I feel that there is a huge amount of wisdom that comes to us from what are known as the internal martial arts such as Tai Chi and Yiquan. In their authentic form these arts great prowess comes from a form of complete ‘relaxation’ known as sung or song and a different kind of strength that arises from using the whole body and the whole mind in any action. ( Song / Sung does not translate easily into western languages where ‘relaxation’ often means a form of partial collapse ).
A phrase used in Tai Chi runs something like this “If one part moves then all parts move”.
F.M. Alexander, the founder of the Alexander Technique talked of psycho-physical unity, by this he meant that it is really impossible to separate out our mental activity and our physical activity – this is why he talked of ‘use of the self’ rather than ‘use of the mind’ or ‘use of the body’.
Alexander’s terminology may seem dated, ‘use of the self’ sounds a bit odd doesn’t it but remember we often say things like “when I use my arm it hurts”, Alexander is using the same word but he refuses to be drawn into characterising our activities in terms of one part or another part, he says you use your entire body and your entire mind in every act you undertake. I am not sure he could have expressed it any better once we see it from Alexander’s viewpoint.
The Chinese were aware of this a long time before Alexander, often in the West we think we have discovered new things but the same things are often rediscovered in different places at different times.
Returning to the Tai Chi phrase “If one part moves then all parts move” it means that when we are fluid and free then we act with our whole body not just a part of it like our arm, working with your arm as if it is in some way separate from the rest of you is not good for your well being.
I want to take this old Tai Chi wisdom and show how it is intimately related to our balance, whether we are allowing our natural balance system to do it’s job or whether we are unintentionally getting in its way.
If we take the example of standing whilst looking and reaching up to unscrew a light bulb that needs replacing…
Now before we even consider the task of reaching upwards to get your hands on the light bulb lets consider the miracle that you are already undertaking – you are standing on two feet and balancing, we take it for granted but very few other animals are bipedal and none match our dexterity on two legs.
You are never actually “balanced” instead you are constantly going off balance and your amazing system is performing countless acts of micro adjustment nudging you back towards balance every second and so you stay upright…
Or at least that is what is supposed to happen but unfortunately human beings have learnt the unsubtle art of bracing, we end up holding our lower parts (legs hips feet etc) fixed whilst expecting our upper regions to remain flexible so we can reach for and unscrew the light bulb, my description for this is that “we have let the task split us”. Instead of remaining as one fluid, dynamic whole that is continuously re-balancing we have instead closed down the fluidity in our lower ‘base’ to give ourselves what feels like a fixed, stable base upon which to perform the flexible actions with our arms, neck and head. Our lower half is in some kind of “pseudo-balance” but only in the same way as a stone statue is in “balance”, a stone statue does not topple over as long as the weight stays above the base of the statue but it’s hardly a fluid way to stand.
Ok! So Sometimes We Stand Like A Stone Statue, What’s Wrong With That?
We don’t have the same design as a stone statue!
Our bodies are not designed to have one part inflexible and tense and another be flexible. From head to toe our insides have lots of fascial sheets that connect our muscular systems, the old ideas of single isolated muscles moving individual bones like levers is fast proving inaccurate, muscles can pull on fascial sheets that connect to other muscles so that changes in one part of us ripple through to other parts, the idea of successfully isolating one part of your movement system in a frozen state whilst another part of you remains fully flexible is not ideal.
When we brace our legs, knees, ankles and hips so that we can look upwards and reach for an over head lightbulb it is as if we are driving a car with our foot on the brake and the accelerator at the same time; we are asking our body to perform conflicting tasks.
As adults relearn what young children take for granted and stay balanced and fluid from soles of feet to tip of outstretched fingers whilst undertaking a task, remember that the task is something that is being done ‘ontop’ of the primary act of balancing, and so it needs to become part of the act of balancing, it needs to blend in harmoniously with the activity of balancing.
So here is the punch-line, any act we perform is really an extension of the act of balancing and since balancing is a whole self activity then anything else we do is ideally a whole self activity as well, then we can respect the primary needs of balancing by remaining fluidic throughout.
If the skilled balance artist shown above chose to perform the same ‘pose’ standing on the ground they would still have to perform the act of balancing, it would simply be a less demanding type of balance but the principles would not change, here I am simply exaggerating the situation so we can clearly see that the primary act that occurs before and during any other act we undertake like waving our arms in the air is one of balance. Clearly this person would fall off if they stiffened their lower body, instead their whole body is acting as one fluidic, unified and therefore balanced, whole. A lot of people will not chose to develop this level of skill or may be unable to but they may still be able to apply the general principles in every day life.
The advice that comes out of this if you decide to do something then make try and include you every single part of yourself even if some parts seem to play a minor role, if you are cutting a potato on the worktop then take an interest in the subtle ripples that this might produce in your ankles or your hips, don’t force a movement but instead invite and allow ripples to spread throughout your system, we could say that you bring the activity of cutting a potato into your balance system.
If we are not balancing then we are straining and stiffening and it quickly becomes habitual and we end up needing help to do it any other way.
How Can I Balance Well?
We can decide that we want to perform a particular balancing act, for instance if we decide to step onto a log. However the actual mechanisms of balance are not usually directly accessible to our conscious minds, in other words the amazing feet of biological ‘computation’ involved in balance comes from much deeper mechanisms which do the balancing for us but what we can do is identify things that get in the way, we can set up better conditions for balance.
A few preliminary things are…
- Soften your eyes! Don’t use your eyes in a tight hard focused fashion, include more of your peripheral vision – your eyes are an important part of balance, look as if straight ahead as if taking in a wide view of the horizon, perhaps standing on a beach looking out to sea.
- Don’t go completely internal in an attempt to concentrate, stay aware of your surroundings because your balance system needs a constant stream of information about where you are and your orientation, vision is an obvious source of vision but so are your feet, especially the soles so remove tightly fitting shoes where practical.
- As much as possible allow your neck, shoulders, arms and hands to soften and the same for your legs your limbs need to serve your balance system but not restrict or interfere.
After those preliminaries (there are others that could be added) try this experiment.
Just standing normally decide to believe something as follows…if you like it’s an act of faith.
I want to suggest to you that merely moving your outstretched hand a small amount will cause a cascade, a ripple of automatic little micro-adjustments that travel up and down your entire body, soles of feet to fingertips and top of your head, just so long as you let them pass through everywhere. These ripples of adjustment is your balance system at work as it adjusts for the hand movement, and it needs ‘access all areas‘. Refer to the picture above if you are not convinced – it’s just a matter of the degree of balancing challenge. What applies on the slack line or high-wire also applies equally to people standing on the ground, the only difference is that it is possible to remain upright by bracing when standing whereas people on slack lines who brace fall off.
I like to think that at least in principle a movement of my little finger will cause a tiny re-balancing ripple to reach as far as my big toe, it may be an exaggeration on my part but I find it a useful picture to work with, it reminds me to be open everywhere and to so open that the smallest adjustments can ripple easily through my whole body.
This is not really about whether you can feel these adjustments but more that you adopt an attitude and a belief that ripples of adjustment are occurring and you have decided to give these tiny adjustments ‘free passage‘ to go anywhere and everywhere they need to flow, to stay open and receptive to this constant river or flow of little adjustments rippling through your system. Our conscious minds do not have the capacity to micromanage these adjustments but we can learn over time to be open to them. Unfortunately for us we also have the ability to block and shut down these ripples of adjustment, just like hoses can develop blockages that impede the passage of water.
That’s really the main secret to balance, if we get out of the way it does itself and does a better job than our conscious minds could ever hope to achieve, we just need to find a way to be open in order to let everything pass through where ever it needs to go.
Of course it’s necessary to slowly build on this exercise, we cannot change a lifetime’s worth of balancing like a statue overnight but if you believe that these ripples of adjustment are there and trying to get through and you decide that you want to be open to them and give them free passage you may find in time greater ‘balancing fluidity’ arising in yourself.
I will finish with another quote from Tai Chi masters of old
“A fly could not alight”
Meaning that a fly could not land on a Tai Chi master without his/her system responding, their balance system would feel the difference, of course there may be a bit of exaggeration here but it shows the direction.
