Yoga for Vertigo: Benefits & 5 Grounding Practices for Dizziness

Your sense of balance is a remarkable system. It combines signals from your inner ear, eyes, and body sensors to keep you still and steady in life. But when it fails, it can feel like your entire world is spinning out of control.

This dizzy sensation, known as vertigo, is surprisingly common. About one in 15 adults will experience vertigo at least once in their life ^[1]. While often temporary, vertigo tells us that our internal balance system needs attention, and yoga’s gentle practices can offer help.

Whether you're a teacher looking to help students with vertigo or someone struggling with vertigo yourself, this article will explain the benefits of yoga for vertigo and provide the best yoga poses and exercises to reduce dizziness and restore stability in daily life.

What Is Vertigo?

Vertigo is the sensation that your surroundings are spinning or moving, even when you're still. This can lead to feelings of dizziness and imbalance. It's important to understand that vertigo is not a disease itself, but rather a symptom that can be associated with various health conditions.

When experiencing vertigo, you may also encounter other related symptoms, such as:

• Nausea and vomiting
• Difficulty maintaining balance
• Hearing changes, such as loss of hearing in one or both ears
• Tinnitus, characterized by a ringing or buzzing sound in the ears
• Headaches
• Increased sensitivity to motion
• A sensation of fullness or pressure in the ear

What Causes Vertigo?

Vertigo is typically caused by disorders of the vestibular system. This system includes structures in the inner ear and brain that help you keep your balance when you get out of bed in the morning or take a walk in the park.

There are two main types of vertigo: peripheral and central. Peripheral vertigo is the most common, and it usually occurs when there's a problem with the inner ear or vestibular nerve.

The usual cause of peripheral vertigo is benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). BPPV happens when small calcium carbonate crystals, called otoconia, become loose within the inner ear.

The inner ear contains five key structures for balance:

• Three semicircular canals: These are fluid-filled tubes that detect rotation. When you turn your head, the fluid moves in these canals, communicating the direction and speed of the movement.
• The utricle and saccule: These structures contain thousands of tiny crystals (otoconia) that push against hair cells, telling your brain if you’re moving up or down.

Sometimes, these crystals break loose and end up in the wrong place. When this happens, turning your head makes you feel like you're still spinning even after you've stopped. This mismatch typically causes vertigo.

Other causes of peripheral vertigo include:

• Labyrinthitis: an inner ear infection caused by a cold or flu virus
• Vestibular neuritis: inflammation of the vestibular nerve
• Ménière's disease: a rare inner ear condition, which sometimes involves ringing in the ear (tinnitus) or loss of hearing
• Injury or trauma to the head

Yoga teachers are also more likely to come across elderly students with vertigo as aging is a major cause of vertigo.

In fact, it’s estimated that vertigo affects 30% of people over the age of 60 ^[2]. This is because as you age, structures within your inner ear that receive and send balance signals to your brain can deteriorate, resulting in vertigo.

Can Yoga Help Vertigo?

As mentioned above, there are many causes of vertigo. Above all, it's important to find the source of the dizziness and address that first before attempting yoga for vertigo. However, certain grounding yoga poses and practices can be an effective tool for vertigo relief, strengthening body awareness and balance in daily life.

There is also research that backs the benefits of yoga for vertigo dizziness. One study found that yoga poses such as Bridge Pose and Child's Pose, as well as gaze stabilization exercises and Bhramari Pranayama, helped improve the feeling of dizziness in patients with peripheral vestibular dysfunction ^[3]. 

Here are a few key benefits practicing yoga can have for vertigo symptoms:

Balance & Body Awareness Boost

Yoga is a powerful tool for whole-body balance. Through yoga asanas and exercises, we can sharpen our body's response to gravity and strengthen vital muscles that support us through everyday movements. It also encourages body awareness, helping alleviate symptoms caused by a vestibular disorder.

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Eye-balance Coordination

Yoga poses often involve fixing your gaze on a specific point while moving. This helps maintain balance, but it can also develop your vestibular-ocular reflex—the system that keeps your vision stable when you move your head.

Stress Reduction

Yoga is renowned for its stress-busting benefits, helping reduce anxiety, insomnia, and fatigue. This is important for people with vertigo as stress hormones like cortisol can affect the vestibular system, disrupting the signals the inner ear sends to the brain. This can make dizziness worse, and in some cases, it might even trigger an episode of vertigo.

Chronic stress can also make our nervous system extra sensitive, increasing the likelihood of vertigo. By practicing calming yoga regularly, you're not just easing your vertigo symptoms but building up your body's ability to handle stress better.

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Inner Ear Recalibration

Vertigo exercises often require you to place your head in different positions to help reset the balance organ. Certain yoga poses can mimic these exercises, helping reposition the tiny calcium crystals in your inner ear.

Best Yoga Poses & Practices for Vertigo Dizziness

Vertigo can be challenging, but yoga offers a path to finding some stability in daily life. These carefully selected poses and practices are here to gently recalibrate your balance system, boost your body awareness, and recenter your being.

Remember, the journey to balance is unique for everyone, so approach this yoga for vertigo practice with patience, mindfulness, and awareness of your limits. It’s also crucial to consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new exercise regimen.

1. Child’s Pose (Shashankasana)

Child’s Pose, or Shashankasana in Sanskrit, is a deeply relaxing pose known for its calming effect on the nervous system. This gentle asana not only helps relieve stress but also provides a strong grounding connection, offering a sense of calm and stability that can be beneficial for those suffering from vertigo.

1. Sit on your knees, with your hips resting on your heels.
2. Slowly bend forward and place your forehead on the floor, while keeping your hips on your heels (your arms are resting on the floor, alongside your body).
3. Let your shoulders relax toward the floor.
4. Allow your body to be heavy and focus on easy, abdominal breathing. Hold for a few minutes or as long as you feel comfortable.
5. To come out of Child’s Pose, gently lift your head and torso, pausing briefly with your head level with your heart. Take a few deep breaths here to center yourself.
6. Push back to sit on your heels, keeping your movements slow and controlled. Once seated, take a moment to stabilize before opening your eyes and focusing on a fixed point in front of you.

Precautions:

• BPPV can be triggered by sitting up too quickly from a supine position. Therefore, it’s important to rise from any yoga asanas for vertigo slowly and intentionally.

Modifications:

• If your hips are lifting off from the heels, separate your knees.
• If your hips are still not resting on your heels, make two fists and place them one atop the other, then rest your forehead on your topmost fist. You can also support your hips or head with a cushion.

2. Seated Forward Bend (Upavistha Konasana)

Seated Forward Bend can help with vertigo by calming the nervous system and balancing the flow of blood in the head and body. This seated yoga pose also provides a stable position that centers the body and mind, minimizing the risk of dizziness.

1. Position yourself high up on your sitting bones with your legs hip-width apart and straight out in front of you.
2. Inhale and stretch your arms up towards the ceiling, in line with your ears.
3. Exhale and slowly fold your upper body forward. Reach for your heels but do not round your back. If you are unable to touch your heels, hold your shins, ankles, or knees.
4. As you fold forward, maintain an elongated spine and bend the knees slightly if needed. Only when you reach your maximum, allow the back to round (from your thoracic spine upward).
5. Relax and hold the pose for a few minutes, remembering to take slow, conscious breaths.

Precautions:

• Fold forward only as far as feels comfortable and stable for you.
• If you experience any dizziness or unsteadiness, place a chair in front of you, positioning your legs underneath it. Rest your folded arms on the seat of the chair, and gently lower your forehead onto your arms.
• This supported chair yoga variation provides extra stability and can help prevent your head from dropping below your heart level, which may trigger vertigo dizziness.

Modifications:

• If you don’t feel the stretch in your hamstrings but you do behind the knees, take a block or a folded blanket and place it under your knees.
• To help your pelvis to tilt comfortably forward, sit on a folded blanket or block.

3. Half Bridge Pose (Ardha Setu Bandhasana)

Half Bridge Pose can help alleviate vertigo symptoms by gently stretching the neck and spine and improving blood flow to the brain. It also promotes a sense of grounding and stability through the connection of the feet and shoulders to the floor.

1. Slowly lie down on your back, bend your knees, and bring your feet close to your hips. Keep your feet hip-width apart and heels on the floor.
2. Place your hands by your sides, palms facing downward
3. Breathe in, push your hands into the floor, and slowly lift your hips u to the ceiling
4. Reach with your hands toward your ankles and bring your chest toward your chin.
5. Keep lifting your pelvis upward and back toward your head and breathe evenly.
6. To come out of the pose, place your palms flat on the floor and roll the back down toward the floor vertebra-by-vertebra.

Precautions:

• It’s crucial to enter and exit all yoga asanas for vertigo slowly, avoiding any sudden head movements. To reduce dizziness in this movement, you can also keep your eyes fixed on a point on the ceiling.

Modifications:

If you cannot hold your ankles while maintaining the correct alignment, you can also:

• Keep your palms flat on the floor, next to your thighs, and then push your pelvis up as high as you can.
• Support your back by bringing your hands in the same position as in Shoulderstand (fingers pointing toward your spine and thumbs up alongside your body) or by placing a folded blanket or block under your lower back.

4. Easy Bhramari Pranayama

Bhramari Pranayama, or Humming Bee Breath, can be a powerful tool for managing vertigo. This pranayama technique relaxes the mind by stimulating the vagus nerve through controlled breathing and humming.

For vertigo patients, this has two key benefits: it activates the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing stress that can trigger dizzy spells, and provides a grounding sensation through vibrations that may counteract feelings of disorientation.

1. Find a comfortable seated position. If needed, sit against a wall for support.
2. Gently place your index fingers on the cartilage between your cheek and ear (your fingers should rest outside, not inside your ears).
3. Close your eyes and take a slow, deep breath through your nostrils. As you inhale, create a soft, light snoring sound in the back of your throat.
4. Exhale slowly and steadily, making a high-pitched humming sound, like the buzz of a bee.
5. Focus on the vibration this creates, especially in the area between your eyebrows. This can help provide a sense of grounding.
6. Repeat for 6-8 breaths, or fewer if you start to feel dizzy.
7. End with a long, slow exhale.

5. Modified Drishti (Yogic Gazing) for Vertigo

Gaze stimulation exercises help balance the reflex that keeps vision steady when you move your head ^[4]. In yoga, we use a similar focus technique known as Drishti to improve concentration and body awareness. This modified Drishti for vertigo blends yoga-style focus with gentle head movements to help reduce dizziness and improve your eye-balance coordination.

1. Choose a Focal Point

Before you settle into a meditation position, choose a single point to focus on during your practice. This could be a candle, yantra, or even an X on a post-it note on the wall in front of you. Make sure your focal point is at eye level, about 3–10 feet away.

2. Gaze Gently

Gaze at it with soft, relaxed eyes. Avoid straining and breathe steadily as you gaze, feeling a sense of calm and peace.

3. Slowly Rotate Your Head

With your gaze fixed on your focal point, begin to move your head side to side for 15–30 seconds. Then repeat while moving your head up and down. If you feel comfortable, you can try increasing the speed of your head movement. The aim of this exercise is to turn your head but to keep your eyes fixed on one spot.

4. Focus Inward

Tune out any distractions and focus your full attention on the chosen focal point and the slow, steady movements of your head.

5. Deepen the Gaze

Softly release any subtle tension in the eyes, relax the forehead, and take deep natural breaths to calm the nervous system. If you feel too dizzy, slow the head movements down slightly. Remember to rest between each exercise.

Yoga Poses to Avoid for Vertigo

When practicing or teaching yoga for vertigo, it's important to be cautious with certain poses. Avoid movements that are sudden, involve inversions, or require you to tilt your head far back.

Take Cat Pose as an example. In this pose, you typically lower your head and then quickly lift it up, often tilting it back beyond a 90-degree angle. For someone with vertigo, this rapid head movement can cause dizziness. It might even trigger symptoms similar to those experienced after a car accident, potentially leading to posttraumatic BPPV ^[5].

Inverted poses, such as Headstand, can also be risky for those prone to vertigo or dizziness. These poses cause blood to rush to your head, which may trigger symptoms. If you decide to attempt an inversion:

• Move slowly and deliberately
• Be extra careful when coming out of the pose
• Practice with a qualified yoga instructor for guidance

For people with vertigo, maintaining balance is crucial during yoga practice. With this in mind, it's best to avoid poses that challenge your stability, such as:

• One-legged poses
• Balancing poses where your feet are close together (like Tree Pose)

Before starting any new exercise routine or treatment for vertigo, including yoga, remember to consult with your healthcare provider to ensure it's safe and appropriate for your specific condition.

Similarly, yoga teachers should also make sure that students with vertigo can safely practice yoga before incorporating them into classes or recommending specific poses.

Final Thought

Finding balance in our lives is crucial, not just for those dealing with dizziness, but for everyone navigating the challenges of daily life. By practicing yoga for vertigo, we can achieve this balance, both physically and mentally. It teaches us to be present, to listen to our bodies, and to move with intention.

While vertigo may present unique challenges, a carefully curated yoga practice can offer much-needed relief and stability. With practice and guidance, you may find that yoga not only helps manage vertigo symptoms but also brings a sense of calm, strength, and balance to your life.

Sources

1. Golub, Justin S. "Vertigo Explained: What to Do When the World Is Spinning." Columbia University Irving Medical Center, 3 July 2023, www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/vertigo-explained-what-do-when-world-spinning

2. Sogebi, Olusola Ayodele, et al. "Vestibular Disorders in Elderly Patients: Characteristics, Causes and Consequences." The Pan African Medical Journal, vol. 19, 15 Oct. 2014, p. 146. PubMed Central, doi:10.11604/pamj.2014.19.146.3146 

3. Gazbare, Preeti S., et al. "Effect of Yogasanas Versus Gaze Stability and Habituation Exercises on Dizziness in Vestibular Dysfunction." Neurology India, vol. 69, no. 5, Sept.-Oct. 2021, pp. 1241-1246. doi:10.4103/0028-3886.329557

4. Clendaniel, Richard A. "The Effects of Habituation and Gaze Stability Exercises in the Treatment of Unilateral Vestibular Hypofunction: A Preliminary Results." Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy, vol. 34, no. 2, 2010, pp. 111-116. doi:10.1097/NPT.0b013e3181deca01

5. Soh, Soo-Hyun, et al. "Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo after Yoga Practice." Research in Vestibular Science, vol. 18, no. 3, 2019, pp. 78-82. doi:10.21790/rvs.2019.18.3.7