Better balance Classes

Not only does the ability to walk help us to maintain our independence, but walking is also exceptionally good for balance! In this short video, I offer a variety of ways to walk to help maintain and improve your balance. So … let’s go for a walk!

Lack of mobility and strength around the spine it one of the top causes of feeling imbalanced and experiencing back pain. Moving your spine as we do in this series is perfect for improving mobility and strength. This short 10 minute video is one that I recommend doing daily, first thing in the morning if you can! This is a great way to get your day started! Please be sure to do this video before you start any of the better balance classes so that your spinal column is warmed up and ready.

Don't let the title of this class scare you. Yes it is an advanced practice, but I encourage you to watch the video, and then give it a try, doing what you can. Remember the most important thing is to practice safely, so use your chair as much as you need to, and skip the parts that don't work for you. If you've been doing Better Balance, or Chair Yoga, or Chair Pilates with me for a while, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by how much of this you can do. Enjoy!

In this second class in the Fall Prevention series, we use new props and new elements of challenge, to further strengthen situational awareness and improve nervous system response time to prevent falling. Please be sure to do the Level 1 practice for fall prevention a few times, before doing this class.

Join me for this new approach to better balance and fall prevention. In this class, we not only work on strength to improve balance and help to prevent falls, we also train our nervous system to help prevent falling.

Doing core exercises regularly is essential to better balance. This short practice is a series of core exercises that I recommend you do 3 to 4 times a week. If you commit and do this, you will see improvement in your balance, as well as in your back and pelvic health!

Keeping our muscles flexible and our joints mobile is critical to better balance. If your muscles are tight, then your joints feel tight. When your joints feel tight, you feel less stable on your feet. Like all things in life, our approach to better balance, should be a balanced approach.

We often tend to think we need to stand to do exercises to improve balance. Abdominal and lower back strength are critical and necessary to both gain and maintain better balance. While this type of strength, can be challenging to improve while seated in a chair, I have some ideas that can help you. So, please join me!

This short class is actually a practice of giving you simple things you can, and should, do every day to help you to maintain the balance you have, as well as regain some lost balance. This practice also gives you some warm up exercises, which will help to keep your muscles, joints and tissues healthy. And the simple exercises will also help to build your strength in your pelvis, core, and lower body.

In this practice, add a cushioned mat or sofa pillow to bring some extra challenge to your balance practice. Or, if you don’t have props, practice standing and the floor and still gain benefits.

While one of the intentions of doing Better Balance exercises is to prevent falling, sometimes we do fall. And even if we don’t fall, we may want to get down onto the ground for other reasons; gardening, playing with pets or grandchildren, etc. This practice teaches you exercises that you can use to build the strength you need to get up off of the floor, whether you are doing so by choice or because you have fallen.

Whether you are looking to improve balance or simply build more strength overall, I invite you to join me for this short Better Balance practice which uses a resistance band and ball to improve strength and flexibility in areas important for better balance.

This short 20 minute practice is also great for those looking to improve overall strength as they age.

Whether you have practiced Chair Yoga before or not, I believe you will find this Better Balance class, using Yoga, quite helpful. If you have done Yoga or Chair Yoga in the past, this won't be like your typical Yoga practice. And if you haven't done Yoga in the past, this will give you a nice introduction to some of the things we do in Yoga and Chair Yoga to help with balance.

This is an advanced balance class. In this practice we use many of the techniques from the other practices, and add the element of looking around you while you do the techniques. This is a great way to add a little extra to your balance practices, and to help you to prepare when you go places where there will be a lot of people and lot of distractions.

Join me as we use yoga blocks (or a similar prop that you can safely stand on to imitate standing on steps or a curb), where the surface is narrower than our foot is long. Have a chair handy to help you to stand on the blocks (or your walker, if you use a walker). Challenge yourself to stay calm when you are not standing in perfect balance.

The results are in … Squats a great way to exercise and keep your whole body in shape! But how do we do squats if we have knee or hip problems? This practice will show you how and more!

The health of our legs is critical to Better Balance. The most obvious reason being that without our legs we couldn't stand, of course. But it's so much more than that. Join me as we both stretch and strengthen every part of our legs in this short practice.

Developed by the New Zealand Fall Prevention Research Group, the Otago Exercise Program (OEP) originated at the University of Otago, in Otago, New Zealand. These exercises have been validated and have been proven to decrease falls and fall-related injuries in high-risk older adults. Professionals the world over consider these exercises one of the best fall prevention programs for high-risk older adults and for older adults starting fall risk management.

It is a well Known and proven fact that regularly moving our joints helps to keep us healthy, feeling good and to maintain our independence. This seated joint practice will help you to move every joint in your body, in every direction it moves! Done regularly, it will also help you to regain lost range of motion and improve mobility.

While abs and back body practices for better balance are often considered to be more strenuous class, they are also essential to your balance practice. They are also a key part of continuing to expand your balance practice as you grow stronger.

When practicing for better balance, it is important to think of the balance of your overall state of being. This practice focuses on shoulder health. In order to stand tall, as well as walk and move with greater balance, we must work to both strengthen our shoulders, as well as not allow our shoulders to round forward when we stand and walk. This short practice will give you simple and easy to remember exercises to improve your shoulder health.

It goes without saying, that to improve our balance, we have to do some standing exercises. This practice is just that and one that you will want to practice again and again.

Standing on uneven surfaces or on some kind of cushion, can be challenging, but can also significantly improve your balance. Take a few minutes to sit quietly, then move your spine. Then, grab a towel and add a little more instability to your practice.

As I often mention, a practice of better balance means bringing balance into everything we do. When we work to strengthen our core for better balance, it is also essential that we work to improve flexibility and range of motion in our joints.

Healthy, strong and stable knees are essential to better balance. In this class, we focus on all the muscle groups that help to keep the knees strong and stable. (Note: if you haven't exercised these muscles in a while, be gentle with your practice today.)

While it is important to do regular exercises to strengthen the core for better stability, here are 10 simple practices that you can do daily or regularly to help enhance your balance classes.

If we fall, we need to have a strategy to get back up and we need to practice that strategy often. Knowing key things, such as your stronger side, how to remain calm after you fall and how to use something like a chair or table to get up is important. There is also the added benefit that these practices also build stronger muscles for better balance as well.

One of the keys to better balance, is doing practices that help us to avoid falling. Tripping because we are not lifting our feet when walk is very common in older adults. Today we will practice to build strength and muscle memory to get our knees up when we walk. If we are getting our knees up, then we are picking up our feet.

Achy back and shoulders, accompanied by poor balance, are signs that we need to work on strength to improve not only our balance, but improve shoulder and back health. This class is all about building strength!

While we can sit and improve core strength, if we really want to improve our balance, we have to do some standing practices that will challenge our balance. That's exactly what this class does! And in addition to challenging ourselves, we are telling our body and our nervous system that it's okay to be a little imbalanced, we just want to make sure we are being safe when we are!

New to my Better Balance classes? Start here! This video will start you off with basics and the props you need and then give you a nice all around balance class. THIS CLASS IS LEVEL 1 FOR BEGINNERS

Welcome to my Stretching Series! This series has three videos, two of which are done seated and one which is done standing up. This practice is a seated practice that stretches the lower back, the lower belly, and the backs of your legs.

Welcome to my Stretching Series! This series has three videos, two of which are done seated and one which is done standing up. This practice is a seated practice that stretches the upper body, shoulders, and neck.

Welcome to my Stretching Series! This series has three videos, two of which are done seated and one which is done standing up. This standing practice is all about stretching into those hard to get to place, such as the front and inner thighs.

Balance is important on every level of being. Join me for this short 3 Minute Meditation for Inner Balance,

I recommend either doing a short meditation or just sitting quietly and focusing on your breath for a few moments before you begin your Better Balance Classes. This will help to clear your mind so you can focus on what you're doing and practice more safely, as well as help to relax the muscles in your body so that you can move more freely for the strengthening and flexibility practices.