Balance

Post date: Sep 03, 2011 10:41:24 PM

Do you feel it too? After more than two weeks, the Olympics are over and I'm feelin' it....I think I have OWS, Olympic Withdrawal Syndrome. I'm still wakin' up in the middle of the night and turning on the TV to see which events are on... I'm still flippin' though the channels in the evening hoping to see some track and field or gymnastics, or swimming, or diving, or beach volleyball, or something! Yes, I have OWS, and to get over it, I'm probably gonna be talkin' about the Olympics for a while, so bear with me!

I am still amazed at the skill and pure guts of the little ladies who tackled the balance beam. Now it's one thing to just walk across the 4" wide apparatus and it's quite another thing to hop, jump, flip, twirl, twist, etc the way they did. Gutsy. Amazing.

We've been working on stance this month and yes balance is an extremely important part of a good stance. Without, good balance, strong kihon, dynamic kata, skillful kumite and effective self-defense are not possible. Period. And probably more importantly, without personal balance, a strong life is not possible. Period.

From the time we start trying to walk, our sense of balance grows. Sometimes we take it for granted as teens and adults, but if you've ever had an inner ear infection (bad stuff, trust me), you know what it means to be dis-balanced.

Contrary to what most may think, good balance is not necessarily about 50-50 allocation of weight or resources. Think about that. Are there techniques when all your weight is on one foot? How about no feet or all fours? Of course, so in those cases your balance better be really, really good!

The same is true in our everyday life. A good life balance means_appropriate_ allocation of resources (time, energy, etc). There may be times when one part of your life requires more energy than the others. Give it what it needs. Then, when things are back to 'normal', be sure to properly re-allocate your energy to the right things in the right, but not necessarily equal, percentages.

Like our training, life balance is an art that requires patience, time, awareness, trial and error and determination. Where are you lacking balance: relationships? spiritual life? mentally, or physically? socially? need more fun? need to work harder / smarter? need to spend more time with family or friends? more time learning? more time giving? more sleep? better diet?

We all know where we need to achieve better balance, and for the most part we have an idea on how to get there, so get to it and give it the same amount of focus that you give to your training....enhance your life and you enhance your training; enhance your training and you enhance your life.

EDB

08.26.08