Balancing poses are part of nearly every class I teach. This week we had a special focus on how to do balancing poses more easily. Sometimes our ability to balance well (or not) is influenced by early movement patterns that were developing when we were infants. If parts of the developmental movement were missed out or not fully integrated, then this can affect how easily we are able to move and balance as adults.
In class we practised some exercises on the floor that encourage lateral flexion and extension – one side of the body extends as the other side flexes. First we experimented flexing the neck on the flexed side – bringing hand to mouth. Then we experimented looking towards the hand on the extended side – away from the flexed side. This has the fancy name of Assymetric Tonic Neck Reflex, its’ integration is important for good balance and co-ordination. To see how to do the moves click here: Movement to help with Balance and coordination
Having thoroughly polished the studio floor at the Academy, from all the sliding around on blankets, we then paid attention to our feet. We located the Talus bone and noted what a lot of bones there are in the foot – 26. We looked at a brilliant picture in Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery by Eric Franklin that showed the structure of the foot. Franklin likens the 3 arches of the foot to the multi-arched vaulted ceilings in gothic cathedrals. He points out that the Talus bone is the keystone to the arch – the weight of our bodies sends force down through the long, lower leg bones – Tibiae, which sit on top of the Talus bones. Force is then distributed to the heels and towards the toes. A marvellous feat of engineering. The ‘feat’ of the ‘feet’ – as someone in class noted!
In standing we practised going to the extremes of everting and inverting our feet. We noticed how this felt – in our feet and in our knees – and whether one extreme felt a little more familiar than the other. We knew from our study of foot pictures that the Talus bone needs to sit nicely on top of the Calcaneus (the Heel bone) – so we placed the toes and balls of our feet down first and then the heels, to help this to happen. (When people have fallen arches the Talus bone might be slipping inwardly off the heel bone a little) By paying attention to the details of placing our feet we aimed for better balance in asana.
Finally we paid attention to the breath. Although a gentle lift in the lower abdomen is helpful in standing poses, we need to be able to feel the breath into the belly too. It’s much harder to balance if the breath is restricted to the upper chest – the feet tend to be affected – they become tense and the toes try to grip. Instead we want the feet to release weight to the earth and for there to be a rebound sensation back to the sky.
Level 1 practised Tree and Eagle poses. Level 2 practised a balancing sequence – Tree – Eagle, Flying Eagle, Dancer, Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana, Parivrtta Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana. The general consensus was that balancing was a little easier.
