Better Balance’ with Kate Knowles
Report and images by Judith Lynch
We have a short video of Kate teaching at this event. Click on the link below to view it. It will open in a new tab so just close the tab been you have finished or press the back button.
Click here to see Kates video.
Kate Knowles was invited to the workshop to run an event entitled “Better Balance.” At Dunham Massey Community Hall 29 participants enjoyed a packed day of helpful, if somewhat challenging, activities to assist in supporting our balance.
Kate started by explaining how she became more interested in exploring how to improve balance when she experienced her own severe balance problems, due to illness. She developed an awareness of the power of neuro plasticity to address balance issues. Kate recommended a book and course, “Rock Steady” by Joey Remenyi , which she has found particularly useful. She listed illnesses and conditions which can affect our balance, from MS, Parkinsons and infections to issues with the feet or neck, muscular strength, stress, tiredness and loss of one or more of the senses. Kate suggested our other senses can compensate for the loss of a sense. She quoted WHO stats: 684, 000 fatal falls p.a. plus 37 million more require medical attention.
The recommended balance to practise is 60 seconds on each leg daily to improve balance, strength, flexibility and longevity. To reach this goal she suggested we need a greater sense of body awareness and build new neuro pathways to dial down our stress.
The warm-ups and postures in the morning focussed on strengthening the feet, legs and lower trunk to prepare us for balance asanas. Some were familiar from “Yoga for Healthy lower backs” others less so and especially helpful for strengthening the feet. Pauses between focussed our attention on body awareness. We moved on to cat pose, cat balance, cat curl-ups and balance twist. More work on feet –“ firing the toes” – sitting back on heels, toes tucked. Then standing up circling ankles with toes on the floor, lifting just big toes, then just other toes, heel lifts, marching on the spot, stamping, foot massage with a ball and tightrope walking the mat with eyes open and then shut, plus walking sideways, foot over foot. A downward dog and plank sequence was followed by our first attempt at the challenging 60 second moving balance exercise. Afterwards we practised static tree, “dancing” tree and eagle balance. An interesting morning of activities concluded with a short yoga nidra.
Toning the vagus nerve to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system and thereby regulate stress was a theme of the afternoon session. A sequence of movements with associated sounds was practised as a rest and digest aid. Splashing the face or feet with cold water was suggested at times of stress. Later the link of the body and brain via the vagus nerve was emphasised with a facial massage around the eyes and the recommendation of wearing an eye mask for relaxation to enable an ocular/cardio reflex to settle the heart.
After that we were back to developing strength in the feet moving a paper plate around the floor. Returning to our balance practice there was a chance to see if we had improved our focus to achieve the 60 second balance. There followed a lively dance sequence which also helped our co-ordination and was great fun. There were a few more challenging moving balance sequences using blocks. Everyday balance opportunities suggested were standing on one leg whilst cleaning our teeth or when putting on each shoe.
We then continued strengthening yoga postures – hamstring stretches, pelvic tilts and low bridge using props. A restorative yoga lying twist and child’s pose supported with a pillow helped us to move smoothly into a relaxing yoga nidra to round off the day.
Thank you very much to Kate for a thorough, stimulating and practical guide to improving our balance through yoga and other supporting practices. It provided lots of ideas for our own yoga practice and also for teachers to pass onto their students. Thank you to all the participants and to the CYTA Committee for organising the workshop.
You can find more about kate at yogawithkate.org