Yoga Poses and Balance Training

Yoga Balls for All

Some individuals who haven't had much flexibility training are hesitant to try yoga as part of an exercise program. But yoga balls, also known as fitness balls, make certain yoga poses more accessible to older adults or to someone recovering from an injury.

In addition, a yoga ball is a great way to introduce yoga to individuals who are overweight or obese and may not feel comfortable with yoga poses.

For example, backbends are a staple of any yoga practice, but novices shouldn't try a full backbend right away.

Instead, start with some beginner and intermediate backbends to get the muscles used to the feeling of a backbend. Try this variation on a bridge pose using a yoga ball.

• Start with your head and shoulders on the ball and your knees bent and feet flat on the floor a few feet in front of you, so your back forms a table-top shape.
• Lower your hips toward the floor without rolling off the ball.
• Squeeze your gluteal muscles and lift your hips so you return to the table top position.

Locust Pose Gets a Lift

Locust pose (a back extension) is a great way to strengthen the lower back muscles. A variation of this pose can be done on a ball for yoga.

• Start by placing the yoga ball under your torso and hips with your legs extended behind you.
• Place your hands behind your head or behind your back, but try not to pull on your neck.
• Slowly roll down the ball, lifting your chest and shoulders off the ball to create a straight line from your shoulders to your heels.
• Keep your abs pulled in and don't hyperextend your back.
• Hold for a few seconds, and then return to the starting position.

Focus on Feet for Yoga Balance

Improved balance is one of the benefits of yoga, but learning to balance and hold yoga poses is challenging. Yoga ball poses are a good intermediate step to some of the more difficult balancing postures. If you are new to core exercise, using a fitness ball will promote core strength and help your balance. A fitness ball is also known as a Swiss ball by some trainers and physical therapists.

Doing a Swiss ball routine regularly will help your mental focus and your physical strength, so you will be able to get more out of your yoga poses. When you are ready to work on balancing on one foot, think about spreading your weight evenly across the four corners of your feet. What are the four corners? The inside and outside edges of the feet, and the front and back. If you feel yourself swaying, bend the knee of your standing leg slightly. Think about extending your standing foot straight down, stretching through both your inner and outer heels. Another good balance tip when doing standing yoga poses--concentrate on your core.

Get Your Headache Back in Balance with a Forward Bend

Some yoga and yoga ball positions are excellent moves to help relieve a headache. The head-to-knee forward bend is just what it sounds like--here's how to do it:

• Sit with your legs straight out in front of you.
• Raise your arms over your head. Twisting slightly to the right, bend the left knee and place the sole of the left foot on the inner right thigh.
• Bend forward from the groin, extending your arms as far forward as possible. If you can’t reach your foot, use a strap. Try to avoid hunching your torso.
• Line up your navel with your right leg, and flatten your chest toward your right thigh.
• Hold this pose for 1-3 minutes, but don't overstretch to the point of pain!

Be a Better Runner with Balance Training

Tightness in the hips is an unfortunate side effect of running, as any regular runner knows, and it can lead to postural imbalances that can increase the risk of an overuse injury. But several yoga poses and balance training exercises can help counter this tightness. In addition to Swiss ball stretching, runners can open their hips and improve their balance and proprioception with certain yoga poses. What runner doesn’t like to hear that?

Try the half moon pose (ardha chandrasana) as part of a yoga or yoga ball workout:

• Place a block 12 inches diagonally in front of your right foot.
• Place your right hand on the block. Be sure that you have a straight line from your hand to your shoulder.
• Keeping your right leg straight, extend your left leg behind you, keeping it as straight as possible.
• Stack the left shoulder over the right, and reach your left arm straight up to the ceiling.
• Concentrate on opening through the chest and hips.
• Hold for a count of 5. Return to the starting position.
• Repeat on the other side.

Promote Post-Injury Rehab with Yoga Ball Poses

If you are recovering from an injury or surgical procedure, yoga is an ideal workout option to help you return to your pre-injury fitness level. Yoga promotes healing by increasing circulation to the injured area. Using yoga balls to help you move through positions is an ideal way to rebuild core strength and flexibility without over-stressing the injured area. It’s smarter to ease back into fitness gradually than to rush yourself and delay your full recovery.

You can learn yoga ball poses from exercise ball DVDs or from your physical therapist or trainer. If you are going back to a yoga class after an injury or surgery, be sure to tell your yoga instructor, so she can help you modify poses with a yoga ball or with blocks, blankets, or other props.

Other points to keep in mind when doing yoga while recovering from an injury:

• Go slow. Remember that it will take some time to regain your previous fitness level.
• Pay attention. Focus is important in yoga, but pay special attention to your alignment. Favoring an injured area can promote muscle imbalances that can lead to additional injuries.

Yoga Boosts Mental Balance, Too

Whether you use a ball for yoga or practice standard yoga in addition to a Swiss ball routine, you will improve your mental balance as well as your physical balance. Part of the mental exercise of yoga involves focusing on yourself (not on the person on the next mat) and maintaining each posture as best you can without being distracted.

In addition to the physical benefits, the mental focus that you develop from a regular yoga practice carries over into other athletic activities. Better focus can improve your performance in competitive or even recreational sports, and improved mental focus can help you manage the activities of daily life because you are better able to stay calm and cope with stress.

Some yoga classes or yoga ball workouts have more of a meditative element than others, so shop around to find a class or exercise ball DVD that suits you. But even classes or routines that are more physical, such as ashtanga or power yoga classes, will end with a short period of relaxation and meditation. These few minutes of allowing your mind to be quiet will contribute to your sense of well-being and your mental focus.

For Your Best Balance, Think Alignment

The goal of any yoga posture is to align your body, whether you use a fitness yoga ball or perform the exercises on a mat.

Proper alignment helps you keep your balance in yoga ball poses or mat-based yoga poses. To find the correct alignment in a yoga pose, concentrate on a balance between basic opposing movements. Each move in a series of yoga poses has a counter movement that keeps the muscles balanced. Some basic movements and counter movements that play a key role in yoga postures include:

• Abduction vs. Adduction: Abduction means moving a limb away from the midline of the body, while adduction means moving a limb towards the midline of the body.
• Flexing vs. Extending: Flexing means bending a limb while extending means stretching out or returning to a neutral position after being bent.
• Internal Rotation vs. External Rotation: Internal rotation means rotating towards the midline of the body while external rotation means rotating away from the midline of the body.

Seniors Benefit from Yoga Balance Training

Yoga is not just an activity for the young and flexible—it is an excellent fitness activity for all ages and fitness levels, including older adults. Seniors can use a fitness yoga ball or do standard yoga poses to improve their balance and build core strength without putting stress on the joints. Yoga also promotes flexibility to help combat the stiffness that occurs with age, and it may provide relief for individuals who suffer from arthritis.

Inversions (such as headstand or shoulder stand) are good yoga poses for people of all ages to promote circulation. If you don’t feel comfortable doing inversions, try lying on your back with your legs on a yoga ball or extended up a wall.

Downward-facing dog pose and triangle pose are also appropriate yoga positions for all ages, including older adults, to improve balance and build core strength.

But keep in mind that because yoga is a low-impact activity, it doesn’t promote the building of bone mass. Regardless of your age, be sure to include some moderate weight-bearing activity in your overall fitness plan to help prevent osteoporosis.

How to Choose the Right Yoga Class

Yoga can be relaxing and meditative, or extremely challenging. A class that bills itself as “fitness yoga” or “power yoga” will be more aerobic and more of a physical workout. The instructor will likely spend less time on meditation and breathing, focusing more on vinyasas, a series of poses repeated to build strength.

Any type of yoga, including yoga ball exercises, will help promote balance and core fitness. When you are choosing a yoga class or selecting a yoga DVD to help with balance training, keep these tips in mind:

• Check the level. If you are new to yoga, start with a beginner class or DVD.
• Check the attitude. Finding a class with a vibe that suits you is key to getting the most out of your yoga balance training. If you go to a class that has too much activity or too much meditation, shop around. You’ll get the most benefit from the class or DVD if it is the right fit for your interest and fitness level.

Add Yoga Balance Training for Better Biking

Practicing yoga regularly will improve your performance in other sports by reducing muscle imbalances and improving flexibility. Mat-based yoga poses or yoga ball poses on your own or in a class can be beneficial.

Many sports, including cycling, have the side effect of making you less flexible in certain areas. Some muscles become stronger than others, which creates an imbalance that can lead to injury. For example, many serious cyclists have overdeveloped quad muscles and shorter, weaker, hamstrings. Yoga can correct this imbalance, too. Yoga ball exercises can help strengthen the hamstrings.

Attending a yoga class or doing yoga ball poses at home as little as once a week can improve your balance and flexibility and work muscles that don’t get used during cycling. This combination of improved flexibility, core body strength, and muscle balance will reduce your risk of injury and improve your performance. Even if you aren’t competitive, you’ll enjoy your cycling more if your muscles are strong and balanced.

Stay in the Swim with Yoga Balance Training

If you are a serious swimmer (or at least a regular fitness swimmer) practicing yoga regularly or just doing some yoga ball poses at home can improve your form and help prevent injury.

For the most efficient swimming strokes, you need to fully extend your muscles, and mat-based yoga or yoga ball exercises will promote that extension.

Swimmers should focus on three areas when they work yoga poses into an overall fitness plan:

• Shoulders: If you can train your rhomboid muscles so your shoulder blades move down your back while swimming, you can reduce your risk of rotator cuff injuries or tendonitis. The yoga poses Upward-Facing Dog and Downward-Facing Dog both build shoulder strength.
• Hips: Sit on the floor and press the soles of your feet together to open your hips. Also try sitting on a yoga ball and rolling from side to side to loosen tight hip muscles.
• Ankles: Sitting in Hero Pose can help improve ankle flexibility. If your ankles are tight, try sitting on a small yoga ball or block when doing this pose.

Yoga Balls Strengthen without Stress

Yoga ball workouts can be appropriate forms of cross training for almost any sport. Yoga ball poses can help improve your sports performance by improving your balance and core strength. Yoga positions on a yoga ball or on a mat won’t put the same kind of stress on your joints that running or cycling do because you are working mostly against your own body weight.

Balancing postures, using yoga balls or just a mat, engage your core muscles and build core body strength. Balancing poses also build strength in your legs and especially the quadriceps muscles, which support the knee.

Tree pose (vrksasana) doesn’t involve a yoga ball, but it builds strength that can be fostered by yoga ball workouts. Keep these tall tree tips in mind:

• Be sure that you are standing on all four corners of your standing foot.
• Bend the knee of your standing leg and straighten it slowly.
• Think about pulling toward the midline of your body. Bring your hands to the center of your chest in prayer position. Push your right leg into your left inner thigh, and then reverse the pose.

Zen and the Art of Yoga Ball Maintenance

Whether you use your fitness yoga ball every day, once a week, or every month, clean it regularly to keep grunge and germs under control. Yoga balls will last for years if you take care of them. That means keep them away from extreme temperatures (such as a very hot garage in the summer or cold attic in the winter).

Keep these tips in mind to keep your yoga ball as healthy as it keeps you:

• Clean a yoga ball periodically with a soft cloth and warm, soapy water. Or you can combine a few tablespoons of white vinegar and water in a spray bottle.
• Don’t use harsh cleansers because they may scratch the rubber surface of the ball.
• Don’t use your yoga ball on a rough surface, such as a cement basement floor, which can scratch the surface. Use your yoga ball on a wood floor, on a mat or on a carpet.
• Be sure to dry your yoga ball thoroughly after you wipe it down—you don’t want to slide off when you use it.

Use Inflation to Change Sensation

When you first buy a fitness yoga ball, experiment with firmness as you inflate it. Start by following the directions and inflate the ball to the recommended size (most large yoga balls are available in sizes from 45 cm-75 cm). Use a tape measure to help you inflate the ball to the correct diameter. Keep in mind that if you over-inflate the ball to beyond that of its full capacity, it is more likely to rupture. A yoga ball that is correctly inflated should feel firm, but it should give slightly when you sit or push on it.

But you can adjust the amount of inflation depending on your fitness level and on the types of yoga ball exercises that you are doing. If you need the ball to serve as a yoga stability ball for core strength training, you may prefer to inflate the ball for more firmness than if you are using it as a physical therapy ball as part of a post-injury rehab program.

The firmer the yoga ball, the more challenging the exercises that you do on it, because less of the ball’s surface area will be in contact with the floor.

Keep Your Focus when on the Ball

When you hold a yoga pose for a long period of time, even when using a yoga ball, you can start to lose your focus. Your mind may start to wander to what time it is or how much your muscles ache. When that happens, you aren’t actively involved in your yoga ball poses and you won’t get the maximum benefit from your yoga ball workouts.

To find and maintain your focus and work deeper into any yoga ball positions, keep these points in mind:

• Start by breathing deeply and evenly, and engage your core muscles.
• Push your muscles just a little more, by bending your knee more, or deepening a twist.
• Focus on the midline of your body. Think about pulling your navel in towards the back of your spine.
• Even when using a yoga ball, remember muhlabanda, or root lock, which is created when you think about tucking your tailbone toward your pubic bone.

Avoid Painful Yoga Ball Poses

Whether your yoga practice includes using a yoga ball for balance training or whether it is mostly mat-based, you never want to hold a pose that’s painful. If you can, try to hold a yoga position for a count to five; some classes and teachers will instruct you to hold a pose for longer than that.

It’s important to tune in to your body during yoga ball poses and standard yoga poses. When you start to feel discomfort or fatigue, remember to breathe deeply and evenly, and relax your jaw and face. Are you clenching any muscles that aren’t involved in the pose? For example, try not to clench your buttock muscles while doing a bridge pose. If you aren’t relaxed, release the pose and try again. But yoga is a personal activity, and if you feel intense pain during any yoga ball positions or standard yoga poses, back off. Go to a restorative position, such as child’s pose, and wait for the class to move on to the next pose.