Better balance Classes

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

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.

Trying to walk in a straight line is a great way to challenge your balance; whether you are walking as you normally do and trying to stay in a straight line, or adding a little more challenge by trying to keep your feet on the straight line as you walk. In this practice we make walking in a straight line more challenging, by walking in ways we don't normally walk. This is an excellent way to improve balance, as well as strengthen your core stability muscles.

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, grad 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!