Standing balance is a key, though commonly overlooked, aspect of our physical performance. It’s crucial to fall prevention in our later years, but if we wait until then to train for improved balance we miss the opportunity to benefit from the agility, playfulness, confidence and resilience it provides us at any age. This monthly dose unpacks the component parts of our standing balance and offers a wide range of strategies we can employ - some traditional to yoga and some creative additions - to promote positive adaptations in these systems. No matter what your current level of standing stability, you’ll finish this lecture with a solid understanding of how to build bullet-proof balance for life.

With these Monthly Dose Classes, you will be able to:

• Build better postural control in a fairly traditional yoga context.
• Introduce unsteady footing and eyes movement.
• Progressively train better balance.
• Let go of rigid perfection and embrace the wobble.

Research links mentioned in and informing the lecture content:

• Araujo et al: Successful 10-second one-legged stance performance predicts survival in middle-aged and older individuals, British Journal of Sports Medicine 2022.
• Jlid et al: Ground surface nature can influence visual information contribution in postural control, Journal of Sports Medicine & Physical Fitness 2016.
• Delafontaine et al: Effect of a Concurrent Cognitive Task, with Stabilizing Visual Information and Withdrawal, on Body Sway Adaptation of Parkinsonian's Patients in an Off-Medication State: A Controlled Study, Sensors (Basel) 2020.
• Hammami et al: Comparison of static balance and the role of vision in elite athletes, Journal of Human Kinetics 2014.
• Lesinski et al: Effects of Balance Training on Balance Performance in Healthy Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, Sports Medicine 2015.
• Zouita et al: Effects of Combined Balance and Strength Training on Measures of Balance and Muscle Strength in Older Women With a History of Falls, Frontiers in Physiology 2020.