5 Yoga Balance Poses to Improve Strength, Focus & Stability
Try these fun and beneficial yoga balance poses to challenge your balance, improve your coordination, build strength, and more!
Yoga balance poses are some of the most fun, challenging, and beneficial yoga poses you can do. Not only do they help to improve proprioception, body awareness, control, and coordination, but they also help to stabilize your feet, legs, and ankles, and build strength throughout the body, especially in the core muscles. This helps to reduce the risk of injury and may reduce back pain.
Learning to balance while stretching into a yoga pose will also help to boost your powers of concentration and focus, as well as reduce stress. It’s kind of like a physical form of meditation! It’s easy to see that the benefits of practicing balance poses go well beyond the yoga mat.
Balance poses can be performed as static poses, or as part of a yoga flow. They generally come in three types: standing (one-legged poses), arm balances, and advanced twists. All of them have unique benefits and can improve your mind and body in multiple ways.
When tackling a yoga balance pose, it is important to exercise control and move slowly and deliberately. Learn to use your drishti (gaze) to focus on one specific spot and hold your balance. Breathe slowly and with control. And feel free to have a prop such as a wall, chair or yoga block nearby to help support yourself until you are comfortable balancing on your own. It’s okay if you fall out of the pose. Just regroup, center yourself, and try again!
Below are 5 simple and accessible yoga balance poses to practice often (see the link below for instructions for each pose):
1.) Eagle Tree Pose
2.) Airplane Warrior 3 Pose
3.) Side Plank Tree Pose
4.) Revolved Side Angle Pose
5.) Candy Cane Pose
View Instructions for Each Pose Here…
Image Source: MindBodyGreen.com
