In which I try to balance.

Someone recently asked me how I balance it all. It reminded me that I generally don’t. And it also reminded me that what we see in others is rarely what they experience.

Take this photo.

Yes, I did pretzel myself into astavakrasana, and it does require a certain level of shoulder, core, and hip strength and flexibility.

But I didn’t stay in it for long, and I would have had a hard time doing it on the other side. Balance, as it happens, is a mixture of many things. Sometimes what appears to be balance is just a momentary teetering on the brink of something else, or a moment in which we successfully multitask by not doing anything truly well. Sometimes routine poses as balance. Sometimes, the quest for “balance” takes away from focus on what we really need.

In short, what we call balance is sometimes just stasis or following some arbitrary rule.

In my lived experience, true balance comes with alignment: those moments where my body, mind, and soul are all in agreement, whether I am dealing with a flat tyre, absorbed in a sewing project, sailing, or deeply breathing in some yoga pose.

This alignment project is not uncomplicated, at least not for me, and it is definitely harder than finding balance in a yoga pose. In this world we have constructed as humans, most cultures teach us to listen to our minds, but rarely our bodies and never our souls. However, it is not impossible, and for me the tool is breath.

So the answer to the question: how do you balance it all? is potentially quite simple.

I try.