The body makes a coordinated and unconscious effort to stay balanced. Consciously exercising balance improves posture and breathing.
The brain devotes a noticeable part of its activity to maintaining the position of the body in balance.
All parts of the body weave a network of correspondences to achieve balance both when we are static on the planet, that is, we only move with it through the solar system, and when we advance on foot, running or with any of the displacement systems.
It is a fabric of relationships so complicated that, even today, when so much progress has been made in the study of balance, it remains unknown in some of its parts.
We know that any disruption of balance affects our overall health, and vice versa. Any emotional, psychic or spiritual disorder affects physical balance.
Although the process that leads us to be in balance is unconscious, over time we can adopt postures and positions that are not convenient and that harm us without knowing how or why. What causes the loss of tools to be able to be better with respect to the Earth, ourselves and the environment. Balance exercises can help you regain balance.
WHAT IS BALANCE?
If standing and looking straight ahead we close our eyes and stand on tiptoe, we will fall if we do not have the body aligned.
Both the eyes and the musculoskeletal system are part of the sense of balance, as well as the ear, skin, nervous system and brain that coordinates all of them.
In the inner ear is the vestibular apparatus, a system of fluid-filled chambers and ducts that monitor changes in head position.
Through the sensory hair that moves with the liquid, nerve impulses are transmitted to the brain about the different states of the position of the head with respect to the body and the place where we are.
This information is joined by the information that comes through the nervous system from the eyes and the musculoskeletal system (muscles, joints and bones).
From there the brain coordinates the movements necessary to maintain balance when walking, running, dancing, tying shoelaces…
WHY WE LOSE OUR BALANCE
When one of these systems fails, it compensates with the others. But the whole body participates in the process and any change in one part requires the modification of the rest.
We have an example when boarding an airplane: the pressure exerted on the ear canals when taking off or landing can change all body sensitivity and cause loss of balance or give the feeling that the head has remained in the clouds.
Another example to illustrate the following point: if it is not given a boost, a spinning top fall and finds its static equilibrium lying down. The smaller the base of support of a body and the higher the center of gravity with respect to its base, the greater the difficulty in balancing it. But at the same time that base facilitates its movement.
In humans, the base is small (the feet) and the center of gravity is very high (at 55% of its height, in front of the second lumbar vertebra).
That is why man is a terrible animal to maintain static and optimal balance for dynamic: the relationship of his base with his center of gravity facilitates the fall but also the movement.
The more movement, the more balance. Children who do not require special treatments need and recognize themselves in physical activity to seek the limits of their physical and emotional balance.
Tall people have difficulty coordinating their movements because their center of gravity is farther from the ground. Achieving their balance is an arduous task and from a young age they require a greater number of body awareness and movement exercises.
In any case, become aware of the voluntary acts that have become automatic by repeating them, demarcate the movements that are necessary from those that are not, recognize the habits acquired by the long hours of work in a position or when standing … These are not easy tasks. But they are necessary to save back, cervical pain or headaches.
Postural re-education methods help to increase body awareness. Both the Feldenkrais method and the Alexander technique, the Mézieres method, RPG or eutony teach to increase it.
The balance is also better harmonized the more favorable the relationship with the base. Reflexology or muscle exercises and massages performed on the feet help the whole body maintain a more stable and aligned position.
WHY IMPROVE BALANCE
The enhancement of a harmonious balance has a positive impact on the human being, harmonizing all his forces. This is how important it is to keep the balance, adopt a correct body position that supports it and watch, agree and adjust the elements that participate in it.
It is said that the greatest difficulty that animated film directors had to face to create their characters from the computer was to draw human beings that were not symmetrical. Those who were had a rather unpleasant, somewhat monstrous appearance.
We all have one foot slightly older than another, a somewhat longer leg. a slight deviation in the spine. Also, the ability to see is different for each eye and the holes in the nose each have a different shape.
We are asymmetrical and this is the natural thing, what makes us human. No human being is completely symmetrical. But it is harmonious, and that is where its beauty lies. Although that makes it difficult to find the center of balance.
Everything that does not fall is in equilibrium, but this does not mean that this balance is optimal. To know and improve it, we need to know how we come to adopt the bodily position with respect to the Earth that allows us the relationship with it.
HOW TO GAIN BALANCE?
Become aware of the voluntary acts that have become automatic by repeating them, demarcate the movements that are necessary from those that are not, recognize the habits acquired by the long hours of work in a position or when standing … These are not easy tasks. But they are necessary to save back, cervical pain or headaches.
- Postural re-education methods help to increase body awareness. Both the Feldenkrais method and the Alexander technique, the Mézieres method, RPG or eutony teach to increase it.
- The balance is also better harmonized the more favorable the relationship with the base. Reflexology or muscle exercises and massages performed on the feet help the whole body maintain a more stable and aligned position.
- Practicing physical exercise helps to gain balance and harmonize it. The more complex it is, the greater mastery of equilibrium is achieved. First you learn the simplest movements and positions, to get rid of harmful habits and internalize new ones.
- Then you have to align yourself with respect to the Earth through different placement exercises, the Pilates method, that of Pilar Domínguez or cos-art.
- Finally, the best exercises are those that combine changes of pace, direction, dexterity, skill, play, strength and speed.
- Among others, we recommend surfing both in the water and on wheels, scootering, rollerblading, table tennis, tennis, martial arts, dance, basketball or volleyball.
- All this will always depend on what we want most and if we want to understand and get closer to the body: pleasure is not incompatible with exercise, on the contrary.
BALANCE EXERCISES TO REGAIN STABILITY
FOOT EXERCISE TO IMPROVE BALANCE
- Stand on your right foot as if rooting you in the ground. He feels the abdominal strength and projects his spine towards the sky.
- Make half a tip with your left foot and whole tip until you leave the ground while putting your arms cross. Try to move the vertical as little as possible and look at a fixed point.
- Return to the starting position. Repeat the exercise with the other foot.
WORK THE POSTURE: FRONTAL EXERCISE
- With your left foot on the floor, raise your right leg until your foot is at knee height.
- Close your pelvis, position your leg so that your knee faces straight ahead, and then open it again. At the same time, move your arms up and down. An added difficulty is looking at the side of the leg that does not rise.
- Return to the starting position and repeat the exercise with the other leg.
WORK THE POSTURE: OBLIQUE
- In the anterior position let the hip decenter towards where the weight is.
- Stay suspended for a few seconds and let yourself fall towards where you have arched your hips, with your left foot on the ground ahead of your right, at the same time that you make a full turn with your arms. Close the circle by returning to the starting position.
- Repeat three times and change legs and direction.
LEG MOVEMENT TO DEVELOP BALANCE
- Stretch your arms and place one forward and the other up, at a 90º angle.
- Throw forward the leg of the arm you have advanced, totally relaxed. Let her return to the ground to throw her back, also relaxed. Do not stop the movement when you reach the ground. Use abdominal force so that the trunk does not move. Start below.
- To add difficulty, change the direction of your head.
STAYING BALANCED BY PUSHING YOUR LEG BACK
- Standing, arms crossed, bend your right leg back and leave your left straight.
- Push back, forward, or side on your right leg until you find balance and center on your left leg and foot. During the exercise, press the abdominal area against the back and root it on the ground through the support leg, and project it towards the sky.
BALANCE WITH LEG AND TRUNK STRETCHED
- In the posture of the previous exercise, with the leg stretched back, gradually bend the trunk by the hip joint. Stretch your whole body in this position.
- Go back to the starting point and repeat to the other side. Change direction and do not forget how important is the foot that supports you as the abdomen-back relationship.
BALANCE ON INCLINED PLANE
- Start as in the frontal exercise, extend the right leg and leave the weight on the left leg to tilt the trunk in block.
- Then repeat everything to the other side.
- The exercise is more difficult if starting from the standing position you take a step to the right, pick up the left to take another step with the right and on this foot perform the exercise.
STRETCH THE SPINE WHILE MAINTAINING BALANCE
- Lean with your hands and feet on the ground.
- From this position, tilt your hips back, to stretch your entire spine. It is important that the impulse comes from the hip and not from the legs.
- Then try to stretch your right leg back in the same direction in which you tilted your hips.
WHAT DOES A BALANCED POSTURE LOOK LIKE?
Any action carried out correctly from a balanced posture has the following characteristics:
- It does not denote effort although it implies strength and energy. Watch the evolutions of great dancers on stage, hear a great singer sing, watch an expert skier slide through the snow, see taichi or yoga masters in action… It makes us think that his movements are simple and easy. This is only so in appearance. In fact, after years of learning their respective techniques, they continue to repeat them until they purify them of any unnecessary effort so that they seem as natural and light as possible.
- It offers no resistance. If it offers, it is because when planning an action, we do it with added tension in some part of the body, which includes from frowning to tensing the tongue. Or that it is not related to our center of gravity. Every movement or force that is engendered in the body or reaches it must find a way out. The only way for this to happen is when it passes through the pelvis. The good pianist ensures that the movement of his fingers on the keyboard is born in the pelvis.
- It is possible to change its meaning. A well-balanced action must be able to be stopped and immobilized in any of its phases or reverse direction effortlessly and without changing the attitude. This is true except in reflex movements and those involving inertia, such as swallowing and jumping. But even some yoga or martial arts masters can reverse this type of movement.
- It allows you to breathe. Without correct breathing, balance is not possible. When the air does not enter pushing the diaphragm and stays in the superficial breathing of the upper chest, something goes wrong in the balance, as well as in the affections and emotions that it produces. If the breath flows to the diaphragm and reaches, through the anterior part of the body, the abdomen and the lower abdomen, and through the posterior, the back and all the nerve branches, then we are on the right track.
BALANCE, AN UNCONSCIOUS ABILITY
Our ancestors, over millions of years of evolution, began to lean on the feet instead of the four limbs.
Thus, they freed and made independent the movement of the hands and arms, which allowed them to first handle and then manufacture utensils, design tools, build houses and reach civilization.
All this thanks to the force that acts on us from the planet under our feet: the force of gravity.
The confidence and certainty of feeling the push or attraction that always acts and gives us shelter on Earth are what make evolution possible.
The strength that the Earth gives and receives is always the same, which makes it difficult to perceive, but gives us the assurance that it will not fail us and we will be able to walk, run, paint, love, read or grow food.
However, by not feeling it, we stop giving it the value it deserves, we forget the generosity with which it gives us energy without conditions. What should be a dialogue of forces becomes a monologue in which the Earth sustains us and we do and undo without having it present.
As a consequence, the balance fits it more or less well, but does not tune it. We organize ourselves amicably with gravity without knowing the optimal path. Thus, we adopt inappropriate positions that lead to discomfort and bodily dysfunctions.
When we are babies, we first learn to move our heads, then to roll with our bodies, to sit, to stand on all fours and, later, to crawl and investigate the world at ground level.
One day, among the things we touched and examined, we discovered the usefulness of furniture. With our hands clasped to a chair or a table, we push the body up and stand on both feet, like the elders. From there, we turn our heads, we can observe what is happening around us and direct the body towards what attracts us.
At first, we do everything a little in fits and starts, but we learn soon. And one of life’s greatest gifts arrives: we start walking. The simplest and most complete movement in balance.
Or we need to speak, or devices outside our own body, or listen to long explanations about how our forces are balanced in motion: only by imitating those who live around us do we understand and relate to the world. But it is impossible for us to remember how it happened or what strategies we used to achieve it.
The process that leads us to be in balance is unconscious. And the same happens with the primordial emotional processes that accompany it and that will profoundly affect our existence.
Unconscious learning has very positive aspects: its ease and speed. If we were to learn to stand or walk by explanations, given the quantity, precision, complexity and conjunction of mechanisms and parts involved, we would still be learning it.
READINGS ON BALANCE AND ITS EFFECT ON THE BODY
- Human body; Beverly McMillan. Ed. Libros Cupula
- Guide to improve body structure; John L. Stirk. Ed. Uranus