The Soma's Quest for Balance
HELLO lovely ones!
I hope you are doing great today. Today, I am starting a little section on the blog where I share bite-sized snippets, captions and poems to peruse over and ponder on.
For the first Bite - Sized morsel we’re talking about all things balance.
Yes, let's talk about that over-used health term.
Even though you may roll your eyes and silently chant "yes, yes we all know about balance and moderation" I would like to invite you into an investigation into what balance means to you, how you can use it to harness your life force energy in ways that support your dreams, and how to rest in the liminal spaces between effort and receptivity.
Balance as a Practice
I am deep believer that BALANCE IS A PRACTICE. Just like we practice yoga, mindfulness or how we practice physical training in order to get better at it. Balance is the same; it is a practice and it should be respected as such. We all have our little daily rituals that help us to stay seated and centred in our lives, and these little practices are important in that they help us to consciously orient to what matters to us.
While we are innately wired to move towards balance, in the society we live in today, we need to have practices in place that help us to gravitate towards balance because every aspect of our society is in support of extremism and excess (i.e. imbalance). So, we need to consciously choose how we relate to balance and find ways of working with the concept of balance so that it translates into embodied balance (and by embodied balance I mean the process of turning the concept of “balance” into the lived experience of it).
As someone who tends towards extremism in all directions, balance has been one of the biggest lessons and teachers in my life. And one that still humbles me everyday.
Our bodies, these divine and intelligent organisms, are ALWAYS supporting us in their constant and dynamic orientation towards balance.
Whether it be in our food choices, our activities, our thought patterns and our relationships, the continual movement towards balance transcends all domains: spiritual, physical, mental, emotional and otherwise.
Our somas align to that which balances us without any intervention on our behalf - because our somas want to have the internal and external environments most conducive to thriving (a balanced environment is what supports optimal thriving). So, the least we can do is try to support our somas in this quest. Our soma is challenged enough by the constantly changing input around us and within us on a moment-to-moment to basis. Therefore, the one person that we should be able to fully rely on to help in living in balance is ourselves.
This can of course be hard. Especially if you have used extremism and/or addictive patterns as intelligent (albeit dysfunctional) self-protective coping strategies. However, this little bite-sized post is a gentle invitation to gift yourself the gift of balance: that juicy space where you are not forcing/pushing/trying or effortful NOR are you receiving/passive or consuming. Give yourself time to rest in the liminal spaces, feel into the felt sense of suspension and timelessness of equilibrium. And make it a practice.
Practical tip: when you feel your energy shift into DO mode (or PASSIVE mode) whichever you tend to default to, ask yourself if you can hold off on following default and rest in that harmonious space of suspended energy. Notice if there is resistance. Most importantly, get curious with the resistance. Try not to judge it (but if judgment does arise, let it be there and let it move through you so that you can release it and move onto the curiosity part). What does the resistant voice say or feel? Challenge the resistance. And then, breathe into the spaciousness that arrives in the soma after the resistance dilutes or diffuses.
I would LOVE to hear if you found this bite-sized morsel helpful/intriguing/though provoking or resonant.
Much love & healing to you
Maria