Fine balance

In yoga class, I fall out of Tree Pose. Our teacher, Sheila, says, You are meant to move, that's what trees do; my mind says, Balance, dammit!

All the students lurch, no one relishes the tippy, unfamiliar sensation. 

You can see the relief when Sheila moves on, treating us to a nice, feel-good Pigeon. Good, we say via eye contact, that section is over. We like to be in control.

But wait, we need those balance poses, and will need them more as each year passes.

Balance helps us reach for a jar off the top shelf, right ourselves when we miss a step crossing the street, catch a leaping grandchild safely. Without attention, balance steadily and imperceptibly erodes till a fall or injury delivers a hard truth: we've "lost our balance" and sometimes our confidence as well.

When we practice balance exercises we are actually maintaining two separate senses: equilibrioception, the sense of balance which derives from inner ear fluids, and proprioreception, the sense of knowing where your body is in space. Proprioception comes from the nervous system as a whole; it's how, for example, you can perform the critical task of eating popcorn while watching a movie without looking at your hand going into the box.

Outside of the yoga studio, few exercise classes devote much time to balance; gym trainers give it short shrift unless the trainer specializes in fitness for older bodies. There's the stability ball, which can be used for balance work, but most women I see on the ball are doing the strength stuff.

Balance is the fitness dimension most prone to neglect; women want to be strong, maintain a healthy weight, even be more flexible, but I have never heard one say, "I wish I had better balance".

How's your balance? Do you consciously maintain it? What do you do?