Cultivating balance involves being willing to flow with every situation, knowing that the Earth sustains us.
1. THE VERTICAL
On an unstable and firm surface observe how you can vary the alignment of your body and regulate its stability from your plantar support tripods.
- Put a bag of rice on your crown and feel its weight on the skull and how it responds to that “compression” with a subtle impulse that you send thanks to the ground.
- Draw a clear line in the depth of your body that relates up to down.
- Organize around it.
- Play with the intensity with which you straighten yourself until you find the most effective way for you.
2. WORK ON PLANTAR SUPPORT
- With your feet as parallel as possible, put a soft foam ball (or two pieces of sponge) under each plantar vault. You can place it very slightly inwards, as if supporting the internal arch of the foot, which is the most pronounced.
- Hollow out the plantar vaults so as not to crush the foam.
Then rehearse two simultaneous actions: hollow out the vault while maintaining a thrust towards the ground with each point of the plantar tripod.
3. SIGHT AND BALANCE
- Unfold a long ribbon on the floor in front of you (it is also possible to follow the line of the tiles or parquet, or trace it with your imagination).
- Then walk on it as if you were a tightrope walker, respecting it as best you can, and in each step, you take place your feet carefully aligned towards the front.
- Walk the line forward and then walk backwards. There is no risk of falling, so watch the use you make of your supports. You can use your arms (and even a light umbrella) to better balance yourself. That way you can “feel” the upward direction more clearly and anchor yourself to it as well.
So far it is not very difficult…
- Try doing this next with your eyes closed or blindfolded.
4. TEST YOUR SUPPORTS
In situations of balance (crossing a river from stone to stone, dodging puddles, descending a steep mountain) use your tools: the look, the calm breathing, the pelvic floor, the counterweights, the directions of space … But above all, take care of your supports and do not abandon one until you have installed the next.
5. PUSH YOURSELF FROM YOUR SUPPORTS
- On a silk fabric that slides push yourself with your foot supported as in the photo.
- Orient the thrust of your supports towards the ground to modify your trajectory.
6. ANCHOR YOURSELF IN YOUR SUPPORTS
- Face down on a sliding blanket or skateboard, bend your knees and cross your ankles so as not to support your feet.
- Use the ground with the help of your hands and establish through them a firm anchor from which to move elbows and shoulders.
7. ACTION AND REACTION
- Start by feeling your feet and organize yourself to let the weight of the body passively fall on them.
- Feeling that weight fill your feet, gently hollow out the vaults and actively project each of the points of the plantar tripod into the ground, as if taking root.
- Feel the difference between “dropping on your feet” and “standing from your supports.”
- Notice how the active use of your supports straightens and aligns your body and joints. On one foot, observe how the conscious and active use of your supports influences your joints.
With practice you can dose this action (just very little but you can do it very marked in your first experiences).
8. KNOW HOW TO FLOW
Attentive and reactive supports can respond to the changing needs of activities that involve balance, such as simply standing or walking.
- Walk as if you kiss the earth with your supports.
9. SIDE BY SIDE
- Sitting on a stool, feel the space between your eyes, your ears, your ischiums, your knees, your feet… Gently extend the chest towards the armpits when inhaling.
- With your arms gently unfolded reach the space to your left with your left side, pushing you from your right tripod.
10. THE 6 DIRECTIONS
- With one knee and one foot resting diagonally, move in several directions from your supports without losing them.
- Explore space with your shoulders, arms, hands, gaze.
- Observe how each direction is supported by going deeper towards the ground in the opposite direction.
A BODY WORK THAT IS REFLECTED IN THE MIND
The Earth draws us to its center with force and holds all living beings on its spherical surface. The feet constitute the base that allows the body to stand vertically and react to the force of gravity.
We thus build a true organic sculpture thanks to the support of muscles and bones, guided by the will to stand up and move and live. The Chinese ideogram that represents man – a line that relates heaven and earth – conveys that idea.
ROOTING CONNECTS US TO THE EARTH AND BRINGS US CONFIDENCE
Every time we raise a leg to move forward, we have the assurance that the Earth will draw our foot back to itself giving us a new support from which to take the next step. There’s a reason they call her Mother Earth!
Rooting is a common concept in various practices and therapies that we can apply in multiple contexts. It is related to a stable posture and a correct alignment of the body, but it also requires the ability to feel and establish a relationship with the Earth, perceived as a firm surface on which we can trust.
The conscious experience of connecting with the Earth is a muscular and mentally very different action than falling on it. And it can be very revealing both to improve posture and for vital attitude.
FLUENCY TO RESPOND
Rooting and stability do not imply immobility or stubbornness but, on the contrary, fluidity and availability to absorb and transform external influences. Faced with a stimulus that threatens the balance, the ideal thing is to give in and move in order to take root again.
When practicing the ability to root, losing balance is not a problem, because it is dynamic and rebuilds again and again.
CLEAR MENTAL INTENT
The mere fact of standing implies an activity of balance and movement of small amplitude. To keep the skeleton vertical, we oscillate permanently in a similar way to the flame of a candle.
The sense of balance is the one that allows walking without falling or the one that gives the ability to assume and sustain any movement or position of the body before the force of gravity.
It depends on various systems responsible for guiding the person in the environment.
- In the inner ear is the vestibular system, an ingenious device that detects the movements of the head in space and its changes in orientation with respect to gravity.
- Muscles and joints have sensors that report the positions of different parts of the body and their situation with respect to the support plane.
- Through sight we know where we are in relation to the surrounding space. And based on all this information we react.
START AT THE BOTTOM
Nothing can be erected without a foundation or a root. The key is to start building by organizing from the base.
Bamboo offers a fine example. In its early years it barely grows. And, suddenly, it can gain several meters in height in a month. What did he do before? Build its base, create deep roots, which will allow it to ascend towards the sky obtaining nutrients from the earth and resisting the onslaught of the wind.
It amazes the tower of bones that we build from a base as small as the feet. Let’s also keep in mind that from that tower hang, for different places and heights, different weights (organs, muscles …) that create forces in different directions.
Keeping this entire system vertical and undamaged requires energy and determination. You only have to contemplate a child taking his first steps.
THE BASE OF THE TOWER OF BONES
The foot consists of twenty-six bones and a greater number of joints. In your plant are our supports. There is on each foot a plantar vault that is sometimes compared to a triangular sail, concave with respect to the ground and anchored to it at three points.
It must combine strength, elasticity and adaptability to support the weight of the body and the reaction of the ground, as well as to transmit to the ground the impulses of the body for gait and movement.
It gives the sole of the foot the shape of an irregular vault supported by three arches (internal, external and transverse) that join these points of support. The tripod anchors the vault to the ground and allows the weight to be transmitted to the ground. It falls on the base of the big toe, the little finger and the center of the heel.
In an ideal situation the bones that give structure to these three arches do not “touch” the ground except at the points of the tripod. The soft tissues lining the plant make the transverse and outer arch appear to be flat on the ground.
THE RELATIONSHIP WITH SPACE
What can a conscious work on the management of their supports contribute to a person? Being babies, based on hitting the ground with our hands, anchoring ourselves to crawl, crawling, we discovered the functioning of the supports. But it’s been a lot of that now.
Now it is worth remembering that bodily life we live in balance and that our way of standing on the earth implies permanent dynamic stability and availability for adaptation. A fixed or rigid attitude is not compatible with a fluid balance. Depending on how we organize this, we will show ourselves about the world.
When working on balance, it is rare to act directly on our perception of the surrounding space. The conscious knowledge of its depth, of its infinity in all directions, allows us to lay invisible threads that constitute true supports in the direction that is most useful.
It also makes it possible to act on muscle tone and provides sharpness and clarity of intention to movement.
AWARENESS AND INTEGRATION
The fruits of bodywork depend on two key elements: awareness and integration.
- Consciousness. It is the attention paid to what is being done. We choose one or two phenomena: what’s going on in my ankles or how my pelvis adapts, for example. Bringing attention to the chosen element is a way of learning. We bring it to the observation table and, once observed and improved use, we give it back its freedom.
- Integration. The knowledge we acquire then operates from the unconscious and, if trained, will come opportunely. For this, it is necessary to persevere, since each new learning is based on previous acquisitions. The secret is that the process of observation becomes pleasurable in itself.
If there is no harvest the experience will pass like a shooting star that we are not sure we have seen. Integration is listening, silence, the space we seek so that the new finds its place in the whole. And the whole is everything, not just the body.
Subtle changes in the body allow new thoughts and feelings to be embodied. It pays to be open to associations, to “revelations”, to “realization”, without having to put them into words. And give space for sensations to become knowledge.