“Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.
If it were always a fist or always stretched open,
you would be paralysed.
Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding.”
Rumi
You may have heard that it is important to find balance in all things. But what does it really mean to feel balanced, and how do we recognise when we have become off-kilter in some aspect of our lives?
When we feel balanced, we instinctively know it. We feel calm, centred, grounded and energised, with the different aspects of our lives working together rather than pulling us too strongly in one direction.
Modern life, however, has a tendency to ask more and more of us. At times we can feel too “stretched open”: pushing ourselves physically or mentally without enough time to rest, giving too much of ourselves without allowing ourselves to receive, or simply trying to keep pace with competing demands. We have all experienced those periods when life leaves us feeling stressed, scattered and out of balance.
The reasons are deeply individual, but the need to return to our centre is universal.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, balance is fundamental to health and wellbeing. Symptoms such as low energy, anxiety, tension, headaches or poor sleep can be understood as signals that something in the body or mind may be out of equilibrium. Acupuncture can support this process by using carefully selected points to encourage relaxation and restore a greater sense of balance.
Yoga offers another way of coming back to centre. Balance postures such as Tree Pose require us to root through the feet while finding stability through the whole body. They also demand such concentration that, for a moment, it becomes difficult to focus on anything else!
Over the years as an acupuncturist and yoga teacher, I have found several simple practices particularly helpful during stressful or overwhelming times.
1. Root yourself
Sit comfortably cross-legged with your hands resting on your legs. Notice the places where your body meets the floor: your sit bones, legs and feet.
Gently press your sit bones down and bring your awareness to the natural rise and fall of your belly as you breathe. As you exhale, feel the pelvis gently settling back and the tailbone descending towards the floor. As you inhale, allow the pelvis to tilt forward slightly.
Rather than trying to change your breath, simply listen to it. Let your awareness settle into the support beneath you.
2. Find your centre
Stand in Mountain Pose with your feet about hip-width apart. Lift your toes, spread them and slowly lower them back to the floor, noticing the contact beneath each foot.
Imagine your body as a tree: your feet are the roots, your legs the trunk and your spine reaching upwards. Visualise your roots extending deep into the earth, giving you a sense of strength and stability.
Bring your hands together at your heart and notice the central line of your body. Pause here for a few breaths.
3. Use reassuring words
When life feels out of control, it can be easy to feel as though you are on a Ferris wheel that you cannot get off. A simple affirmation can interrupt this cycle.
While breathing slowly, quietly repeat words such as:
I can manage.
It will all get done.
I am doing the best I can.
The words themselves are less important than finding something that feels reassuring and true for you.
4. Create space gently
When life already feels overwhelming, strong physical stretching may not always be what the body needs. Gentle movement can instead create a little more internal space without asking anything more of you.
Sitting cross-legged, clasp your hands in front of your chest. As you exhale, extend your arms forwards, pushing the heels of your hands away to gently stretch the upper back, particularly the area between the shoulder blades where tension often accumulates.
On your next inhale, raise your arms overhead and lengthen through the sides of your body, lifting the ribs away from the hips and creating space for a fuller breath.
Release your hands. As you exhale, lower your right hand towards the floor and reach your left arm gently over to the right, keeping the right shoulder relaxed. Take a few slow breaths before returning to centre and repeating on the other side.
These simple practices remind us that balance does not mean remaining perfectly still or maintaining the same state all the time. Like the hand in Rumi’s poem, we are continually opening and closing, expanding and contracting, giving and receiving.
Perhaps true balance lies not in resisting these natural rhythms, but in learning when we need to soften, strengthen, and simply come back to our physical and emotional centre.
Life will inevitably feel chaotic and stressful at times. But by creating small moments of grounding, movement, breath and stillness, we can give ourselves the space to move with those changes rather than being pulled off course by them.
