positive effect on the brain. Mosley’s report suggests that it may even slow your chance of developing dementia. This blog takes you through different stages of learning to balance, gradually increasing the level of difficulty. If you would like to learn how to improve your balance and boost your brain health, this step-by-step guide can help you.
In Michael Mosley’s conversation with professor Dawn Skelton, an exercise physiologist, we learn that the ability to stand on one leg deteriorates in our 40s and 50s. What’s more, a sedentary lifestyle negatively impacts our ability to balance. It’s when we start to feel unstable and to lose our balance when walking, that this reality suddenly becomes frightening and even dangerous. After all, falling can lead to breaking bones and losing one’s independence. Not leaving the house out of fear can be detrimental for our mental health.
It’s never too late to start, which I can testify to from working with students who are above 50 and have all improved their balance over time. Also my 80-year olds are getting better at standing on one leg. Importantly, they learn not to panic when they lose their balance but simply to place the other foot down. More on that later.
Why balancing is important:
1 Balancing strengthens the muscles that have to work in order to hold the body in a certain position. For example, one foot has to hold all the weight. Strengthening the foot in this way means we reduce the chance of straining an ankle or becoming unsteady on our feet. When we balance for longer than half a minute, the weight-bearing bones even start to strengthen, which is good to prevent osteoporosis.
2 Balancing promotes greater agility, which means better muscle coordination and the ability to move quickly and smoothly. Thus, the core muscles have to work together to keep the core stable as the body balances. We also need the ability to respond quickly when losing our balance.
3 Practising balances regularly can make you feel less worried about falling as you grow older. Agility and strength help to prevent falls.
4 Balancing on bare feet makes the soles of the feet more sensitive and responsive, which in term helps to improve our stability, walking and everything else we do on our feet.
5 Trying to balance improves the health of our nervous system. Our proprioception, the awareness of where the body is in space, improves as we are challenged to align our body in different balances. Another part fo the nervous system we need is exteroception, which is the ability to gauge the surface on which we try to balance. Both functions deteriorate with age but can be improved with practice. Our vision makes balancing easier. Anyone who tried standing on one leg knows this. When we practise balancing with the eyes closed, the other systems in our body, such as proprioception and exteroception are stimulated.
6 Balancing compels us to focus and concentrate, good for our brain! As mentioned before, the brain makes decisions on the basis of the different messages coming from the body. It gets stimulated when we balance.
7 Finally, standing on one leg is good for our mental health. It makes us feel joyous, steady and centred!
How to improve your balance:
If you are afraid of falling, or if you have osteoporosis, practise with a steady surface next to you, so you can hold on if you need to.
Don’t allow your mind to criticise or judge yourself negatively. Every attempt is better than not trying. Every attempt is about learning. I can’t emphasise this enough, as I see many of my students get so frustrated when they lose their balance. What they forget is that they are learning to lose their balance in a good way, i.e. without falling to the ground. This gives your body more confidence. It also improves your instinctual reaction when you slip or stumble on the street.
Start on a hard floor and if your practice improves you can try a squidgy surface. A yoga mat is harder to balance on than a hard surface. Once you’ve mastered the softer floor, try each of the balances below, except the moving balances such as walking on one line and the dynamic warrior balance, with your eyes closed before moving on to the next.
Gradually try to balance for longer periods at a time.
Breathe!
Let’s start from the very beginning. When you feel confident in one exercise you can move to the next.
1 Mountain pose
Stand on two feet, hip-width apart and with the toes facing forward. Balance your weight equally behind all the toes and on the centre of your heels. Be aware of the soles of the feet on the floor. There are so many nerve endings in the sole of the foot. What do you feel?
Bring the hips over the ankles and the shoulders over the hips.
Breathe out and feel the pull of gravity under both feet. Once you feel stable with both feet on the ground, also pay attention to feeling long and light. Breathe in and feel the crown of the head subtly pulled upward.
Keep breathing like this for a few minutes: feeling grounded when you breathe out, and tall as you breathe in. Keep this sense of length along your spine in all balancing poses.
2 Foot-strengthening exercise
Inhale and come up onto the toes, keeping the weight behind all the toes. Exhale and lower the heels on the floor. Repeat and coordinate the breath with the movement. Repeat at least 6 times.
3 Walk on one line
Walking on one line, with one foot right in front of the other, will challenge your balancing skills. This narrows the area on which your body has to find equilibrium and is harder than you think.
4 Toe tree
Shift your weight over the left foot and lift the right heel off the floor. Keep the left side long; avoid bending into the left hip. Stay in this position until you feel stable enough to place the right heel against the left leg, with the right big toe still on the floor. Turn the right knee out to the side. Breathe and stay in the position for up to a minute before trying this with the other leg.
3 Standing on one leg
When you are ready to balance on one leg, try the following: hold on to something and don’t even try to let go for about 30 to 60 seconds. Try the same on the other foot. This tricks the body and the brain into thinking that balancing is easy. It may make the next practice easier.
Now go back to the first side and balance without holding on at all. If you lose your balance, practise just placing your foot down. Keep trying on each side for about a minute.
4 Tree pose
Take time to feel both feet on the floor, the weight equally distributed behind all the toes and on the centre of the heels.
Shift your weight over to the right foot. Keep the right side of the body long; avoid bending into the right hip.
Once you feel stable on the right leg, lift the left foot and place it below or above your knee. Avoid the knee cap at all cost!
Visualise the breath flowing down the standing leg, as if it is energy flowing into your roots every time you exhale. When you inhale, visualise the breath flowing up towards the head. This helps both the feeling of stability and the lightness in this pose
4 Dynamic warrior balance
Inhale and lift both arms while bending the left knee to the level of the hip.
Exhale and swing the left leg behind you while spreading your arms and bringing the body in line with the left leg. Keep your lower abdomen engaged as you do this, to keep your lower back long and protected.
The body and left leg move to be in one line. They can be horizontal or more diagonal, just sloping down with the shoulders higher and left foot closer to the ground. Start practising this movement smaller, with the left foot not far off the floor. It’s less important to move this leg to the horizontal position than to keep a feeling of length along the spine. It may help to imagine the foot and head being pulled in opposite directions.
Alternate the two movements several times, inhaling to bring the knee up, and exhaling as you straighten the leg behind you.
Finish by lying on a mat for at least 5 minutes, with the legs straight or bent.
An English poem by Jenny Joseph starts with the sentence “when I am an old woman I shall wear purple”. For me, and perhaps many of my students too, it would sound more like: “when I am old I shall stand on one leg, wherever and whenever I want to!”
As always, if you would like guidance with your personal yoga programme, don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can set up a free consultation here: https://beneyoga.co.uk/book-a-free-consultation-call/.
Namaste
