Standing on One Foot

It’s all about Balance.   When one foot is off the ground, you don’t want to tip over.  In my yoga classes I advise my students to practice balancing in all sorts of funny places.  Stand on one foot when waiting in line at the grocery store.  Challenge yourself by putting your socks on without sitting down. Revisit childhood by walking on top of the cement things in parking lots.  Improvement comes quickly, and it’s actually kind of fun!

Let’s pull that idea into the rest of our lives.  For instance, I just had a piece of leftover birthday cake for breakfast. (A sliver, really!)  I am now standing on one foot, nutritionally.  So for the rest of the day, I will practice my balance, eating wholesome foods. I’ll still be upright by dinnertime!

And exercise -- an extended four-letter word for many of us.  Step one is to get some.  Step two is to balance it with your own lifestyle, and for the highest good of the ol’ bod.  My preferred exercise is yoga, so balance for me is adding a brisk walk with the dog every afternoon, giving my body the sensation of fast, repetitive movement.  If you are a runner, taking off for miles around town, the addition of a stretchy yoga class will reacquaint you with muscles you forgot you had, balancing your quickness with the awareness of smaller, slower movements.

Finally, look for a balance of information.  Find a way to be aware of what is going on in the world around you without being inundated with negativity.  Look for news media that doesn’t exaggerate the bad and downplay the good; learn to change the subject when conversations turn to gossip; limit your exposure to people or things that drag your spirits down.

Look into all aspects of your life and find balance.  Then, when events come that start to tip you over, you will have the resources to recover from the wobble.  Maybe your hand will touch the wall for a moment; and once in a while life will knock us over completely.  If we have made Balance an automatic response system in our bodies and minds, we will find ourselves upright in the end.