A BALANCING ACT
Trying to get your balance right during your fitness regime may seem like a monumental task. We break it down to simple steps to strike the perfect balance.
Dance, yoga, acrobatics, gymnastics- all of these forms of art have a certain flare and flamboyance to them. People trained in these forms have the ability to fascinate the onlooker with their elements of extravagance. One of the first things that is noticed by anyone who is observing is the ability to balance. Balancing is something that everyone struggles with and hence, finds fascinating when someone else does it with ease.
I have been a clumsy person all my life. Falling and hurting myself at the most ridiculously harmless kind of places is something that friends and loved ones identify me with. Therefore, the whole idea of balance was something that I dreaded and was immensely intrigued by, at the same time.
Dance training teaches you a lot of things- flexibility, strength, rhythm, free movement, etc. But the most important thing that it teaches you is body awareness. And that is one of the first steps that will help you balance better. Even though I’m not a complete pro at balancing, I’m slowly getting better and would like to share some of the points that I have realised in the last few years that are constantly helping me get there.
- Flexibility, Strength and a Fit Body: All of the theories and points apply only when your body has the strength and a workable amount of flexibility to support them. Building the strength, flexibility and overall fitness of your body is a never-ending endeavour. The more strong and fit you are, the more your body will support and balance a position.
- Imagine an axis vertically through the centre of your body: Visualising is a very important tool. Imagining this axis, you can hold a lot of different positions in relation to this axis. This will help you understand the symmetry of your body better and also the parts of your body that need to work in that particular position. Once you’re more adept at applying this, you can also visualise two vertical arrows (one pointing up and the other pointing down) along the axis. This represents the directions of the force that your body needs to apply, creating a sense of expansion, which is one of the most important principles in most of these forms.
- Shifting of weight: We, generally, call the leg that we are standing on as the supporting leg and the leg that is holding a position as the working leg. Balancing of positions and the positions themselves differ a lot from one form to another. But the basic principle remains the same- shifting the weight on the supporting leg (or hand in some cases). We often make the mistake of trying to spread our weight to different parts of the body to ease the tension on the supporting limb. What we need to do is, using the visualisation of the axis, concentrate the weight on the supporting limb, which requires strength in the supporting limb and flexibility in the rest of your body.
As you can see, the points that I’ve mentioned are just a start. They are very basic points, but points that we easily omit. They apply for various basic postures of dance and yoga. But once you understand and experience these, you can extend and modify them according to the complexity of the posture. Achieving decent balance is a task that needs a lot of practice and once you’re there, you can slowly build on it. Working on balance has definitely helped me become a better dancer, and has also helped me in daily life. I’m not so clumsy anymore. Friends and loved ones might still testify otherwise, but even they know and agree that it’s getting better. Once again, working towards smaller goals, let’s work on achieving a life that’s a lot more fit and a lot less clumsy.
