Balancing in the Body

In today’s society, especially in the U.S context, it can be hard to find a balance between work and life, even more so now that many are working from home. We are working more and giving less attention to our own physical needs. This stressful lifestyle manifests in many ways in the body. This includes both the figurative and literal ability to balance on our own two feet.

Balance can be defined as the ability to keep one’s center of gravity over its base of support. This requires integrating sensory input from 3 main systems:

1. Vestibular System - located within the inner ear, this system provides the brain with information regarding motion, equilibrium, and spatial orientation

2. Vision - information from the eyes to the brain by way of sight

3. Proprioception - information from the skin, muscles, and joints to the brain by way of touch

A well functioning balance system allows the body to make automatic postural adjustments to maintain posture and stability in a variety of conditions and activities. Injury, disease, aging, and disuse can all affect one or more of these three complex systems. Let’s break down these three systems a little further...

Vestibular

Within the inner ear, we have the vestibular system, which include the utricle, saccule, and three semicircular canals. Both the utricle and saccule detect information about gravity (vertical motion up and down) and linear movement (forward and back, side to side). The semicircular canals detect rotational movement and are located at right angles to one another, similar to the x, y, and z axes on a graph. These canals are filled with fluid called endolymph, so when we tilt our head back, the inertia in that fluid stimulates the posterior canals. When we tilt our head forward, our anterior canals are stimulated. The horizontal canals are stimulated when we turn our head left and right. This sensory input tells the brain where the head is in space.

Vision

Within the eyes, we have rods and cones. Rods are believed to be used in low light situations and cones allow us to see color and finer details. So when light strikes the rods and cones in our eyes, this sensory input tells the brain how we are oriented in relation to other objects in the world.

Proprioception

Finally, proprioceptive information comes from sensory receptors within the skin, muscles and joints, which are sensitive to stretch or pressure. For example, when we lean forward, sensory receptors detect increased pressure through the balls of the feet. When we move our limbs, joint mechanoreceptors send information to the brain about what position the limb is in. The skin even detects the sensation of air as it moves across the skin’s surface when we move about, sending input to the brain.

All of this sensory information from the vestibular, visual, and proprioceptive systems are sent to the brain stem, sorted out, and integrated with learned information provided by the cerebellum and cerebral cortex. The cerebellum, our coordination center of the brain, provides information about automatic movements that have been repeated over and over, becoming second nature such as walking. The cerebral cortex provides information about previously learned situations, like knowing that ice is slippery and I should change the way I walk across it! As this sensory integration is taking place, the brainstem sends messages back to the muscles of the body and eyes so a person can maintain balance and have clear vision while moving.

The beautiful thing about balance is that it’s retrainable. We see that every day in our yoga practice. It’s such a clear example of the body’s ability to adapt and improve. With repetition, impulses sent from the sensory receptors to the brain and then back out to the muscles form a pathway. Over time, it becomes easier for these impulses to travel along this pathway, a process called facilitation. Strong evidence suggests that this synaptic reorganization occurs throughout a person’s lifetime, allowing us to adjust to changing environments. This pathway facilitation is the reason athletes who practice arduously do better than those who don’t. Even very complex movements can become nearly automatic over time.

Circling back to the work life balance issue at hand, consistency and practice are key! Find a balance, both on your mat and off. Do your very best to take care of this beautiful vessel we call the human body. Of course my very favorite is with Yoga, where we train our complex balance system every single time! So meet me on the mat everyone...your brain and body will thank you. :)