Maintaining your balance as you age is important.<\/p>\n
Strength training and single-leg exercises can help, but building stability starts with trusting your body.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n \u201cIf someone believes they can\u2019t balance or aren\u2019t flexible, their body may brace, grip or hesitate,\u201d says yoga teacher Veronique Ory.<\/a><\/p>\n The instructor explains that you can boost your bodily awareness and balance confidence with practices like yoga.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of my clients are over 55 and in our sessions we practice dynamic mobility, functional range of motion, balancing and creative variations of classic poses,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n This means that rather than holding static poses, she teaches her clients to move around, playfully exploring their balance in a safe way.<\/p>\n Here are three poses you can try at home.<\/p>\n 1. Balancing tabletop <\/p>\n \u201cThis pose builds core stability, cross-body coordination, spinal mobility and balance,\u201d says Ory.<\/p>\n \u201cMoving slowly invites the stabilizing muscles to engage, which is essential for everyday movement and fall prevention.\u201d<\/p>\n How to do it:<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n Hold: 3-5 breaths<\/p>\n Start on your hands and knees with your shoulders over your wrists and your hips over your knees.Extend your right leg straight behind you and your left arm forward.For extra stability, keep your right toes and left fingertips touching the floor.Gently rock forward and back, moving slowly and mindfully with your breath.Hold for three to five slow breaths, then swap sides.<\/p>\n Make it harder: <\/p>\n When you feel steady, raise your right toes and left fingertips.Extend your spine by lifting your arm and leg higher as you inhale.Exhale and draw your elbow and knee toward each other under your torso as you round your spine upward.Repeat this three to five times.2. Thread the needle <\/p>\n \u201cThis variation combines thoracic mobility, spinal rotation, breath and balance,\u201d says Ory.<\/p>\n The pose challenges you to counteract uneven weight distribution, which forces your stabilizing muscles to switch on.<\/p>\n How to do it:<\/p>\n Hold: 1-2 breaths<\/p>\n Start on your hands and knees with your shoulders over your wrists and your hips over your knees.Inhale, raise your right arm overhead, rotating your torso to look at your hand.Exhale, lower your right arm under your chest and left arm, resting your right shoulder and the side of your head on the floor.Hold for a few rounds of breath, then repeat.Perform a few rounds of cat-cow<\/a>, then repeat on the other side.<\/p>\n Make it harder:<\/p>\n