Broad idea. I’m curious about it in an embodied way. Balancing as play; balancing as practice for myself as I get older; balancing made easy, balancing to enjoy going out of balance and risk looking clumsy or worse. In and out of balance as I walk, as I sit balanced on top of my sit-bones….BalancING – not in-Balance….It’s the ING-ING part that’s alive and dynamic and present. Not holding on or holding together; but being able to respond and adjust moment to moment. Even as I’m writing this, I’m reminded to refresh the tiny micro movements that happen with balancing all throughout me; freedoms at my head and neck; belly softness; eyes let go of fixing, fingers stop holding my reflexive preparedness, on and on….

Then there are ‘bigger’ balancing acts – one-legged in tree pose, walking along a narrow beam, hopping from stepping stone to stepping stone without spilling my tea. Fun. But only when I can do it. Oo, don’t like to wobble. And yet, I sense avoiding it is half the problem. Practice the out-of -balance. Allow it. It offers a chance to remember “don’t take it so seriously” and how to regain somewhere in the middle which is never fixed anyway.

I realize this all happens in the blink of an eye and it’s a hard, nay impossible, thing to correct for in the moment as its going down. Research in neuroscience suggests that neural reactions take milliseconds and are faster than conscious thought can process. But I’m wondering that if I can create an environment within myself, a quality of being, that is open and reflexive and effortless -then in the bigger times of off-centeredness and out-of-balance-ness the qualities for choice and movement and breath are there already. Cultivate the ability to be present in the moment.

Whether small or big balances – I’m going to keep noticing when and how I fix and then see what happens if I let go into it, prioritizing movement, and breath rather than bracing, grip and worry.