Audio to be recorded. The written script below is equally effective read quietly to yourself.
What This Practice Targets
Balance impairment after stroke is common and consequential. Falls are a leading cause of injury in the post-stroke population. More subtly, impaired postural confidence reduces participation — in exercise, in social activity, in anything that requires being upright and mobile without assistance.
Balance is not a simple motor skill. It depends on the integration of three sensory systems — the visual system, the vestibular apparatus in the inner ear, and proprioception from the muscles and joints — coordinated continuously by the cerebellum and processed in the cortex. Stroke can disrupt any part of this system. Imagery for balance training differs slightly from imagery for limb movements: rather than tracing a simple distal motor pathway, this practice asks you to rehearse the internal sense of being centred and stable — the felt experience of balance, rather than a specific sequence of muscular events.
The evidence base for imagery-based balance training specifically after stroke is smaller than for upper limb or gait, but is positive. Studies combining motor imagery with balance training show greater improvements in postural stability measures than balance training alone. The mechanism is believed to be the same as for limb imagery — rehearsal of the neural integration that underpins the skill.
The Three Phases of This Practice
Find a position that is comfortable and supported — you do not need to hold yourself up during this practice. Let the chair, the bed, or the floor take your weight. Bring attention to the breath. Notice where your weight is right now: which parts of the body are in contact with the surface beneath you. Not judging the distribution. Just noting it. This body-weight awareness is the foundation of the balance practice that follows.
Bring warmth to the top of the head, as in all the practices. On each breath in, the warmth descends — through the skull, the neck, the shoulders. On this particular practice, allow it to settle especially into the base of the spine, into the pelvis, into the sitting bones. The centre of gravity. The foundation.
A figure appears in front of you. They are standing. Not performing anything. Just standing — upright, easy, unguarded. Their weight is distributed evenly through both feet. Their spine is long without being rigid. Their shoulders are level. Their gaze is soft and forward.
You watch what standing looks like when it is not effortful. The small, continuous micro-adjustments that keep a person vertical — almost invisible, barely conscious, the body managing itself. The figure shifts their weight slightly from one foot to the other, as people do when standing still. No anxiety in it. No gripping. Just the body doing what bodies do when they trust themselves.
Now the figure sits in a chair — naturally, one fluid movement, weight settling forward and then back. And then rises again. Sits. Stands. Each time easy. Each transition smooth.
The figure moves toward you. Steps into you. Now you are standing. Feel the soles of your feet on the floor — or the possibility of them. The weight moving through the arches. The subtle aliveness in the ankles. The spine rising. The head resting easily at the top of the spine. The balance happening, quietly, without you managing it.
Balance is not a single signal from a single area. It is a conversation between systems, orchestrated mostly by the cerebellum — the cauliflower-shaped structure at the back and base of the brain, sometimes called the brain's autopilot. The cerebellum receives input from the visual cortex, from the vestibular nuclei in the brainstem, and from proprioceptive pathways rising from the joints and muscles throughout the body. It compares the predicted state of the body with the sensed state, and sends corrective motor signals in fractions of a second.
Illustration note: AI-generated anatomical images may be inaccurate. Source from Servier Medical Art (smart.servier.com). Consider a simplified midsagittal brain view highlighting the cerebellum and its connections.
Find the cerebellum in your awareness — at the base and back of the skull. This is the coordinator. Bring attention there. It is receiving signals from your inner ear right now — information about the position of your head in space. It is receiving signals from your joints — the ankles, knees, hips, reporting their angles. All of this input is flowing in, continuously, whether you attend to it or not.
Now attend to it. Bring deliberate awareness to the soles of your feet — or to where they would be if you were standing. Imagine the floor beneath them. The pressure. The small adjustments. Send a signal from the cerebellum out through the corticospinal and reticulospinal tracts to the postural muscles — the deep muscles along the spine, the hip stabilisers, the ankle plantar and dorsiflexors. These are the muscles that hold you upright without thinking.
Imagine being upright. Standing. Centred. The balance happening because the system is working, not because you are gripping or compensating. Let the system run. Trust the cerebellum. It knows what it's doing when the signal paths are clear.
Return to the breath. Return to the awareness of where you actually are — sitting, lying, resting. You are held. The body knows its relationship with gravity. The practice is complete. Let the imagery settle without trying to hold it. Three long out-breaths. The room around you. The surface beneath you. Enough.
The Full Script
People imagine in different ways. Some see pictures; some feel movement without seeing anything. Pick the one that fits you and the words below will change to suit. Not sure? Take the five-minute check first.
Showing the standard wording.
Read the full script
Opening · Breath and Light
Settle into whatever is supporting you right now. Let the surface take your weight. There is nothing to hold up in this practice. Let it all down.
Take a slow breath in. Let it out slowly. On each out-breath, let a little more of the body's held tension release. The shoulders. The jaw. The hands.
Bring warmth to the top of your head. Let it descend with each breath. This time, let the warmth travel all the way down to the base of your spine — to the pelvis, the sitting bones, the very foundation of your body. The weight of you is here. The centre is here.
Phase One · The Ideal Being
In front of you there is a figure, standing. You may see them, or simply sense them there — either is right. They are simply standing: not performing, not bracing. Their weight is even. Their spine is easy and long. There is a soft, relaxed steadiness about them.
Notice what this is like when it is not effortful. The slight, continuous movement of the body — barely there — as it makes small adjustments to stay upright. The trusting of the ankles. The quiet hips. The calm in the shoulders. No gripping. No compensating. Just a body that knows where it is in space.
The figure steps into you. Now you are standing — or imagining standing. Either is fine. The ground under your feet. The weight distributing. The length in the spine. The head sitting easily at the top of it all. You are upright. Centred. The balance is happening. It doesn't need managing.
Phase Two · The Anatomical Pathway
Bring your awareness to the back of your skull — the base of the brain. The cerebellum is here. It is always working, always receiving signals from your inner ear, your joints, your muscles. It is the coordinator of balance. Sense it there — not a sharp image, just a sense of something that hums with quiet activity.
Bring attention to your inner ear. The fluid in the semicircular canals, reporting the position of your head. The organs that sense gravity. This information is flowing to the cerebellum right now. Let it flow. Don't interfere. Just attend to it.
Now bring attention to your joints — wherever they are, whatever position they are in. The ankles. The knees. The hips. Each one is sending signals upward, reporting its angle, its tension, its load. The cerebellum receives all of it. Integrates it. Sends corrective signals back out to the postural muscles — the deep muscles of the spine, the stabilisers of the hip, the fine muscles of the ankle.
Now sense yourself upright. Standing. The whole system working as it was built to. Signal in, signal out, balance maintained — not because you are gripping or thinking hard, but because the system is running. Let it run.
Closing · Breath and Light
Return to the breath. Return to wherever you are — sitting, lying, resting. You are supported. The practice has been received. The imagery settles.
Carry a fragment of this today: the spine long, the weight dropping through the feet, the balance just happening. In any window of quiet — a slow breath, a pause — return to it. Three long breaths now. The room around you. Enough.
When to Practise
Before you stand from sitting, spend one breath imagining the movement — the weight shifting forward, the legs activating, the rise. This preparation imagery may improve motor readiness and reduce hesitation.
Return briefly to the felt sense of being centred and upright. Two or three breaths of the spine long, the weight even, the balance easy. The image accumulates with repetition.
Hold the image of standing — centred, easy, unguarded — as you fall asleep. The cerebellum integrates motor information during sleep. This practice seeds that consolidation.
The evidence for motor imagery specifically applied to balance after stroke is positive but comes from a smaller body of research than the upper limb literature. Studies have found improvements in postural stability measures when imagery is added to balance training. The specific cerebellar-focused pathway imagery in this practice is a reasoned synthesis, not a tested protocol.
If you are working with a physiotherapist on balance and falls prevention, tell them about this practice. Balance rehabilitation is an area where the combination of physical and mental practice is particularly well-suited to joint planning between the person and their therapist.