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You’re never too young to prioritize balance training. It may enhance memory and spatial cognition, lower the risk of injury in athletes, and improve postural control, the latter of which contributes to better motor performance in sports. One way to get your fill: Incorporate yoga poses for balance into your movement routine. A 2022 study in the Slovenian Journal of Public Health found that practicing 30 minutes of yoga a day for four weeks led to improvements in static, dynamic, and overall balance in older adults. Ahead, learn exactly why the movement practice can give your stability a boost and discover the best yoga balance poses to challenge and improve it, according to a pro.
First things first: How does yoga help with balance? There are a few key elements that make yoga a balance-enhancing practice, says Kate Lombardo, RYT-200, yoga teacher and yoga director of YogaRenew. At its core, yoga is a barefoot activity, and many of the poses are performed while standing. You end up paying plenty of attention to your feet—the base of the postures—and the specific ways they’re supporting you in space, Lombardo says. As you settle into chair pose (Utkatasana), for instance, you’ll realize you’re holding a good portion of your body weight in your heels. In a standing forward fold (Uttanasana), you’ll notice your weight is primarily in your toes, as the goal is to stack the hips directly over the ankles, Lombardo explains.
“We live so much of our lives in shoes nowadays, and they’re not necessarily great for our foot muscle development,” Lombardo says. “Yoga is a really good way to counteract that; it improves the use of your feet and your toes, which is directly related to balance…If we can get our feet to work really well, that helps us set everything from the ground [up].” It’s just like a house: If the foundation’s rickety, the entire home will be out of balance, she adds.
Regardless of the posture, yoga can improve proprioception—the ability to sense where your body is positioned in space—and mind-body connection, Lombardo says. It also enhances core strength and stability and overall flexibility and mobility, a combination of characteristics that support balance, she notes. Related Stories Core stability training can improve balance, according to a small 2018 study in Acta of Bioengineering and Biomechanics. As such, it’s been recommended to be a fall prevention measure for older adults, per a small 2015 study in The Journal of Physical Therapy Science.
All of [the core] needs to be strong [for balance], but also…if we’re so stiff and there’s no movement, as we go throughout our lives, we can fall from that, too,” Lombardo says. “There is a balance in yoga between the strength and flexibility piece, and the mobility part is really important, too. The focus on spinal mobility gives us the practice to be able to move, to sway back and forth a little bit. In doing that with intentionality in yoga, that allows for us to find better balance in our lives.”
“You don’t have to go for the most challenging version of a pose to be able to work on the elements in the body that will build the strength and the flexibility needed to find balance.”
The best yoga balance poses to add to your practice
To kick off your journey to better stability, incorporate the below postures into your practice, as demonstrated by Lombardo. Aim to hold each yoga pose for balance for 5 to 10 breaths, Lombardo suggests. “As you build confidence, you can extend the time to 15 to 20 breaths to really challenge your body and balance,” she says.
1. Mountain pose (Tadasana)
Mountain pose may not look like much of a balance posture, but it’s beneficial to start your practice with. “That [posture] is the key to standing straight and tall, to understand our body and space,” Lombardo says. “I think if we can understand how to ground both feet fully into the earth, into your mat, into the floor, that’s where we can build that foundation [for balance].”
Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart, your arms hanging at your sides, and your palms facing inward. Roll your shoulders down and back. Your shoulders, hips, and ankles should be stacked. Press all four corners of your feet into the ground and gaze forward. Hold this position, continuing to breathe. Hold this pose for 5 to 10 breaths.
2. Tree pose (Vrksasana)
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