Posted on May 5, 2026 at 03:27 pm
In a world that moves so fast and demands so much, how do you find balance?
When you think about finding balance, you probably want to find yourself in a life that feels more harmonious and less chaotic. Maybe it looks like a balance between working too much and leaving your job to focus on you, doing too much and doing too little, taking care of yourself and taking care of others. But how do you find it?
Reach a compromise between effort (sthira) and ease (Sokha) is exactly what the author of the Yoga Sutras, Pantanjali, was referring to in his famous sutra, “Sthira Sukham Asanam” (2.46). He was referring to finding that balance in yoga poses, but the same principle applies to your life off the mat.
Instead of looking at balance as a single endpoint that you achieve, see it as just a feeling that you create for yourself over and over again by asking yourself: “What do I need?”
It may take some practice to find a compromise. The following yoga exercises for balance will help you get a glimpse into what it’s like to be physically, mentally and emotionally stable, and how you can regain your balance after losing it.
Practice yoga for 20 minutes to achieve balance and stability
This sequence is designed to help you work on your strength and stability while allowing you to choose the shapes that support you best. If you get out of balance, try to notice your reaction. This is your opportunity to practice giving yourself encouragement and compassion on the mat, which will carry over into life.
All you need is a yoga mat or stable surface and your precious self.
1. Lateral stretching exercise while sitting
Sit cross-legged or find another comfortable position. Extend your arms up, interlock your fingers, and turn your palms to face the ceiling. As you exhale, turn to the left. Inhale and return to center. Exhale and lean towards the right. Inhale and return to center. Release your hands to your sides and twist your wrists several times in both directions.
2. Neck stretch
Place your fingertips at your sides on the mat or blocks. Exhale and tilt your head to the right, pulling your ear toward your right shoulder. Inhale and return to center. Exhale and tilt your head to the left, pulling your ear toward your left shoulder. Repeat several times.
Inhale and lift your chin toward the ceiling. Exhale and lower your chin towards your chest. Inhale and return your head to the neutral position.
3. Sitting cat cow
Extend your arms out to the sides in a T-shape. Inhale as you extend your chest forward, raise your gaze toward the ceiling, and extend your arms behind you as you sit Cow pose. Exhale as you pull your navel toward your spine, round your back, and reach your arms forward as you sit Cat pose. Repeat several times.
4. The child’s position on the table
Come to your hands and knees. Exhale as you lower your hips toward your heels and your chest toward the mat Child’s position. Inhale as you press your hands into the mat and move forward toward your hands and knees. Exhale as you lower your hips toward your heels in Child’s Pose. Repeat several times, ending in child’s pose.
5. Toe squat
From child’s pose, tuck your toes. Walk your hands toward your body, starting by sitting upright, then slowly shift more weight onto the balls of your feet until you feel a stretch. Keep your hands on the mat or lift your chest and place your hands on your thighs Toe squat. Take some breaths here.
Return to your hands and knees.
6. Chaturanga variation
From your hands and knees, walk your knees a few inches behind you and flex your toes. Draw your navel toward your spine. Exhale as you bend your elbows and lower your chest to the mat in a variation from the knees down Chaturanga.
7. Cobra pose
Inhale as you straighten your legs behind you, press your hands into the mat, and lift your chest in Cobra. Exhale as you lower your chest to the mat.
8. Downward facing dog
Press your hands into the mat and pull your hips toward your heels in Child’s Pose or tuck your toes and lift your hips in Downward facing dog. Take some breaths here. If you’re in Down Dog, lower your knees to the mat.
9. Bird dog
From your hands and knees, inhale and extend your right leg behind you. Press your back heel toward the wall behind you and pull your navel toward your spine. Keep both hands on the mat or raise your left hand and point toward the wall in front of you. Take some breaths here. Lower your left hand and right knee. Repeat on the other side.
Return to your hands and knees. Stay here or press Downward Dog.
10. Stand with a semi-bend forward
From your hands and knees or Downward Dog, walk to the top of the mat. Extend your chest forward, straighten your back, and place your fingertips on the mat, your legs, or the blocks below your shoulders Stand half bend forward.
11. Standing Forward Bend
Exhale as you pull your chest toward your thighs and place your fingertips on the mat or blocks inside Standing forward bend.
12. Chair position for balancing on one leg
Bend your knees, lift your chest, and sit your hips back Chair position. Reach your arms overhead or straight ahead toward the front wall. Take a breath here.
Bring your hands to your hips. Shift your weight to your right foot and lift your left heel off the mat. Stay here or straighten your right leg while lifting your left foot completely off the mat. Inhale here, then lower your left foot back to meet your right foot in chair pose. Repeat on the other side.
Return to standing forward bend.
13. Plank
Bend your knees as far as you need to place your hands on the mat and place one foot behind you, then the other, inward Wave. Take a breath here. Lower your knees to the mat.
14. Side plank variation
From your hands and knees, extend your right leg behind you and plant your toes on the mat. Turn your chest and hips toward your right side as you plant your right heel on the mat and take your right hand to your hip in a Side Plank pose. Stay here or extend your right hand toward the ceiling. Take a few breaths.
Exhale as you lower your right hand to the mat and place your toes in the plank. Exhale as you lower your right knee to the mat and straighten your left leg behind you, curling your toes. Repeat the Side Plank variation on the left side.
Repeat plank, chaturanga variation, cobra, downward dog, half forward bend, and forward bend.
15. Warrior 3
From Standing Forward Bend, bend your right knee and move your left foot directly behind you until your toes gently touch the mat. Draw your hands into a prayer position at your chest. Draw your navel toward your spine and imagine pressing your thighs toward your midline. Stay here or lift your left toes off the mat and extend your right leg inward Warrior 3. Take a breath here.
Exhale as you bend your right knee, lower your hands onto the mat or blocks, then move your left foot back and follow with your right foot when you reach the plank.
16. Side plank
Roll on the outside edge of your left foot. Plant the inside edge of your right foot on the mat in front of your left foot. Shift your weight to your left hand and bring your right hand to your hip or reach toward the ceiling Side board. Stay here or lift your right foot and press your heel away from you. Inhale, then exhale as you return to the plank.
Get into Child’s Pose or press Downward Dog. Walk with your feet in a Standing Forward Bend position. Repeat Warrior 3 and Side Plank on the other side. Then come into child’s pose.
17. Low lunge into half splits
From your hands and knees, pull your right knee toward your chest and place your foot on the mat between your hands Low impulsion. Take some breaths here. Straighten your front leg, move your hips back slightly but keep them over your bent knee, and keep your hands on the mat or blocks on either side of your front leg Half splits. Stay here or flex your back toes and straighten your back leg until you stand. (You may want to move your back foot forward a few inches.) Press both feet into the mat and then lift it inward Pyramid pose. Take some breaths here.
Return to your hands and knees. Step your left foot forward and repeat Low Lunge, Half Splits, or Pyramid Pose on the left side.
20. Windshield wipers
Sit with your knees bent in front of you, plant your feet on the mat slightly wider than hip-width apart, and press your hands into the mat a few inches behind your hips with your fingertips pointing toward you. Pull your knees to one side, then the other side into the windshield wipers. Repeat several times.
21. Restricted angle position
Draw the soles of your feet together as close to or as far away from your hips as possible. Place your hands on your thighs or legs. Exhale as you reach your chest forward toward your feet, then rotate forward inward Restricted angle position.
22. Alternate nose breathing
Take any comfortable sitting position. This breathing technique is believed to help balance your energy. Close your right nostril with your right thumb. Inhale through your left nostril, then lift your thumb from your right nostril, close your left nostril with your right finger, then exhale through your right nostril. Then reverse. He continues Alternate nasal breathing For a few rounds.
Take a deep breath in through your nostrils, then exhale. Take a moment to notice how you feel and welcome any ideas you may have about gaining more balance and harmony in your life.
