Vegan Fitness for Mortals by Ellen Jaffe Jones

Author:Ellen Jaffe Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Book Publishing Co.
Published: 2016-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Maintaining Balance

The aging process is different for everyone, but for many, the loss of balance can happen early and be unnoticeable—until a fall results in a badly broken bone. As you get older, you may notice your balance isn’t what it used to be; perhaps you have a slight misstep or you can’t hold balance poses in yoga class quite as long as you used to.

Losing your sense of balance results from a loss of strength in muscles, changes in ligaments, and deterioration of cartilage. Developing a yoga practice or increasing your weight training can help. Yoga poses improve flexibility so you can maintain or even improve your range of motion. Keeping a good range of motion helps keep arms and legs fully extended to maintain balance and an erect posture.

Muscles come in pairs that, for the most part, help to counterbalance each other, so it makes sense to build and stretch them in tandem. You can do many poses by standing on one leg and then the other leg to develop your balance. You can even incorporate this into your daily activities. For example, if you have an electric toothbrush that alerts you every thirty seconds to change to another quadrant of your mouth, you can balance on alternate legs for those intervals too. You can also stretch your hamstrings in thirty- to sixty-second increments by extending one leg straight back with the foot on the floor while bending the front leg. Although hamstrings aren’t back muscles, having them strong and equally balanced with your quads will offer support to your back. Strong legs and a strong back work in harmony to maintain balance.

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