What is Balance?
The promise of this web site, “Helping you increase your balance, energy and focus…” reminds me that not everyone thinks about these ideas the same way. And since I want you to have the best possible experience here, I’d like to go over the practical implications of the concepts promised in this statement.
Let’s start with balance.
If you ask someone to describe what balance looks like, you’ll get a variety of answers. One of the most common is the “scales of justice” picture you’ve probably seen:
At first glance, you might look at this picture and think, yes, it does represent balance. After all, both sides are balanced and even with each other.
But there’s a problem with this viewpoint when applied to balance in our daily lives. Can you see what it is?
Go to the head of the class if you said that this image shows a static balance, while the events in our lives are always moving and shifting.
In fact, this kind of static “balance” is anything but balanced. Life is dynamic, not static. Therefore, real balance requires a much more resilient, dynamic response to life.
True Balance
A more accurate representation of living balance is the following image:
This is the Oriental symbol called the taijidu (grand ultimate symbol). There are many things to notice in this simple diagram.
For example, the two different colored areas within the circle are represented as moving, shifting. They represent yang and yin, the complementary opposites seen in every aspect of life. Here are some examples of these complementary opposites:
- Day / Night
- Summer / Winter
- Male / Female
- Sunshine / Shadow
- Sky / Earth
- Young / Old
- Hot / Cold
One thing to notice about each of these pairs is that you cannot have one without the other. If everything were the same temperature, you’d never know what hot or cold is. If there were only one gender, you’d never have children. Without sunshine you couldn’t have shadows.
Another interesting feature of this diagram is the little spot of the opposite color right in the midst of the larger swirl of both colors. This represents the fact that each of the complementary opposites carries the seed of its opposite qualities.
The easiest way to understand this is to note that the original meaning of yang and yin were the sunny and shady side of a mountain, respectively. In the morning, the eastern-facing side of the mountain catches the sun, and the western side is shady. But in the evening, the western side is sunny, while the eastern side is in the shade.
Every complementary pair of opposites is like that, constantly shifting from one phase to another. Even men and women change as they age – post menopausal women tend to have more testosterone when their estrogen goes down, therefore having more male qualities than before. Andropausal men tend to mellow and become more yielding and relaxed as their testosterone levels lower.
You can see from all this that balance isn’t just some static state, but rather requires us to be flexible, adaptable and to go with the flow of events. And qigong practice is an outstanding way to condition ourselves to be more responsive to events and therefore more balanced.
Next time we’ll look at the concept of “energy” as it relates to qigong.
Be well,
Dr. Bruce
baramimuri said,
November 6, 2008 at 4:26 am
if the post menopausal women trained qi energy, they could be female qualities instead of male..?
how do i know i am balanced after the qi energy training?
I get confused all the time.
Dr. Bruce said,
November 6, 2008 at 7:37 am
Hi Baramimuri,
It’s a good question.
The thing to remember is that everyone has both qualities all the time. The differences we notice come in part from the fact that each person naturally has a different mix of yin and yang qualities.
Then, over time, these shift in relationship to one another – as men age they tend to be more yielding and receptive in their personalities (yin qualities) and as women age their personalities tend to become more driven and focused (yang qualities).
Practicing qigong doesn’t push people out of balance, assuming they are doing it regularly and are patient about seeing results. That means that folks will tend to move towards whatever balance in natural for them at any stage of life.
How you know you’re balanced after training is largely a matter of how you feel. In other words, you should feel more relaxed, have a greater sense of energy flow within your body and be more resilient in dealing with life.
Hope that helps.
Dr. Bruce
baramimuri said,
November 8, 2008 at 1:52 am
now i understand the balance of yin and yang. gigong will keep balancing of my yin and yang right?
But, how do you feel relaxed if you are balanced.. i mean
If you are balanced, do you always feel relaxed?
And, what kind of energy sense will i have after i am balanced.
How do i know it is just not my imagination or feeling itself? Not real..
Is there any other way for me to know that i am balanced ?
other than feeling?
Dr. Bruce said,
November 8, 2008 at 5:25 am
Baramimuri,
It may help to think of the word, “balance” not as a thing or as something static, but as a process, or the ability to constantly adapt to changing conditions. Rather that “balance” think of “balancing.”
Walking is a good example. When we stand still, we can put equal amounts of weight on both legs. But standing still means not going anywhere.
By contrast, when we walk, we are essentially falling forward all the time and must shift our weight from one leg to the next to keep moving. This is the only way we can make progress forward.
In other words, to move forward we need to keep balancing constantly by adapting to circumstances and shifting as necessary.
Thinking about it this way means that there is no place called “balance.” There is no situation in which you are perfectly balanced. If you are alive, things are constantly changing. And because of that you will be constantly in the process of balancing.
Make sense?
Dr. Bruce
baramimuri said,
November 9, 2008 at 12:38 am
Yes, make sense.
So, does gigong help me balancing in walking?
And, how do i know that i am walking in better balance than before gigong?
Can I walk faster or something?
Dr. Bruce said,
November 10, 2008 at 11:01 am
Whether qigong helps with walking or not depends on the specific qigong exercise. For example, there are sets of qigong done entirely sitting. These aren’t likely to help with walking specifically.
My example of walking was to illustrate the point that balance isn’t a static “thing” so much as an ongoing process.
baramimuri said,
November 11, 2008 at 12:11 am
Dr. Bruce.
Don’t misunderstand me. I just want to know how i know that i am better balanced after the gigong training.
Is there any other practical way to know that i am any different after the training.
Gigong is not just feeling or imagination, right?
It actually happens, right?
I have been visiting a lot of web site and asking this question
but nobody gives me clear answers.
Thank you
Dr. Bruce said,
November 11, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Baramimuri,
It sounds like you’ve been well-conditioned to not believe your own senses and experience.
Unfortunately, this is all too common for most of us. Growing up we become accustomed to relying on “authorities” to tell us what to do, tell us how to think and even to interpret our experiences for us.
Here’s the thing: nobody else lives inside our skin but us. To ask me to tell you how you know anything, much less how you know you’re more balanced after qigong is akin to asking me to look into a crystal ball and read your mind.
Even if I could do such a thing, I wouldn’t. Not because I’m mean, but because it’s not fair to you. It would only propagate the illusion that “authorities” should be trusted more than our own experiences and inner wisdom. If nothing else, qigong is ultimately about learning how to trust our inner wisdom.
So, I suppose my best answer to you about how you’ll know you are experiencing balance – and whether or not qigong is “just a feeling or imagination” – is to say that you will know it when you come to the place of trusting your inner wisdom.
And that only comes with practice and experience.
As Sifu Lew used to say, “You practice.”
Be well,
Dr. Bruce