Yoga For Balance, Bones And Strength: Notes And Articles From Flametree
Yoga for balance: the short version
Stand on one leg and close your eyes. How long before you wobble? Balance, strong bones and strong muscles are what let you keep doing everything you love, and yoga for balance builds all three at once. Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered the use of props. It is sometimes called modern classical yoga, and it’s the style we teach at Flametree. Its standing poses are held, which makes them a steady strength workout as well as a balance one.
Yoga for balance in short form
- Balance: what the research on Iyengar yoga found.
- Bones: yoga for osteoporosis and bone health.
- Strength: why yoga is not just stretching.
- Feet and knees: the base everything stands on.
- Falls: what the numbers say, read carefully.
- Classes: over 50s and strength focus, studio or LIVE online.
- First class free: for newcomers, plus a half price pass.
This page is one of the topic hubs in Yoga Notes From Flametree.
What has research found about Iyengar yoga and balance?
A Sydney pilot trial found that Iyengar-based yoga improved balance and mobility in older people. Tiedemann and colleagues (Journals of Gerontology Series A, 2013) studied 54 people, average age 68, who did the yoga twice a week for 12 weeks, taught in person.
Balance, walking speed, getting up from a chair and balance with eyes closed all improved, with no serious adverse events. In other words, the yoga improved the main risk factors for falls.
Balance does slip with age, and steady, strong legs are what help it come back. That is why standing poses are the heart of our classes.
Tree Pose (Vrksasana): one strong standing leg and a steady gaze.
Why do held poses build strength and bone?
Because holding a standing pose loads the muscles and bones of the legs and hips for many breaths at a time. The strength article and the muscle article explain how.
If you have osteoporosis (bones thinner and more fragile than normal), read the osteoporosis article first. It sets out the poses we use and the ones we change.
Warrior 3 (Virabhadrasana III): standing leg straight, body level.
Start here: the main yoga for balance and bones articles
These are the owner pages. Each answers one main question in depth.
- Falls and yoga studies, the place to begin on balance.
- Yoga For Osteoporosis: Honest Evidence, Safe Poses, And What To Avoid.
- How A Yoga Pose Makes Energy, While Building Muscle & Bone At The Same Time.
- Can Yoga Build Muscle? Why Yoga Is Not Just Stretching.
- Build toward stronger with Iyengar yoga.
- Yoga For Bone Health.
- Yoga For Seniors: What The SAGE Trial Did Not Test.
- Does Yoga Cause Falls? What The Numbers Actually Say.
- The SAGE Trial Correction, And What It Left Alone.
- Yoga For Feet: Why Your Arches Change Everything.
- Duck Feet Posture: Why Iyengar Yoga Teaches Your Feet Parallel.
- Yoga for legs and feet.
- Iyengar yoga for knees.
- Eagle Pose: How To Do It, And The Benefits For Balance, Shoulders And Focus.
- Half Moon Pose: Why Straight Legs Bring Strength, Balance And Energy.
- How To Tone Abdominal Muscles: 6 Yoga Poses For Abs.
- Lolasana (Pendant Pose): How To Build Core Strength To Lift Up.
Yoga Notes on balance, bones and strength
- Yoga For Wrists: Props And Practice For Sore Or Weak Wrists
- How To Do A Handstand: Learn It At The Wall Without Fear
- Warrior 2 Pose: How To Stand Strong, With Warrior 3 For Steadiness
- Chaturanga Dandasana: How To Do It With A Belt And Without Strain
- Falls & Yoga Studies
- Iyengar Yoga For Knees
More notes are being added. You can also browse every Yoga Note in one list.
Classes for balance and strength
- Yoga for over 50s, in the studio or LIVE online.
- Gentle yoga for seniors in Darwin.
- The beginner timetable.
Try a class for balance
Your first class is free if you’re new to Flametree. New students, and anyone who has been away three months or more, can also get a half price 10 class pass with 2 extra classes free, to use online, in the studio, or both.
For the studio, check the beginner timetable and just come along. For a LIVE online class, go to our online class list, click the class time you want and we email you the link to join.
Questions about this balance page
What will I find on the Flametree balance and bones page?
You will find every Flametree article and Yoga Note on balance and bones, grouped so you can start with the main articles and then read the shorter notes. Each link goes to one page that answers one question, so you are not reading the same thing twice.
Which Flametree article on balance and bones should I read first?
Start with the falls and yoga studies article for balance, or the osteoporosis article if bone health is your main concern. The strength article ties both together.
Are Flametree’s balance and bones notes only for people in Darwin?
No. They are written in Darwin, from our teaching at Woolner and Coolalinga, but the poses apply anywhere, and classes are also taught LIVE online, so you can join from anywhere in Australia.
How often are new balance and bones notes added?
New Yoga Notes are published in batches of about twenty, and this page is updated each time a note on this topic goes live. Older Flametree blog articles stay linked here too.
Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga in Darwin, at Woolner and Coolalinga, and LIVE online anywhere.
General information only, not medical advice. Talk to your yoga teacher, yoga therapist, and your doctor if you wish, before changing what you do.
