Connections Sunday I started my week indoors because of all the rain doing some art. On Monday I had my weekly live class with our members. I also had a Just Like Me interview Monday morning with one of our members, Donna from Glasgow. I love Mondays because I get to spend a great deal […]

yoga for balance

Balance is your ability to maintain your body’s center of mass over its base of support. Put more simply it is your competency to not fall over.

Your ability or inability to balance is the result of three systems:

* Your vestibular system

* Your proprioceptive system

* Your visual system

Your Vestibular System

Your Vestibular System is your inner ear. Your inner ear sense information about motion, equilibrium and spatial orientation. This information is collected in your inner ear by the utricle, saccule and three semicircular canals.

Your utricle and saccule detect gravity, that is information in a linear orientation, as well as linear movement. Your semicircular canals detect rotational movement.

When you look up and down at the ground and the sky and you are stimulating your utricle and saccule to detect gravity, that is information in a linear orientation as well as linear movement. When you turn your head side to side and you are stimulating your semicircular canals, this is allowing your vestibular system to detect rotational movement. These simple movement patterns will stimulate your vestibular system and help to improve your balance.

Your Proprioceptive System

Proprioception is defined as the unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself. We receive proprioceptive input from our skin, muscles, joints and sensory receptors that are sensitive to movement and pressure in our connective tissue.

Proprioception is sensed by your entire nervous system. Inside each muscle and joint, you have tiny meters called muscle spindles and golgi tendons that are constantly measuring the amount of tension and degree of contraction that are happening. This information travels up your spinal cord through your spinocerebellar tract and makes its way to your cerebellum. Your cerebellum accepts information from your skin, muscles and joints throughout your whole body and calculates where your body should be in space.

We challenge our proprioceptive system all the time as yogis. When we take our socks and shoes off and practice in our bare foot, we experience maximum input through our feet from the ground. As we move around in different yoga postures our nervous system and brain responds to this proprioceptive input from the ground, your joints, muscles and position in space.

Your Visual System

You have sensory receptors in your retina called rods and cones. When light strikes the rods and cones of your retina, the rods and cones send impulses to your brain that provide visual cues that tell your brain how you are oriented relative to the objects around you.

Yoga Postures/Asanas: Head Rolls, Anantasana or Couch Pose, Cat Pose or Marjaryasana, Balancing Table Pose or Dandayamana Bharmanasana, Side Plank or vasisthasana, Lunge pose or Anjaneyasana, Chair Pose or Utkatasana, Tree Pose or Vrksasana, Standing Knee to, Mountain step back to High Lunge or Tadasana to Utthita Ashwa Sanchalanasana, Mountain to Chair to Tree, Downward Facing Dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana, Lunge Pose or Anjaneyasana, Revolved Lunge Pose or Parivrtta Anjaneyasana, Pigeon or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, Balancing Bound Angle Pose or Dandayamana Baddha Konasana, Savasana or Corpse Pose, Shunya Mudra

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

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yoga for balance Balance is your ability to maintain your body’s center of mass over its base of support. Put more simply it is your competency to not fall over. Your ability or inability to balance is the result of three systems: Your vestibular system Your proprioceptive system Your visual system Your Vestibular System Your […]

How to Improve your Balance Linda from facebook wants to know, “Why do I have difficulty balancing in yoga?” I get so many questions on balance and yoga I can’t even tell you! The reasons for difficulty in balance in yoga could be one of three things or a combination of all three. First of […]

How to Improve your Balance

Linda from facebook wants to know, “Why do I have difficulty balancing in yoga?”

I get so many questions on balance and yoga I can’t even tell you! The reasons for difficulty in balance in yoga could be one of three things or a combination of all three.

First of all, what is balance? Balance is your ability to maintain your body’s center of mass over its base of support. Put more simply it is your competency to not fall over.

Your ability or inability to balance is the result of three systems:

* Your vestibular system

* Your proprioceptive system

* Your visual system

Your Vestibular System

Your Vestibular System is your inner ear. Your inner ear sense information about motion, equilibrium and spatial orientation. This information is collected in your inner ear by the utricle, saccule and three semicircular canals.

Your utricle and saccule detect gravity, that is information in a linear orientation, as well as linear movement. Your semicircular canals detect rotational movement.

So let’s train your vestibular system right now. Look up and down at the ground and the sky and you are stimulating your utricle and saccule to detect gravity, that is information in a linear orientation as well as linear movement. Now turn your head side to side and you are stimulating your semicircular canals, this is allowing your vestibular system to detect rotational movement. These simple movement patterns will stimulate your vestibular system and help to improve your balance.

Your Proprioceptive System

Proprioception is defined as the unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself. We receive proprioceptive input from our skin, muscles, joints and sensory receptors that are sensitive to movement and pressure in our connective tissue.

Proprioception is sensed by your entire nervous system. Inside each muscle and joint, you have tiny meters called muscle spindles and golgi tendons that are constantly measuring the amount of tension and degree of contraction that are happening. This information travels up your spinal cord through your spinocerebellar tract and makes its way to your cerebellum. Your cerebellum accepts information from your skin, muscles and joints throughout your whole body and calculates where your body should be in space.

Let’s try and load our proprioceptive system now. If you have shoes on, take them off so you can have maximum input from your feet through the ground. Now lift one knee off the ground in front of you. Lean forward and back and notice how your nervous system and brain responds to this proprioceptive input from the ground, your joints, muscles and position in space. If you want to make it even more challenging, close your eyes.

Your Visual System

You have sensory receptors in your retina called rods and cones. When light strikes the rods and cones of your retina, the rods and cones send impulses to your brain that provide visual cues that tell your brain how you are oriented relative to the objects around you.

You can test this out right now too. Stand on one leg and focus on something that is not moving. Now close your eyes and notice that without the visual input balancing is more difficult.

One of the most popular videos in our membership community at the moment is our brain yoga for standing balancing postures. This class includes postures that stimulate your vestibular, proprioceptive and visual systems to help you with your standing balancing postures in yoga.

Beverly said,

“Hi Melissa,

Ucluelet Hello and welcome to our family trip to Ucluelet. The beginning of our day was all sorts of crazy with wind bringing in all kinds of weather systems. We started in Coombes with the always fun goats on the roof. Luckily the goats were still on the roof in October!

Vlog 36  I started the week cleaning out the fridge and making soup for lunches. When you cook do you use recipes or do you follow your intuition? Sunday afternoon I did some art with Shiloh Sophia McLeod on releasing your inner critic and embracing your muse. It reminded me a lot of our inner […]

Herbal Tea for Anxiety

Hi it’s Melissa and today I am going to introduce you to a new feature on my channel,

Melissa’s Medicinal Teas and Tinctures.

Today I am going to review one of my favourite teas for stress and anxiety Simple Remedies Deep Nerve Tonic Tea.

As we come into the Autumn season vata dosha can be disturbed. Autumn is a season of transition and change and is dry, rough, windy, and erratic, just like vata dosha. According to Ayurvedic medicine, like increases like, so it is a time of year that vata dosha can easily become imbalanced. Those with high vata dosha can easily start to feel anxious, nervous, spacey, confused, on edge, ungrounded, bloating, constipation, and have dry skin.

That is why one of my favourite teas this time of year is Simple Remedies Deep Nerve Tonic

It contains:

* Holy Basil: relieves stress and anxiety naturally

* St. John’s Wort: treats depression, eases mood swings and eases anxiety

* Skullcap: reduces anxiety and soothes the nervous system

* Lemon Balm: eases anxiety

* Chamomile: calming

* Ginger: warming, improves circulation

* Hops: calms nerves, relieves stress and anxiety

You can make your own or order some from Simple Remedies Herbal Solutions here in Victoria B.C. (click here for their website)

Here is a video where I offer you 3 further tips to ease anxiety

3 Tips for Easing Anxiety with Yoga

Namaste, Melissa

 

Herbal Tea for Anxiety Hi it’s Melissa and today I am going to introduce you to a new feature on my channel, Melissa’s Medicinal Teas and Tinctures. Today I am going to review one of my favourite teas for stress and anxiety Simple Remedies Deep Nerve Tonic Tea. As we come into the Autumn season […]

BTS – Behind the Scenes This has been a week of interaction and collaboration with you. I began my week by interviewing two of our members in our membership community for our regular feature, the Just Like Me Interviews. Then the week unfolded with a fruitful discussion about how my teachings are working for you: when […]