{"id":70,"date":"2020-09-15T20:58:05","date_gmt":"2020-09-16T03:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/?p=70"},"modified":"2020-09-15T20:58:05","modified_gmt":"2020-09-16T03:58:05","slug":"its-all-such-a-delicate-balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jryogi.rhinoaviation.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/its-all-such-a-delicate-balance\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s All Such a Delicate Balance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two of my favorite balance asanas are Tree (Vrksasana) and Lord of the Dance (Natarajasana). I\u2019m still not very good at Lord of the Dance, since there\u2019s some flexibility still lacking. It\u2019s fun regardless, and certainly challenges my balance. Tree is often good and solid. Lately in class we\u2019ve occasionally been doing a variant, Bending Tree (I think of it as Willow Tree). That\u2019s certainly more of a challenge as one\u2019s mass shifts over the foot in a way that maintains the center of mass directly above the foot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of my practice has been with a hard floor under my mat, either hardwood or concrete. I recently was in a different room and had my mat on a nice carpet. After about a week and a half of that, I had to return to the room with hardwood floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I noticed a big difference in the way my balance poses felt, especially<\/em> Tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the hard floor, I was initially using just the big muscles in my lower leg to balance, along with those of my upper body to shift my center of mass. I wasn\u2019t aware of what I was doing, but that\u2019s what I was doing. As I improved my balance and my awareness of my body, I started noticing that my feet were getting a little tired when I held Tree for a long time. I realized that in this pose I wasn\u2019t using the big muscles in my legs and upper body much anymore: my center of mass was staying generally right where I wanted it. I was using the small muscles in my grounded foot to make small adjustments and maintain my center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t sure how I would like it when I moved to the carpet. I was concerned that it was too soft and too squishy, with too much give. I was concerned it would be harder to balance, whether in Lord of the Dance or in Tree or in Eagle (Garudasana) or in Figure Four (Eka Pada Utkatasana). Though it took me a little while to get used to it, I was, indeed, able to balance just fine. In fact, I noticed that the small muscles in the sides of my grounded foot were pushing against the carpet a little. When I moved back to the hard floor, I kind of missed that feeling, that ability to almost dig my foot into the carpet. Instead, though, I noticed that the small muscles in my feet were working a little harder than before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A delicate balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Song credit: Tom Dundee; I first heard this performed by Reilly&Maloney<\/a> in live concert at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.)<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"