The Vestibuar System + How it Relates to Yoga!
Have you ever heard of the Vestibular System? If not, don’t worry! It is one of our 8 Senses that often does not get as much attention as the 5 we know best. Let us do a bit of a recap!
We are all familiar with the 5 Senses:
Visual System: Seeing.
Auditory System: Hearing
Gustatory System: Taste
Olfactory System: Smell
Tactile System: Touch.
As we mentioned, we actually have 8 Senses! !The other 3 are somewhat less talked about, but play an important role in childhood development. These additional 3 are:
Proprioceptive System - The awareness of our body in space which you can read more about HERE
Vestibular System - Our awareness of movement, which we will explore in this blog.
Interception - refers to the physiological sensations in the body.
So what is our Vestibular System?
Our Vestibular System can be classified as our “movement centre”. Using receptors in our inner ear, we detect movements and orientation of our head in space. This sends information to the brain to determine motion, position and spatial orientation. This system also plays an important role in balance, coordination, stabilize our head or body during movement and also maintain our sitting or standing posture.
Let’s look at an example; when we are doing Downward Dog, the vestibular system detects change in head movements and sends signals to the brain. The brain processes this information and responds to the body, sending signals on how to maintain this posture! The same with tree pose! If we are slightly wobbly standing on one leg, the vestibualr system kicks in to send our brain (and body) information on how to maintain this balance!
Incorporating Vestibular Activities into our Yoga Classes!
In yoga, we incorporate a lot of MOVEMENT, where our head position changes a lot (think of our forward bends and inversions!) Let’s look at 3 fun ways to incorporate this System into our kiddies yoga classes.
Inversions are a go-to Vestibular Activity! However, that does not mean only handstands or Cartwheels! Simple inversions like Downward dogs or forward folds can be just as effective
Our Vestibular system is our MOVEMENT Centre. So more alerting vestibular activities include jumping (star jumps or frog jumps), spinning (washing machine pose) or any movement game!
Balancing Poses like Tree pose, Dancers or even Side Plank really allow the Vestibular system to kick in! Along with the proprioceptive system, this assists with balance and posture!
Want to learn more? Join our Online, Self-Paced Kids Yoga Teacher Training!