Balancing is a Series of Falls
What would it look like to view falling as a part of balancing, mistakes as a part of learning and growing, and a necessary means to an end?
Photo by Caique Nascimento on Unsplash
Balancing is a series of falls. My yoga teacher said something about how balancing is just the process of falling in and out over and over again. While I wobbled slowly in tree pose, I had a light bulb moment. Balancing is just a series of falling in and out. Someone rarely balances right into a tree pose. You need to ground yourself, ready your limbs, fall in and out of balance, practice a lot, and reflect!
When I taught at an independent school in Marin County California, there was a class called Energy Time, a sort of combo of meditation and Aikido. At that time, an experienced and skilled teacher taught us to fall and get back up. At first, I was confused about the purpose of this exercise. It slowly dawned on me that practicing to fall and get back up helped me physically and mentally become more flexible and open to mistakes and learn from them. A few weeks after the practice, I fell backward while pulling weeds on the front walk. I used the techniques taught in the class to go with the fall and use the leverage of the movement to bring me back to standing. It was amazing! I didn’t resist the fact that I knew I was falling. I went with the motion literally and got back up more easily.
What would it look like to view falling as a part of balancing, mistakes as a part of learning and growing, and a necessary means to an end? Would we have less resistance and more acceptance of these moments? I think so. When I anticipate and accept that mistakes and pitfalls will happen as part of the process, I tend to be less resistant to learning from those mistakes. As a result, I grow.
Some things to consider when approaching falling and balancing:
- Identify and Acknowledge: when you have fallen or feel off balance
- Take time to Reflect: How did I get here? How did I contribute to getting here?
- More Reflection: Did I resist or accept? How did that feel?
- Move Forward: What, if anything, could I do differently next time? What did I learn about myself?
There is no balance without falling and no learning without mistakes. What if we practiced falling and making mistakes or at the very least took the time to reflect each time we felt off balance? What if we did not resist or ignore mistakes? Instead, we identified, acknowledged, reflected, and moved forward. Reflecting and acknowledging allows us to move forward and learn and keeps us from being stuck in unhelpful patterns. Practice Reflect Improve
