the movement
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Image: I’m balancing on my right foot. In the background are the Rainbow hills of Nallıhan, located near Ankara, Türkiye.
Balance & Courage
Courage, like balance, is a moment-to-moment act.
Human movement biomechanics explains ‘balance’ as the ability to maintain a body’s center of mass over its base of support. In the above photo I’m in a variation of a yoga asana (posture) called Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana, often called ‘standing hand to big toe pose.’ This snapshot caught a moment when the ‘weights’ of my hips, heart, and head were aligned over the center of my standing foot. Balance is a moment-to-moment act.
In the photo I am bearing all my weight on my right foot. It’s been a while since I had the courage to let my right foot carry me completely. I continue my dedicated physical therapy (PT) rehab routine, which fosters fortitude to try single leg postures. Do I wobble? Yep. Do I topple? Yup. Do the wobbles and topples test the tenacity to try again? Indeed. That is how I know courage, like balance, is a moment-to-moment act.
Balance in your body is a complex integration of sensory input from your inner ear, vision, and proprioception (your body’s awareness of position, movement, and force in space). Broadly speaking, you receive multiple signals and respond with rapid postural adjustments.
Observe postural adjustments in yourself
Try this along with me to observe what I’m talking about.
If you are standing transfer your weight to one foot. Notice any shifts?
If you are seated lean your weight into on sit bone. Observe any change in the form of your spine?
The arrangement and rearrangement is are the interplay of your body’s sensory input and motor output. The interplay occurs without conscious thought, and it happens both in ‘stillness’ and in motion.
Walking is dynamic balance.
The human ability to walk upright on two feet is a dynamic balancing act. With every step we take, we shift our mass over a moving base of support. Walking is an excellent (and functional) way to prepare for more challenging balance practices.
Prior to the moment the above photo was taken, we had been wandering the Rainbow Hills of Nallıhan, located near Ankara, Türkiye. The multicolored hills are created by mineral-rich sedimentary layers (iron, copper, clay) eroding over millions of years.
We chose this spot not just for the vibrant landscape but also because the lower rolling hills are forgiving on my healing right foot and ankle. A couple of months ago my PT advised me to progressively rebuild walking endurance, so I’m employing a ‘weekend walkabout’ strategy. Each weekend we pick a different location and a route that is a little longer than the last. The gradual-growth game plan is working. I can feel my capacity for distance increasing and (thankfully) the residual discomfort decreasing. The miles of walking help me regain capacity to hold weight on my right foot while maintaining a yoga pose. The locomotion of walking trains me to be still. Movement into stillness.
What messes your balance?
During your life, you will likely experience injury and/or disease. All humans age. These realities of existing can affect the delicate interaction of our balance system, altering our sensory and response faculty. Mindful movement practices invite us to practice and play with balance. In a yoga asana session, you are asked to center your mass over the base of support in a variety of shapes and relationships to gravity. Cultivating familiarity with changes and challenges on the mat (or chair, or bed) helps us navigate the unknowns in the world.
Movement to stillness for your mind
The mindset of practice and play is paramount. Yoga asana practice is not a performance. There is no audience. There are no grades. Yoga asana practice asks you to cultivate inner awareness. With each movement pattern and/or posture you inquire from within: Where is my center? Where is my base? How can I align and maintain my center of mass and my base in this moment, in this relationship to gravity, for this breath? Yoga asana invites your mind to be present with the movement on your mat.
The formula of presence, with the attitude of practice and play, yields rest of for the mind. ‘Rest’ for the mind turns down the volume of distracting chatter. Allowing our awareness to expand. Reminding us that the aperture of our existence is not confined to a tickertape of thoughts. Rather inviting us to widen our horizon— to grow familiar with the vastness of all existence and recognize our innate connection to the wholeness of life.
Image: The Rainbow hills of Nallıhan, located near Ankara, Turkey
Maintenance
Maintenance is an ongoing action. Humans cannot ‘achieve’ balance and ‘be done.’ Rather the continual cultivation of balance is requisite from our first breath to our last. This is true for all aspects of our being.
The roots of yoga teach that our life force consists of body, breath, mind, wisdom, and spirit. Each of the five sheaths is interrelated and affects the others. I walk to strengthen my foot (body), and I return from Rainbow Hills breath flowing, mind clear, soul nourished.
I know life is not always ‘rainbows and unicorns.’ I posit that the choice to practice balance is an act of courage. We live with ongoing demand and distraction. It takes grit to put down your phone and walk outside in the world. We are constantly bombarded with messaging intentionally designed to pull us toward a ‘like’ or a ‘dislike’ and away from our center. Can you imagine the audacity it takes to turn your awareness inward and sense your centermost heart? Or the daring it takes to align your thoughts, words, and actions to your core values, every moment?
To practice balance in all aspects of our being requires a brave heart. Courage, like balance, is a moment-to-moment act. May we recognize these moments in ourselves and all the beings around us. May we encourage each other to keep going, moment-to-moment, together.
April 2026