Finding Your Balance at Any Age

Working on balance is crucial as we age.

Balance is often described as stability and steadiness when standing, sitting or walking. Good balance means one can maintain their body position comfortably while doing different normal activities, such as sitting, standing, going upstairs, etc.

Each year, 25% of adults over 65 years old experience a fall, according to HealthinAging.org. Falls are scary and can cause injuries. Falling can also result in someone becoming more limited in their movements, which impacts how they move, what activities they want to do, and the fears they experience with certain activities or movements.

When I work with clients on balance, I think about how we can work with their relationship to the ground. How can the ground offer support? How can you feel the ground providing that support under your feet? Most of us spend a lot of our time wearing shoes, and we can become disconnected from our feet and have poor awareness, strength and flexibility in our feet.

Often, I’ll start by having clients stretch, move and release the feet. Next, we’ll do other grounding exercises to bring more feeling and awareness back into the feet. We’ll notice the surrounding environment and the feedback that being present brings into the body.

There are so many exercises and ways we can challenge balance, and it can be fun to time these so you can see how your balance improves over time (and it really can improve quickly!). You can start simply by standing on one foot. Feel the wobble. See how long you can stand for.

My goal with Pilates and somatic sessions is to support you in feeling safe in your body. I want you to be able to trust your body in a deeper way, which will allow you to do all the things you want to do and keep you strong and active as you age. You’ll find balance exercises in my virtual mat classes or sign up for a one-on-one session (virtual or in studio) to work on balance in more detail.