Finding Balance … the hard way!

2024 was very full.

In a sometimes chaotic and stressful way, but mainly an incredibly fulfilling sense of fullness (studying in my Masters, completing a Counselling work placement, parenting, returning to teaching yoga, immersing in live music, hiking in Europe!!) I had intended to write a lot about balance this year… In reality I learned a lot about it in a very embodied way. Here are some of my thoughts.

In Yogic philosophy, finding balance is at the foundation of our practice. From the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali “sthira sukham asanam'“ (or balancing effort and ease in our posture), to the stories in Yogic mythology of deities such as Agni (the Fire god) being tempered by the goddess of Grace, Svaha. I love these stories and concepts because they are so varied and complex, yet universal and present in all of the wonderful stories of our world’s cultures.

One that resonates right now is a foundational story of Shiva and Shakti. There are so many ways that these two mythological deities can represent the concept of balance - being the embodiment of divine masculine (Shiva) and divine feminine (Shakti). In this version we can understand Shakti as an earthly, creative energy and Shiva as pure consciousness. In this part of the story Shiva’s first wife, Sati (Shakti embodied in human form), has died and he is so devastated that he retreats to Mt Kailash to meditate for celestial centuries. In his absence, by turning away from the world, a demon called Taraka appears on earth and is causing epic destruction. Taraka symbolises a ‘cosmic disturbance’ and in response the gods create a new version of Shakti - Parvati - to embody not only a creative force, but also an energy of discipline and devotion. Parvati’s mission is to call Shiva back from Mt Kailash to fight the demon. Parvati is said to have stood in the freezing River Ganges, right up near its source in the mountains, on one leg, chanting Om Namah Shivaya over and over and over until Shiva finally heard her call and realised that his pure consciousness was needed to overcome Taraka and bring balance back to the cosmos.  

Balance is something that we are constantly exploring and testing throughout life, rather than a destination that we can arrive at. Like peace or unconditional love, it is a quality that we might know when we are able to embody it in a moment but it can be fleeting. That balance point can shift and change with us as we move through life.

Sometimes it takes a huge shift out of balance to wake us up to make change - just like in the story. This might relate to physical health, burnout at work, depression, relationships, creativity, food or alcohol, our environment. And sometimes when we make changes we over compensate and shift the balance in the opposite direction!

Maybe like Shiva, we might turn away from the world (this could be turning off the news, retreating from the world of social media) because it is too painful. We might be doing something useful for ourselves like meditation, but without then turning those qualities back to do good in the world (like slaying some demons!) we are just naval gazing. We need to find something to devote this consciousness to, with discipline and creativity!

Some more examples:

Maybe it’s a period of burnout in our life that leads us to rest. But in turn this leads to a feeling of stagnation and we aren’t finding our flow.

Maybe we might overdo it a little bit with the Xmas pudding and red wine which leads to a period of detox and stress about what we put into our bodies. We might lose touch with our sense of fun and enjoyment.

Maybe it’s finally being able to connect to a feeling of creative flow and intuition and being moved at that speed of inspiration, and losing touch with the structure and responsibilities that you have at work, home or in relationships.

Despite knowing that balance is important, it can take embodied learning to truly understand what it is to find a sense of flow, but maintaining structure and knowing when you need to rest.

This feels like life’s work!! So don’t worry if you haven’t found this balance yet (or ever) because part of the amazing richness of living is to experience the dance between being in and out of balance.

The most important thing is to develop the ability to be curious and present with your experience in the moment.