1. Understand What Causes Poor Balance
Maintaining balance can become more challenging for many reasons. Declines in the ability to maintain balance can happen slowly over time and you may not be aware of changes until you fall. Changes to our eyes and ears, certain medical conditions and medications can all cause us to lose our balance. Unfortunately many people blame poor balance on age and accept a decline in balance as a natural aging process. However this is not the case. A common reason for a loss of balance is that muscles become weak and tight from a lack of regular exercise. As we age we often become more sedentary. We get into a daily routine where we move our bodies through the same motions and activities day after day. This limits the amount we are challenging ourselves and can lead to unused muscles that become less stable and unable to support us.
2. Develop Body Awareness
The first step in improving balance is to start paying attention to how you use your body during daily activities. Do you always do the same activity the same way? Are you using your core muscles such as your abdominals and back muscles to their fullest? Are you putting yourself in a position that may increase your chances of losing your balance? Many times when my people fall, they often state they do not know what happened. They were going about their activity and next thing they knew they were on the floor. Somewhere in that process they made a choice and were unaware that they were becoming unbalanced.
This is where yoga can help. A key aspect of yoga is to teach the student to become more aware of how the body is responding to movement. While holding postures you scan your body to check how you are feeling. You are checking to see if you are stretching too deeply or if you can go further. You are scanning for any unnecessary tension or tightness in the body and then trying to consciously relax the muscles. You are making sure you are breathing deeply and evenly to help keep the body relaxed and the mind present on what you are doing.
3. Learn to Discover Your Center of Gravity
As you continue to learn the techniques of scanning how your body feels and then making adjustments during your yoga practice, this information can then be used during your daily activities. As you go about your day you will find yourself becoming more aware of any tightness or tension and then letting that tension go. You will begin to make better and safer choices on how you move your body. You will begin to develop a sense of maintaining your center of gravity and knowing when you are overreaching or stretching and putting yourself at risk.
4. Connect the Breath With Movement
Another technique in yoga is to learn deep diaphragmatic breathing. This type of breathing both trains the body to use oxygen more efficiently and helps to keep the body and mind calm. To do this breathing, inhale deeply through the nose as the abdomen expands. Then exhale deeply through the nose as the abdomen relaxes.
Many times falls and accidents happen because we are in a hurry and rushing around. As we rush we put ourselves at risk for an accident. Learning to breathe deeply and calmly throughout our day reminds you to stay calm, become aware of when you are feeling stressed and rushed, and then take steps to calm down and slow your activity.
5. Learn to Strengthen Muscles
In your yoga practice, you will work to hold various postures. As you hold these postures you may wobble, lose your balance and have to make adjustments to help maintain the posture. As you continue to do this, your body is strengthening the muscles and improving the reflexes necessary to help improve your balance. Remember that balance can be improved at any age and any ability. It just takes regular practice and constant awareness.
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