There’s something about the weeks between winter and spring that seem to stir up a bit of chaos.
Maybe it’s just me, but all this frenetic energy of change has got my equilibrium feeling a little off. When things start to pull me in a thousand different directions, it can be tough to maintain a sense of stability!
Increasingly, though, I’m finding that balance comes more through adaptability than it does stability. Rather than resist the forces of destabilization, I’ve found much greater success in softening – just ever so slightly – to the energy of chaos.
It is in this spirit that I’ll share a few tips on how to enhance your balance training. If you are new to training your balance, even better! These tips are equally as valuable to the novice as they are to the expert!
3 Balance Training Tips to Make You More Adaptable
First, find a position that lightly challenges your sense of balance. Simply standing on one leg is a great place to start. (Be sure there are no obstacles around you!) From here, you can practice becoming more adaptable in your balance:
1. Look around or close your eyes while balancing. Often, we are cued to adopt a “one spot gaze” to help maintain our balance. This is because our visual system is one of our three major systems of balance – and it’s the one many people rely on the most! When you challenge the visual system, your body must immediately lean into the other (oft neglected!) systems to keep you upright.
2. Balance on an unstable or uneven surface. Instead of practicing your balance on a hard floor, try the same move on a wobble cushion, bosu ball, or pillow. This challenges all three systems of balance (visual, proprioceptive, and vestibular) by requiring you to make real-time micro-adjustments to the unstable surface.
3. Hold a conversation, play catch, or ask a partner to try and “throw you off” while balancing. It’s nearly impossible to have an adaptable body with a rigid mind. If maintaining our balance requires an extreme level of focus, we won’t stand a chance when distractions inevitably arise. Training the body to “do its thing” while the mind is preoccupied is an essential part of balance training.
Happy balancing!
