Related to Fitness & Exercise
Yoga Poses for Better Balance
Video Transcript
SPEAKER: Improving your balance
can help you prevent injuries.
This routine focuses on strength
and flexibility
to create better balance.
Coming over to your mat, take standing mountain pose. Just kind of lengthen your tailbone. Relax the shoulders, lengthening your toes. Take a few deep breaths.
And starting to hug your right knee in, strong on the left leg. See if you can circle the knee a few times. Fix your gaze on one spot to help you have better balance here. Take the right hand on the right knee, open the knee out to the right. And then squeeze it back in.
Moving onto the other side, just easy, bring the knee up toward the chest. Give it a few circles. Whenever you stand on one leg, you're strengthening the standing leg. And this pose, you're creating flexibility on the moving side.
Take the knee out to the side. And hug the knee in. Moving it to tree pose, you can bend the right knee. You can keep the toe on the floor. Or, if you'd like, you can move the leg up. Bending the knee deeper, put the sole of the right foot onto the left leg. Hands at the hard, lengthening the spine. This pose is excellent for opening up through the right side, the right hip, as you're strengthening the left side. Trying tree on the other side. The only place you don't want to press is against the knee. So you don't want the foot pressing against the knee, either above or below the knee.
Gently coming out of tree pose, and coming into a high runner's lunge with the right leg forward, left leg back. Lengthen the spine, bowing forward with the straight leg on the right side. Move a few times here, moving from bending the knee to lengthening the front leg. This is opening up the hamstrings. It's also engaging through the back of the quadriceps and also the gluteus maximus.
And move a few times here. Just enjoy this flow. And take the right leg to the sky, three-legged down dog. So kind of do a down dog for a breath or two. Let the left leg go to the sky. Bring the left leg in. Take the high runner's lunge on this side. It's going to this easy flow.
Notice you bend the knee to the high runner's lunge. Then you lengthen the spine. You can even flex the front foot to work into the foot, the muscles deep into the front foot to help you have better balance.
And just step back. Walk your feet forward. Walk your hands to your feet. Come up to standing, strong legs. Arms overhead. Inhale, exhale. Start to try to go into warrior three.
Right leg is standing. Left leg is back, parallel to the ground. Reach your arms forward. Arms are in line with the back leg. Come on up. Try it on the other side. Step the right leg back. Let your left leg strengthen here, breathing out through the fingertips. You can also try that pose with a chair, holding onto a chair, if that is too intense for you.
Moving with the right leg forward, left leg back, just a short stance here, just about a foot or two. Kind of bend your elbows and bow forward. You can either have the fingers touching the elbows here. The hips are squared off. You're strengthening the front of the quadriceps here.
Lengthen up to the sky and try the other side. And step the right leg back. Just keep the right foot at a 45 degree angle. Square your hips off. You can either bend your elbows or, for more of a challenge, you can touch the palms, reverse prayer. The palms are touching. The fingertips are crawling up the spine here. You're folding forward, deep breaths. You're strengthening the hip flexors here, crucial to balance.
Come on up to the top with the inhale. Release the hands. And come and just standing, cross-legged forward fold. Right leg is in front. Keep your knees soft. If you want, you can rock back and forth. Really feel your feet on the ground. Flexibility helps with better balance. This pose is helping you to really work out through the backs of the legs.
You're also really moving into the hips here, the top of the hips, and you're letting the spine unwind. So you're releasing tension in the spine.
Once you do both sides, come to the floor. This is double pigeon pose. So seated, lengthening your thigh bones, you line the knees and the ankles up. So the right leg is on top. Left leg is on the floor. Gently flex the feet. Easy long spine here. Try the other side. You'll probably notice one side is different from the other. That just shows you how your body is often not completely balanced. So it's even more important to do poses that help balance the body.
If that was too intense, you could always try it lying down. So spine on the ground, right leg crossed over. You can interlace your fingers under the left leg. Gently flex the feet and draw the left leg in towards your body.
And if you want to go a little deeper into the hips here, you can always take the fingers, interlace them on top of the left leg.
Try the other side. Again, lengthen that thigh bone. Flex the feet. This pose is really to unwind tension from the hips. So you're not holding that tension in the hips. You can have better balance. Your body has better mobility.
And just lengthen the legs. Relax the whole body. Focus on the breath. Here, you can also balance. Just think of the sense of balance on both sides of the spine. Just imagine your body is completely balanced here. Inhale, feel balanced. Exhale, release tension. You may notice that as you're balanced on the outside, you're also balanced on the inside.
Coming over to your mat, take standing mountain pose. Just kind of lengthen your tailbone. Relax the shoulders, lengthening your toes. Take a few deep breaths.
And starting to hug your right knee in, strong on the left leg. See if you can circle the knee a few times. Fix your gaze on one spot to help you have better balance here. Take the right hand on the right knee, open the knee out to the right. And then squeeze it back in.
Moving onto the other side, just easy, bring the knee up toward the chest. Give it a few circles. Whenever you stand on one leg, you're strengthening the standing leg. And this pose, you're creating flexibility on the moving side.
Take the knee out to the side. And hug the knee in. Moving it to tree pose, you can bend the right knee. You can keep the toe on the floor. Or, if you'd like, you can move the leg up. Bending the knee deeper, put the sole of the right foot onto the left leg. Hands at the hard, lengthening the spine. This pose is excellent for opening up through the right side, the right hip, as you're strengthening the left side. Trying tree on the other side. The only place you don't want to press is against the knee. So you don't want the foot pressing against the knee, either above or below the knee.
Gently coming out of tree pose, and coming into a high runner's lunge with the right leg forward, left leg back. Lengthen the spine, bowing forward with the straight leg on the right side. Move a few times here, moving from bending the knee to lengthening the front leg. This is opening up the hamstrings. It's also engaging through the back of the quadriceps and also the gluteus maximus.
And move a few times here. Just enjoy this flow. And take the right leg to the sky, three-legged down dog. So kind of do a down dog for a breath or two. Let the left leg go to the sky. Bring the left leg in. Take the high runner's lunge on this side. It's going to this easy flow.
Notice you bend the knee to the high runner's lunge. Then you lengthen the spine. You can even flex the front foot to work into the foot, the muscles deep into the front foot to help you have better balance.
And just step back. Walk your feet forward. Walk your hands to your feet. Come up to standing, strong legs. Arms overhead. Inhale, exhale. Start to try to go into warrior three.
Right leg is standing. Left leg is back, parallel to the ground. Reach your arms forward. Arms are in line with the back leg. Come on up. Try it on the other side. Step the right leg back. Let your left leg strengthen here, breathing out through the fingertips. You can also try that pose with a chair, holding onto a chair, if that is too intense for you.
Moving with the right leg forward, left leg back, just a short stance here, just about a foot or two. Kind of bend your elbows and bow forward. You can either have the fingers touching the elbows here. The hips are squared off. You're strengthening the front of the quadriceps here.
Lengthen up to the sky and try the other side. And step the right leg back. Just keep the right foot at a 45 degree angle. Square your hips off. You can either bend your elbows or, for more of a challenge, you can touch the palms, reverse prayer. The palms are touching. The fingertips are crawling up the spine here. You're folding forward, deep breaths. You're strengthening the hip flexors here, crucial to balance.
Come on up to the top with the inhale. Release the hands. And come and just standing, cross-legged forward fold. Right leg is in front. Keep your knees soft. If you want, you can rock back and forth. Really feel your feet on the ground. Flexibility helps with better balance. This pose is helping you to really work out through the backs of the legs.
You're also really moving into the hips here, the top of the hips, and you're letting the spine unwind. So you're releasing tension in the spine.
Once you do both sides, come to the floor. This is double pigeon pose. So seated, lengthening your thigh bones, you line the knees and the ankles up. So the right leg is on top. Left leg is on the floor. Gently flex the feet. Easy long spine here. Try the other side. You'll probably notice one side is different from the other. That just shows you how your body is often not completely balanced. So it's even more important to do poses that help balance the body.
If that was too intense, you could always try it lying down. So spine on the ground, right leg crossed over. You can interlace your fingers under the left leg. Gently flex the feet and draw the left leg in towards your body.
And if you want to go a little deeper into the hips here, you can always take the fingers, interlace them on top of the left leg.
Try the other side. Again, lengthen that thigh bone. Flex the feet. This pose is really to unwind tension from the hips. So you're not holding that tension in the hips. You can have better balance. Your body has better mobility.
And just lengthen the legs. Relax the whole body. Focus on the breath. Here, you can also balance. Just think of the sense of balance on both sides of the spine. Just imagine your body is completely balanced here. Inhale, feel balanced. Exhale, release tension. You may notice that as you're balanced on the outside, you're also balanced on the inside.