Teaching Your Body What Balance and Center Feel Like
One of the biggest challenges I see in my clients is the difference between what they think is centered and what actually is centered in their body.
If you’re trying to improve your balance, one of the first steps is to help your body understand what it feels like to really be centered.
The widely accepted “correct” center looks like this: ears over shoulders, shoulders, over hips, hips over knees and over the front of the ankles. Individuals may vary, but that’s a good place to start.
Illuminate me.
Because of our own patterns and compensations, we often perceive center as either forward on our feet or back on our feet. Then when we move around that affects how we walk, where our weight goes and how much we’re able to control a disturbance in that shift of weight.
Here’s an exercise to reset your nervous system and help your body understand where center is.
Try it…
First, we want to see where your center is, so we know where we’re starting. Stand with your side to the mirror and just feel your feet.
Does it feel like there’s more weight on the front or the back of your feet?
Don’t try to adjust it. Just feel it.
Look in the mirror and notice if your body is stacked as described above. Does it look like you’re leaning a little forward or a little backwards?
Then keep your body straight as though you’re in a plank and hinge forward and back on the ankles. You’re just trying to see how far you can go forward without the heel lifting up and how far you can go back without the toes lifting up. You don’t want either to lift up. You just want to ride the line.
Make sure you’re moving from your ankles and not from your hips or torso.
Do this six or seven times, then come back to center.
Look in the mirror and see what it looks like.
Are you forward of where you were or backwards?
Do you look like you’re more upright.
Notice what this feels like in your feet. What does the weight distribution between the balls of your feet and your heels feel like?
Notice what it feels like from the heels up to your tail bone, and from your tailbone up to the back of your skull. Don’t adjust. Just notice what this feels like and know that it’s more centered than before.
You can do this exercise any time you’re standing. Every time you come back to center, reinforce what that feels like.
Over time it becomes a natural part of your stance and your weight distribution becomes more even.
Let us know what you think. Contact us here. We’d love to hear from you!