help with balance

Hello Carl and Tim

Thank you for the question and the answer. I don’t like to be contrary but I do believe that there may be a LOT more to the balance issue than meets the eye.

Tim is correct on the locking of the knee. It can provide stability that may be missing. The core strength is important and also contributes to stability. The fixed point focus is partly correct. Focus should be easy, gaze soft in one general direction without ‘burning a hole’ in a spot.

I think that Carl – and anyone who still has issues balancing after 9 months – is experiencing issues with pose technique likely both general and specific. While yoga should be challenging it should not be a struggle.

Using toes to dig and grip the floor is a sure sign that something needs to change. That change can be TINY so do not despair.

What I propose is that you tell me which poses you find your balance issues in. Tim, if you’re willing you might participate by saying which particular poses your tootsies are digging in! 😉

As in 95% of cases such as this, when a question is asked, the answer does not lie where one might expect. As I said, the answer can be simple and very easy to implement.

If I may suggest, take a look at a couple of my Free Videos, right here.

In particular “Great posture from the ground up” may give you some fine clues.

See you back here :cheese:

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

I have found standing head to knee and standing bow to be the toughest ones for balancing. Reason is that you hold the poses longer than other balancing poses. According to Bikram’s 2007 book, you hold these poses for 60 seconds. Balancing stick is supposed to be only 10 seconds, again according to Bikram’s 2007 book. I have found the studios do a good job on the former poses in sticking to the time rule. But they hold most of the other poses too long. Perhaps because they cannot squeeze in the pose instructions in only 10 seconds.

I use those techniques for all balancing poses to some degree and they help. But even after doing this style of yoga for 15 years, I will occasionally fall out of some of the balancing poses. So it depends on the kind of day I am having as well.

Perhaps the idea to focus on one spot helps one to keep the mind focused. When my mind wanders my balance decreases.

One thing that helps me to balance is to find the opposing motions in each pose and focus on the two opposing directions. In standing bow it is the kick up and back vs charging the body forward; in balancing stick it is extending as far forward with my arms and as far back with my leg as possible.

For me the opposing stretches must be “equal and opposite” or I will fall out in the direction of the stronger side, like tug of rope. I have not figured out what the correct combination is for standing head to knee, because even after 4 years I am still working on kicking out for even a few seconds!

Another tip for balancing stick: I think of lengthening the side of my torso with the raised leg as much as possible. I imagine the stretch down my side being like the set up for half moon where you reach for the ceiling. Sometimes my raised foot goes out to the side and can throw me off balance, so this helps me keep everything back to the center line where it’s easier to balance.

Also, when locking the knee it helps me to engage all the muscles of the upper leg, not just the quad. Engaging the back of the leg/buttocks tends to stabilize me and keeps my knee from overextending backward. As a beginner it was painful on the back of my knee until I learned about that.

Hello everyone

Even though much has been broached, here are a few specifics that could help round out some points.

[strong]On locking the knee[/strong]
@cynclaire2 Just in case it wasn’t specifically said in response, you are correct to pull up the knee cap with the help of the quadriceps muscles. Just straightening the leg to lock the joints is damaging and what you need is for the muscles to create space in the knee. You will feel more secure.

[strong]On the effect of extra weight on the joints[/strong]
You mention you may be carrying some extra pounds. This can put more stress on the knees than one imagines. I remember what it was to be pregnant and realising that my body felt extra stress particularly around the knees. It doesn’t take much to make that difference.

[strong]On suggestions for foot position and bunions[/strong]
May I make a suggestion or 2 for you to try? This suggestion can also be applied partially to those with bunions and so you should be able to filter if this is for you or for Kristin or anyone else.

The command to stand with toes and heels together is easier said than done-well, for most people. We have feet of different shapes. If you have bunions and you stand toes and heels together your knees will turn out and this will in turn affect your hips.

That triangular shape found in most feet (as feet are not parallel sided objects) is exaggerated in people with bunions, but most people have this ‘flaring’ shape of the foot. This affects one’s poses.

What needs to be understood is the intention of the poses or movements. Rather than thinking toes and heels together, think of knees facing forward. For my feet, this means my toes line up right to the ball of the foot (about 1/3 of the length of my foot) and then my heels are just a half inch apart.

If one has bunions then the foot is rather more triangular in shape. The foot being wider at the bunions means the feet flare outward. This has an effect on physiology but it also has an effect on balance.

When feet are forced together instead of finding optimal foot position (or optimal postural position) then ankles can kind of smash together. With heavier folk flesh can get in the way. All of these things serve to change the postural dynamics. For a most common example, you may have heels and toes together and then your legs or legs and ankles come together too. Your balance is determined by the way your legs slam together. But because it is fundamentally unstable, the moment you lift one leg you feel the imbalance and then your body does all sorts of things to compensate and to try and force balance.

Feet flaring (because of incorrect foot placement of heels and toes together) will make certain poses like Half Moon harder to balance but poses on one foot, such as Standing Head to Knee, EASIER to balance (I can explain that even though you may initially disagree). Neither of these scenarios really grows your practice.

The best way to develop your balance is to make sure the foot and knee point forward.

I run workshops exploring this and all the intricacies, working out what works and doesn’t work and determining what ‘cheats’ your body has worked out to do to cope with the poor position. These ‘cheats’ are unconscious but are most definitely there.

If one is carrying extra weight and that weight means their legs are more sizeable then standing with toes and heels together is simply making balance difficult. And I can assure you if you’ve ever seen someone try to practise with toes and heels together and you invite them to introduce a little space between their feet (either just by making the feet and knees face forward, or if a more severe problem where the feet need to come apart altogether an inch or so) that they will INSTANTLY find their practice more manageable. But MUCH MORE important than that is that they feel that NOW they suddenly understand what it means to participate more fully in the class, that they understand what it means to LEARN balance. Up until that time they have found their centre of balance is way out and well… as I said, there is a ton of stuff to this balance issue. I could go on! :cheese:

By the way nobody has ever corrected me (or my students) at any studio for my foot position. (No, they don’t all know I am a teacher. I like my practice to be my own so the less people know the better!) I am sure it is because my toes are together and my poses are strong and precise.

The idea of opposing forces is a way of verbalising what I like to call ‘traction lines’. There is definitely an element of pose activity that one needs to look for in each position. You can do the yoga without them and you will feel ok. But once you find them then your satisfaction levels climb sky high!

In Standing Head to Knee regarding opposing forces:

The opposing forces that are also good to be aware of are the ones where the hands pull back against the ball of the foot contra the force of the heel pushing forward toward the mirror. Kristin, is your opposition of heel forward and stomach backward a visualisation or do you actually feel it as a tractional effect. I feel the traction of the interaction of the hands and arms and leg which I look for. I am interested to know more of your strategy.

@bunni, if you’re losing your balance in SHTK, I would like to know if your back is rounded when you move your leg forward. Please let me know what exactly you’re doing.

Standing Bow: Try finding the traction in the body first by pressing the leg back. Don’t bring the body forward even the tiniest bit. Once you are in the fullest expression of the kick that is when you PIVOT the body around the hip. In this way you’re not actually charging your body forward at all. Try it. You will find your body in balance every moment of the pose! It’s a much better pose, I promise! 😉

Okey dokey, I am running out of room. Haha. I hope this provokes some good discussion or some great pose breakthroughs

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

I think for problems concerning balance you might need first to consider use of chair for starting the yoga and as you progress change from this.

I have hardly tried hot yoga for 4 months since I got my first lesson in Community Yoga Association.
However, I do not get any clue on daily digest every time I want to push me hard.
The biggest challenging is that I have the balance on footy exercise as a green vegetable.
Lucky enough , I get a birthday gift from my girl friend. That’s light enough I can not imagine there is a huge Yoga Towel in the wrapped box.
I tried for 2 weeks and I almost no slippery and good balance to do most difficult postures.

Hi Henry

I wonder if maybe too, the loss of lean muscle mass has an effect on one’s ability to balance. I responded to your other post and so catch us up on details whenever you feel the urge!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂