Regular Yoga Practice Improves Balance and Movement Efficiency

by Kristy Manuel

Triangle Pose

If you play pickleball you’re probably aware of the high injury rate that keeps many away from the sport. It’s my goal to help people understand how a regular yoga practice can help people prepare better for sports activity lowering the chances of injury. This article will focus in particular on the vestibular sensory system and how it’s impacted by yoga techniques. 

Understanding the Vestibular Sensory System 

The vestibular sensory system is located in the inner ear and helps control balance, spatial orientation and coordination of movement. It plays a crucial role in stabilizing posture; maintaining equilibrium; and adjusting eye movements in response to head and body position changes. The Vestibular System includes:

•  Semicircular Canals – Three fluid-filled loops that detect rotational movements of the head (e.g., turning, tilting, spinning).

•  Otolith Organs (Utricle & Saccule) – Detect linear acceleration and head position relative to gravity (e.g., moving forward, backward, up, or down).

•  Vestibular Nerve – Sends signals from the inner ear to the brainstem and cerebellum, which process balance and movement information.

•  Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex (VOR) – Helps keep vision stable by adjusting eye movements when the head moves.

When we move, fluid inside the semicircular canals shifts, stimulating hair cells that send signals to the brain about our head’s motion. The otolith organs detect gravity and linear motion, helping to maintain orientation when standing, walking, or changing posture. The brain integrates vestibular input with visual and proprioceptive (body awareness) signals to keep us stable and prevent dizziness. This is important for maintaining balance and coordination in both daily activities and sport by allowing for smooth head and eye movement while preventing disorientation. The vestibular sensory system plays a role in postural control; adjusting breathing (vestibular respiratory reflex) and regulating movement efficiency. A well-functioning vestibular system is essential for athletic performance; yoga practice and any movement requiring stability, coordination, and spatial awareness.

Breaking Down the Vestibular Respiratory Reflex

The vestibular respiratory reflex is a physiological response in which the vestibular system (responsible for balance and spatial orientation) influences breathing patterns. This reflex helps regulate respiration during movement, such as walking and running, or changes in posture. Signals from the vestibular nuclei in the brainstem influence the respiratory centers in the brain called the medulla and pons. This leads to adjustments in breathing rate and depth to stabilize oxygen intake and maintain proper gas exchange. For example, when transitioning from lying down to standing, our breathing rate may adjust to maintain oxygenation. Without this reflex, sudden posture changes could lead to breath-holding or irregular breathing patterns, affecting endurance and efficiency.  Likewise, running or rapid head movements can trigger respiratory adjustments to meet increased oxygen demands. In astronauts, changes in vestibular input due to weightlessness can alter breathing patterns which is referred to as microgravity adjustments. This reflex is crucial for coordinating respiration with body movements, ensuring efficient breathing in different physical states.

Swimming, Gymnastics, Martial Arts

During exercise our bodies and head position are constantly changing positions and tilting. The vestibular system detects these changes and sends signals to adjust the rate and depth of breath accordingly. This helps match oxygen intake to movement intensity, preventing breathlessness while optimizing performance. During activities like swimming, gymnastics, or martial arts involving frequent head tilts and rotations, the vestibular system helps regulate rhythmic breathing patterns (e.g., coordinating breaths with strokes in swimming); prevent dizziness; and ensures steady airflow, reducing the risk of hyperventilation or oxygen debt. In more unstable exercises such as balance board workouts; agility drills; stand up paddleboarding, the vestibular system maintains breathing efficiency despite constant motion helping to prevent erratic breathing patterns, which could impair focus, coordination, and stability.

How Yoga Helps

Yoga practices can help strengthen and refine the vestibular respiratory reflex, improving coordination between breathing, balance, and movement. Yoga emphasizes controlled, conscious breathing (pranayama), which helps train the respiratory system to adapt efficiently to different postures and movements. Consistent practice can improve the automatic adjustments of breathing during balance changes, like how the vestibular respiratory reflex functions in exercise. Many yoga poses involve head movements, inversions, and postural shifts, which stimulate the vestibular system strengthening the connection between balance control and breathing regulation, making the reflex more effective in real-life movement and exercise.

Tree Pose

Additionally, yoga poses like Tree Pose (Vrksasana), Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III), and Eagle Pose (Garudasana) challenge balance and require steady breathing. Practicing these and other balance poses helps the body naturally adjust breathing patterns in response to shifts in posture, improving function of the vestibular respiratory reflex. Yoga can be helpful to those who experience dizziness or breathlessness with movement (e.g., from conditions like vertigo or vestibular disorders). Slow, mindful movements combined with controlled breathing help the nervous system adapt more smoothly to positional changes. Deep breathing exercises (such as Ujjayi breath) train the diaphragm to work efficiently, which enhances the body’s ability to regulate respiration during movement. This strengthens the brain-body connection, ensuring smoother breathing adjustments when transitioning between yoga poses—or even during sports and daily activities.

Yoga clearly provides effective techniques to both train and enhance the vestibular respiratory reflex by improving breath control, balance, and postural adaptation. This translates to better movement efficiency in sports, exercise, and everyday activities while serving to reduce the chances of injury.