Trying balance poses in yoga can be overwhelming and scary. But there is a way to try balances without the fear of falling or injuring yourself. In this video I offer some ways for you to work into balances so that you don't hurt yourself and so you can gain the confidence to get better in balance poses.
A student asked me the other day, "How do I overcome the fear of going for it in a balance pose? I'm so afraid I'm going to fall over that I don't even want to try."
The answer to this questions is to ease into it slowly. Moving slowly gives you the opportunity to check in with yourself as you make your way into the balance pose.
Let’s use Half Moon Balance Pose as an example.
To get into this pose, you need to put one hand on the chair and ground the supporting foot down to the earth. Lift the free arm and leg so that you are balancing. It’s a pretty challenging balance pose.
But if you take your time, be intentional in how you move your body, root the foot down to the floor, slowly shift the weight into the hand and get the support of the upper body you will be more steady. If you feel the strength of the leg and the core engaged as you move into the posture, you can slowly explore lifting the foot and the arm safely.
At any point, if you feel unstable or unsafe, know that you can put your foot down. Instead of throwing yourself into the pose just to create the shape and risk falling, move into the pose slowly and gently.
This is one of the reasons we go slowly in a yoga class. It’s so you have time to ask yourself, "What do I need to do to feel safe and secure?”
It is important to feel safe and to take care of yourself in yoga which makes this such a valuable questions.
Take your time, ease into a balance pose slowly and see little by little, moment by moment, how you feel in the pose. Eventually you might just find yourself in the pose.