Balance is Dynamic
Recent conversations both in session and out have centered around balance. Balance in meals, balance in work, work-life balance (insert eye roll because it’s so challenging sometimes!). In a workshop last weekend, Jessica Smith guided us in a lovely meditation about balance and flexibility accompanied with some gentle movement. Was I surprised when balance came up again? Not really. And I love some synchronicity!
After our meditation, Jessica asked us to enter tree pose. Not gonna lie, ugh. I struggle with tree pose- I fall out often. It’s challenging for me to be strong and unwavering. I hadn’t slept well the night before. I was not feeling strong. There are times when I really hate (hate!) tree pose, especially if there’s a mirror and I see my inability to stay strong affecting others. The fear that my falling out will cause others to waver. Jessica guided us away from our static tree pose to then take our arms and wave them like branches in the wind. Y’all. Never has this crossed my mind. Never has a teacher taken this route with tree pose with me. Now, I’ve practiced yoga for almost two and a half decades so I’ve done a lot of tree pose. What the heck? It was stabilizing. I could stay in tree pose for minutes on minutes! It was fun, it was dynamic. I felt flexible and the shroud of fear was not there. I didn’t worry about others around me.
As an added bonus to the workshop, we used art to express and visualize this stability. I thought of a river bed full of plants that are rooted and strong despite the flow of water. I thought of of my best friend’s beautiful fish tank with its plants gently moving yet appears so still. It is peaceful. I used the drawing I made in the workshop as inspiration for the piece below. It’s funny- I find some mediums like pen, marker and pencil can be rigid and don’t look the way I want them to. It’s frustrating. Watercolor and collage are more free, organic and malleable in my mind. I enjoy the layering, the tearing and seeing how things can fit together.
I reflected on this experience and the conversations I’d had the week prior about balance. In those conversations I was already talking about how balance is dynamic, always moving. That in being flexible, we can actually achieve balance. This shows up in food as well as movement. When we have rigid rules with food, it’s so hard to actually give our body what it wants and needs. We restrict and binge. Food maybe feels chaotic, something we need to “get back on track with”. We can have such rigid rules that we can feel obsessed with food, unsafe around foods that are off limits. We can feel judgement and shame for wanting or allowing those foods. Movement (exercise) is avoided because it can’t look the way we think it should- not in a routine, not enough time, not far enough, we aren’t “in shape enough”. We can abuse movement and don’t give our bodies the rest it’s asking for. We are stuck in black and white thinking. What does balance look like here? How can being flexible help us feel grounded and strong?
I invite you to reflect on the ways you can practice dynamic balance this week. How can you let your whole self find some flexibility? What does the gray look like?
Want to talk it out with us? Email me to set up a discovery call.
Dark blue water color background with torn paper collage of a green, blue and yellow plant in a rust colored river rock bed. © Kathy Kimbrough 2025. All Rights Reserved.