A Balancing Act

Balance seemed to be the common thread through today’s conversations. It’s the thing that most keeps us from falling.

We made lunch today for a couple just a few years older than we are who recently lost their 40-year-old son. As we sat there eating grilled salmon and discussing an elderly Temple Micah congregant who had recently fallen and broken her hip, the man shared that he had been working hard to improve his balance to avoid just such an accident. He has progressed from not being able to stand on one foot to being able to walk tight-rope style while maintaining his balance. We talked about how important core strength is to balance. As I ate another goat-cheese-stuffed fig, I thought about all the balance work I have done in the past few months. No one wants to fall.

My yoga class tonight had the usual balancing challenges. I remind myself that I’m fairly low to the ground even if I lost my balance and toppled over, but I still don’t like the thought of it. The instructor had us partner for the revolving triangle pose, a pose that usually requires the ultimate in balance from me. It was so nice to be able to drape my top arm over my partner’s shoulder and know that I could relax into the pose with no fear of falling. My tree pose had hardly a wobble tonight; I reached for the sky as I balanced on one foot and then the other.

The instructor urged us to take our yoga off the mat and into our daily lives. I vowed to be grounded and try not to let life’s twists and turns disrupt my balance. Sometimes maintaining a mental balance is as challenging as staying physically erect.