Phase 3 · Moving Between Positions

Part of the 12 Week Yoga Program for Balance Confidence

30 Minute Yoga Sequence for Dynamic Balance

Weeks nine to twelve. Moving between positions, which is where real balance is tested, with support in reach.

Holding still on one leg and catching yourself when you trip are not the same skill. The last four weeks work on the second one: moving between positions, changing direction, taking the hand off the wall for a breath and putting it back. It is also the phase where the honest limits of this kind of practice sit, and they are worth knowing before you start it.

30 min · Level 2

← Back to the full program

When it helps

For weeks nine to twelve, twice a week, and afterwards for as long as you like. Thirty minutes. A wall and a chair, both within reach. Barefoot on a non-slip floor, never in socks, with a chair or wall within arm’s reach for anything on one leg. This program builds balance confidence and leg control. It is not fall prevention: in the only large trial that counted real falls, the yoga group had more of them, and the people most at risk were the ones who felt steadiest. Feeling steadier is not the same as being steadier.

Moving between positions

Transitions rather than holds. Static holding improves test scores, and there is reason to think it does less for the balance you use when something goes wrong.

Single leg standing

Brief and unsupported now, with the wall a hand’s width away. Seconds, not minutes.

Leg strength

The strongest and most repeatable finding in this whole field, and the thing that carries everything else.

Standing and moving

Twenty minutes upright, wall and chair within reach. The emphasis is on moving between things rather than holding them.

Tadasana

3 min

Mountain Pose

Barefoot, feet hip width. Then step forward, back and sideways, one step at a time, pausing on each foot for a breath before the next.

A single step with a pause is a controlled transition. That is closer to the balance you use in a corridor than any held pose.

Learn more about Tadasana

Parshva Tadasana

1 min each side

Mountain Pose with Side Bend

Reaching up and over, then coming back through the middle and over the other way, slowly, several times.

Moving through the middle rather than stopping there. The transitions are the exercise now.

Learn more about Parshva Tadasana

Virabhadrasana II

1 min each side

Warrior II

Wide stance, then straighten the front leg and bend it again, five times. Turn to the other side without bringing the feet together first.

Changing shape without resetting. Most real stumbles happen mid-movement rather than mid-pose.

Learn more about Virabhadrasana II

Vrkasana

30 sec each side

Tree Pose

Wall a hand’s width away rather than under your fingers. Foot on the ankle or calf. Touch the wall the moment you want to, and that is not a failure.

Unsupported, in week nine, after eight weeks of the supported version. This ordering is the safety design of the whole program.

Learn more about Vrkasana

Garudasana

30 sec each side

Eagle Pose

Arms wrapped, knees soft, wall beside you. Cross the legs only if the arms version is completely steady.

Two things at once, which is what putting on a coat while standing actually is.

Learn more about Garudasana

Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana B

20 sec each side

Extended Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose (Side)

Hold the back of a chair with one hand. Lift one knee towards your chest, then take the leg out to the side if that stays steady. Put the foot down whenever you like.

The hardest thing in this program, held for twenty seconds with a hand on a chair. Short and supported is the whole design.

Learn more about Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana B

Utkatasana

1 min, eight times

Chair Pose

Eight slow sit to stands. Then stand up once without using your hands at all, if that is available.

Hands free is the honest test of this movement, and it is the one that tells you where you actually are.

Learn more about Utkatasana

Uttanasana

2 min

Standing Forward Bend

Knees soft, folding from the hip crease, coming up slowly with a hand on the chair.

The hinge, and coming up slowly, which is when people get dizzy.

Learn more about Uttanasana

On the floor

Ten minutes down low, and the way back to your feet.

Marjaryasana

2 min

Cat Pose

Hands and knees, rounding on the out breath.

The spine after twenty minutes standing.

Learn more about Marjaryasana

Bitilasana

2 min

Cow Pose

Chest forward on the in breath.

Extension, and the end of anything effortful.

Learn more about Bitilasana

Apanasana

2 min

Knees to Chest Pose

On your back, knees towards the chest.

On the way out.

Learn more about Apanasana

Savasana

2 min

Corpse Pose

Flat for two minutes. Roll to your side, sit up, stand with a hand on the chair.

The same ending, in week twelve as in week one.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 3 · Weeks 9 to 12

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to Moving Between Positions, the third phase of the 12 Week Yoga Program for Balance Confidence. The program says how often to practise it, what comes before and after, and when to move on.

See the whole program →

Integration

Twice a week for weeks nine to twelve, then keep going. Twelve weeks is the shortest dose that produced measurable change in this research, not a finish line.

The teacher behind this sequence

Gründer & Autor

Manish Rana

Gründer von Asanaverse.de. Manish schreibt über Yoga, Ayurveda und Meditation und verdankt seine tiefe Verbindung zum Yoga seinen indischen Wurzeln. Mit über 1000 Stunden Yoga Alliance Teacher Training gibt er sein Wissen an die Community weiter.

View profile →

Go deeper into the poses

Every asana in this practice has a page of its own. You will find alignment cues, what the shape actually works on, and the energetics behind it.

Open the Asana Lab

Make it yours

Keep this practice in your library, print it for the mat, or build your own sequence from all 108 asanas.

Create a free account

All sequences

← Back to overview