Balancing trains the mind
Many yoga postures are designed to help you to develop your ability to balance and strengthen your coordination. Balancing is discovering how to work muscles in opposition to one another. When you balance on one leg, for example, you work some muscles, and you relax others. If you flex or relax the wrong muscles, you lose your balance. Part of yoga teaches you to understand which muscles to engage or relax, and in so doing it trains you in balance and coordination. Balancing practices make you reach into the center of your body to exercise the core muscles that really matter when it comes to balance.
Balancing also trains the mind and improves your ability to direct your thoughts. You strengthen your concentration skills through balancing poses. While balancing, you strive to focus just on the pose and let any distractions go. Yoga, in general, can increase your concentration, attention and memory (Casden 2005; Lamb 2001).
So, what are some effective balance exercises to try? Mountain Pose and the Warrior III pose.
Sherri Baptiste in the Mountain Pose
Step 1. Mountain Pose or Tadasana (tah-DAHS-anna) tada = mountain Stand with 6-8 inches between your parallel feet. Look down at your feet and make sure that all 10 toes are facing forward. Do your best to feel the four corners of your feet pressing downward with no pronation or supination. Sometimes the weight can fall on the outside or inside of the feet. Try to center your weight. Take time to consider the building blocks of the posture: ears lined up over the shoulders, shoulders over hips, hips over knees. Look for the balance from the front to the back of the body. Keep the crown of the head lifted, the chin parallel to the ground, the waist slightly pulled in and the tailbone gently tucked. Relax all of the muscles in the face, neck, shoulder and arms and roll up on to the toes as far as possible. Gently roll back down and pull the toes up off the ground and spread them wide. Then place them back down on the ground and feel all four sides of each foot making contact with the ground. If you lose your balance, simply begin again.
Tip: Steadiness is also found in the breath. Like the circle of your breath, your balancing practice is a constant process of beginnings. It’s consistently a fresh start. Using the breath to bring you back to the present moment, with a greater sense of balance takes no time at all--only a shift in attention.
Sherri Baptiste in the Warrior III Pose
Step 2. Warrior III Pose or Virabhadra (veer-ah-bah-DRAHS-anna) Virabhadra = the name of a fierce warrior Begin standing in Mountain Pose. Straighten your standing leg and lift the back leg at the same time. As you lift the back leg, press the tailbone into the pelvis, under and slightly forward. “Simultaneously, move your chest forward with your arms either out in front of you (more difficult) or to the side (easier to balance).”
As you straighten though the front knee, feel an energetic lift in the front of your thighs pulling the kneecap upward. Feel the front quadriceps (thigh) muscles lengthen and press. Think of pressing the thighbone backward. As you establish and stabilize your posture, ground downward and feel the heel into the yoga mat or floor. Bring your head up slightly and look forward. Keep the back of your neck long rather than bent back or up.
Stay in this position for 30 to 45 seconds. Repeat for the same length of time on the other side. Do two sets.
Tip: Practice these two postures at least three times a week for results.
References As a resource, please see Yoga with Weights for Dummies by Sherri Baptiste (Wiley Publishers).
Casden, D.R. (2005). The Effects of Ashtanga Yoga on Autonomic, Respiratory and Cognitive Functioning; Psychological Symptoms and Somatic Complaints: A Controlled Study. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: Sciences and Engineering, 66(2-B), 1164.
Lamb, T. (2001). Health Benefits of Yoga. http://www.iayt.org/site_Vx2/publications/articles/hlthbenefits.htm?AutoID=&UStatus=&ProfileNumber=&LS=&AM=&Ds=&CI=&AT=&Return=../../site_Vx2/about/advisory.htm; retrieved April 22, 2009.
Sherri Baptiste is the author of Yoga with Weights for Dummies (Wiley Publishers) and daughter of the American yoga and physical culture pioneers Walt and Magaña Baptiste. She has been associated with yoga since she took her first baby steps or assumed her first lotus position, whichever came first. She founded Baptiste Power of Yoga, a nationally recognized yoga method. A top expert in the field of health and wellness, she is an inspirational teacher at the forefront of yoga training in the United States and Canada. Sherri's way of teaching is accessible to everyone, offering depth, renewal, results and inspiration. Contact her at www.powerofyoga.com.
