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Why Yoga is the key to a balanced body and mind at any age?

Writer's picture: Kay DawsonKay Dawson

Start a weekly Yoga Class or even better treat yourself to a Yoga Retreat, to kick-start your journey to a healthier balanced mind and body. An opportunity to experience the magical physical and emotional effects a retreat will have on your lifestyle and well-being.


Yoga gives you the tools to be the best version of yourself.


It's more than just standing on one leg


As we all know balance is a fundamental need for so our body and mind can function. It supports us in so many ways, physically it helps keep us safe and prevent injuries, improves posture, helps our muscular control, reduces back pain, and helps with arthritis and many other health issues.


Mentally lack of balance affects people differently. For people who are fit, and able balance is a given physically but mentally whatever age, we need balance to give us confidence and stability.


Older people can suffer both mentally and physically with balance and it can take away confidence as they may be limited to what they can do, which can lead to loneliness. Poor balance can limit access to the local community and affect mental health, so we need to stay as active as possible. Yoga can be the key to gaining flexibility and strength physically and also relaxing the parasympathetic nervous system to support our mental health.


What does the Science tell us?

Balance is the body's sensory system and gathers stimuli from outside the brain and processes it internally sending out information to the body to enable it to carry out important functions. This motion-based information relies on our inner ear structure, and we have 5 balance receptors that deal with different types of movement.

Yoga unlike other forms of exercise targets an inclusive range of muscle groups all over the body and as a result, this has a significant impact on regions that can improve our balance.

These regions are our core, 28 muscles, which help to stabilise our hips, shoulders and spine. Legs and glutes, enable us to walk on uneven ground, and steep slopes and assist us to stand and sit easily. Finally, our feet and toes, the big toe, little toe and heel create a firm secure tripod which gives us the ability to shift weight in response to where the body is placed. Choue et al. studied this and found that when the big toe was limited or unable to properly function, people's balance was significantly worse, the study concluded that as much as 80-90% of foot control comes from the big toe.


Yoga is essential for improving core, muscular strength, and flexibility across the entire body. Targeted yoga poses activate and test our core, which in turn strengthens our entire body. These muscles that help keep our posture aligned are important for maintaining good balance and good body position during movement.


A study by Green et al. found that yoga benefits the elderly (60 and over), particularly with improved posture control, flexibility of both mind and body, relaxation and decreased anxiety and stress. Moreover, a study in 2019 by Patel et al. concluded that yoga asanas/poses improved balance in elderly individuals in both the short and medium term.


Yoga can help with ADHD


Balance is also closely related to ADHD. One of the benefits of yoga is its ability to improve concentration (Sheela Joyce, 2018) which helps with our conscious balance.


ADHD has been linked to issues with the cerebellum in the brain. The cerebellum is a region that controls motor activities and is often affected in those with ADHD, impacting motor functioning and therefore, balancing issues. This means children with ADHD are more likely to experience postural sway which is a term used to describe the unconscious, small movements that happen around the body's centre of gravity to maintain balance. Up to 50% of children with ADHD experience poor balance from postural sway. Also, yoga strengthens muscles that are important in the balancing process, such as core, glutes, legs and back.


How does balance affect our Healthcare system?


Often the elderly fall and this ends in serious injury, this costs the NHS approximately £435 million every year. Costs for hip fractures cost £2 billion per year which is half of the total NHS spending on fractures.

So yoga can help alleviate falls as it can aid and improve balance. Studies have found that yoga can significantly improve balance control in populations of those aged 60-plus, and also improves balance and reduce back pain in people with Parkinson's' disease (Myers et al. 2020).


Final word


Balance is the key to a stable life. When people have poor balance, their sense of movement and physicality is deeply affected, and this can play out in ways that make people feel isolated in both young and elderly groups. Yoga can play a key role in improving balance by increasing focus, and concentration and strengthening the muscle groups that help us to stay steady. Yoga is key to balance, and as they say – balance is the key to a healthy life.


In short, yoga is an effective way to restore balance to your mind and body. Activating the parasympathetic nervous system helps to reduce stress levels and allows us to be more in tune with our surroundings. With regular practice, you can reap the many benefits of yoga and lead a healthier and more balanced life.


TREAT YOURSELF TO A WEEKLY YOGA CLASS OR YOGA RETREAT AND STAY BALANCED BOTH MENTALLY & PHYSICALLY ...




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