Sage Rountree demonstrating a standing balance pose sequence

A New Approach to Balance Poses

I love balance poses. They can work for everyone, and with a little self-awareness, we can all find the right edge in these shapes, no matter our age or experience.

Here’s a way I’ve been working into some classic standing balance poses, by traveling through shoulder and hip rotations.

The warmup is built right in to this sequence!

To make things sweeter:

  • work in a smaller range of motion
  • for the hip rotations, keep your foot near the ground and your hand on a wall or a chair back (or countertop)

To make things spicier, do any or all of these:

  • more repetitions
  • stand on an elevated surface: set one or two blocks beneath your standing leg
  • stand on an unstable surface, like a yoga bolster, folded blanket, or BOSU

If you try this in your class, please let me know how it goes. And I’d love to hear how you season it to suit your own students best.

Want to be led through the sequence in a follow-along video? It appears in Core Strength for Real People! And when you sign up for my newsletter, I’ll send you a code for a free rental so you can practice with me.