Balance: The Art of Effortless Action
When I first started yoga I hated falling out of tree pose.
It was frustrating, exasperating, embarrassing, and, for the cherry on top, I'd add the self-judgey "Ugh, I can't believe I fell out of that pose again!"
Balance postures offer us all kinds of brilliant life reminders. Chief among them:
That the more energy we focus on where we're out of balance, the more we prolong the out-of-balance state.
Of course on an intellectual level, you already know this.
You "get" the idea that you get more of what you focus on. You're on board with the concept that energy flows where attention goes.
Nonetheless, our tendency is generally to try to "fix" our way back into balance once we realize we've fallen out (and we of course have to be fortunate/willing enough to have the awareness to notice that we've wandered from center ground to even do that).
We start working to get back in line ASAP.
There's often an air of pressure, almost desperation — a sense that we have to effort our way back into balance.
But balance is actually our natural resting place.
The only times we stay out of balance for longer than a brief moment in the overall scheme of things are when we worry so much about being out of balance that we go to extremes to try to get ourselves back in alignment.
You indulged in a glut of food and drinks and late night fun over the holidays, so on January 1, you decide you'll start going to bed at 8pm every night and won't drink at all this year!
You're familiar with how your personal version of that type of extreme intention goes.
When we focus on the extremes, balance eludes us. But when we get present and allow life to unfold without so much interference on our part, we naturally and effortlessly return to balance.
It's where the pendulum wants to be.
The irony is, while we tend to strive for and analyze our way toward balance, achieving more consistent balance actually calls upon us to relinquish control.
To reach that effortless, peacefully energizing balanced point, we have to be willing to notice the impulse to make things fit the way we want them to...and let it go.
We have to be willing to be carried left and right and up and down by the draft, and to trust that we'll naturally return to center time after time if we simply stop resisting the flow.
None of this is to say that balance is static. It's anything but.
There's always going to be light and dark; pleasant and unpleasant; masculine and feminine. Energy is literally constantly moving, so balance is always shifting.
And there are always micro-shifts we can intentionally make to help us return to a state of balance or flow.
Peace and ease don't come from arriving at a fixed place of balance and staying there. They're byproducts of allowing ourselves to return to center again and again and not over-concerning ourselves with the moments that pull us left or right.
So how are you currently defining and relating to balance?
If you've been thinking of staying balanced as work or feeling judgment around the topic, what would shift for you if you aimed for balance through the intention of acting as appropriately yet effortlessly as possible in each moment?
When you get present, pay attention, and stay committed to the intention to let life flow effortlessly through you, balance will become your default home base.
But don't take my word for it. Check out effortless action for yourself and let me know what you notice.
Lots of Love,