Gentle Yoga for Seniors: Balance & Fall Prevention

Hello, welcome to Yoga & You. My name is Sanjana Sripathi, a passionate yoga teacher from India. Today's practice is a gentle yoga session, especially made for seniors to help them improve balance and prevention of fall. We will move slowly, use support if needed, work on strengthening the legs and building stability in the body. You can have a chair next to you or stay close to a wall for support. Also remember there is no rush, no hurry, we are going to work in your own pace.

Come to a standing position comfortably, take the hands behind your back. You can keep your feet slightly wider and just close your eyes. We are going to take a few deep breaths here. This will help calm the mind and prepare for your coming practice. Just observe your breath while you stand.

Open your eyes. We will slowly start our practice with a simple exercise which will help improve your balance. Now you are standing, you bringing the feet together. Have the hands comfortably on the sides. We are simply going to lean the body in all directions. So your hands are free without bending. You just want to lean forward, shifting weight to the toes and stay here. Three, remember not to bend, the body is straight. Two, don't force. One, slowly back to center.

We are going to be leaning back. It might not look as evident as leaning forward. You just want to shift more weight around your heel. So hands in the sides without arching. Slightly lean back, your toes are still grounded. We will stay here. Three, two, one, slowly back to center. Now for the sides, shift all the body weight to the outer edge of your right foot. We are just slightly shifting weight. Don't bend with your shoulders and stay here. Three, left leg is still grounded. Two, one, center, finally lean on the other side. Gently and stay three, two, one, slowly come back. That was amazing.

We will continue with gentle warm up for your joints, starting with the neck. Keep your feet little wider and have the hands on your hips. Tilt your head, your shoulder right and left. No sudden movements, gently move. One more time, right and left. Center up and down, up and down, up and down. Center, last one, turn your neck, look through the right and left, right and left. Try right and left. Center, it's very important when you do neck movements to go very easily, slowly with your breath and also this kind of a moving is better than rotation. For some of us, it might make us feel a little giddy.

The next part, we are moving to the palms, wrist, elbow and shoulder. So stretch your hands to the sides, finger movements simply opening and closing, one, two, three, four, five, close for wrist rotation, one, two, three, four, five and change, one, two, three, four, five. For the elbows, open your palms, bend and open, one, two, three, four, five. Finally for your shoulders, keep the fingertips over your shoulders, lift your elbows, bring them together in front, if you're comfortable touch, down and back. Slow circles, one, two, remember to keep breathing, three, change the direction, come down, you want to touch, go up and back, one, two, and three, slowly release your hands.

Next, we are moving to ankle rotation. If you're doing it for the first time, it's better you go close to the wall or hold something for support. For ankle rotations, slowly stretch your right leg forward and draw circles clockwise and anticlockwise with your feet, one, two, and three. Now change your direction, one, two, and three. Release the right leg, stretch your left leg forward for ankle rotation, one, we are drawing slow and big circles and change, one, two, and three. While doing ankle rotations, make sure that you don't disturb the rest of the leg and the movement is isolated to your ankle.

Next, we'll be doing a couple of movements with the help of a chair to build lower body strength and stability. First, face a chair, you can also do the following by keeping the palm on the wall. You want to keep the hands at a comfortable distance and your feet slightly wider. We are going to be sitting and standing halfway to do a modified variation of squats which will help build your quad and your glute strength. So from here, look straight, keep the chest lifted and bend your knees as much as you comfortable and up. In case you feel any pain in the knee, don't go so deep, stay in the previous height. Also, avoid leaning forward like this. Keep the chest straight. We'll do three more position, feet grounded and down, and up, one, down, and up to keep breathing, down, and up, three. Slowly bring your legs together.

Next, we'll be moving to heel raises. Again, you are holding the chair in the same side. Slowly lift your heels and drop. Again, we are not bending forward. Your spine is straight, just the movement of the hips. It'll help build strength in the ankle and your calf. We'll continue. Up, and down, two, up, and down, three, two more. Up, as tall as you can, down, last one, up, and down.

Now, we are going to do the opposite by lifting the toes, shifting weight to the heels. This will help us improve our balance. So, from here, you are lifting the toes up and down. Again, try not to lean back. The weight is still centered. Continue, toes up and down, up and down, two more. Up, observe the muscles that are working, last time, up and down, release.

The next one is a very simple walking exercise. Now, I am going to use the line of the mat. You can use any other straight line marking if you have. So, with one leg, I will stand at the edge, heel touching toe forward. With the other leg, I will try to keep the heel right in front of the toe. It's very simple and you continue. This is very effective for balancing. Once you try a couple of times, if you have a mat, you can also try to walk all the way around. In case you find instability or you have some fear trying this in the center of the room, always you can go to a wall, keep one hand and use it for support and continue walking.

Continuing with building lower body strength, stability and improving balance, we'll continue the next exercise. So, you're standing with a hand on the chair. The other hand is free. You can simply keep it on your hip. Now, I'm going to do with the leg, which is open. So, my right leg, I will slowly shift weight to my hand and the left leg, and lift the right leg up. So, I'm keeping my knee in my hip level. Leg is free. And I'll hold here first for three, two, one. Next, to work the inner and outer thigh muscles, you want to move the knee out as much as your comfortable and stay here again. Three, two, one, center and then release. We will do on the other side.

One hand for support or the hand on your hip lean to the side that has support before lifting the leg up and hold. Three, two, one and out. Three, two, one. Before you release, bring the leg forward and slowly bring it back.

Thank you for practicing with me today. Even a few minutes like this can make a big difference in your confidence and your balance. Stay consistent, be mindful and always listen to your body. Thank you.