Down the Center Line: Fall Off, Return, Fall Off, Return to Center

Down The Center Line:
Return to Center - Because You Can
 

Balance, Grounding, Control:
Trace the center line from the feet to the top of the head so that when you fall off center, as we all do all the time, you know where to go back to.   And how to get there.  I can't even begin to describe the essential applications - just everything from mind to body to spirit.

Four footed beings have great stability. Some have great speed, others strength.  But upright humans, with our whip of a spine, spin, dive, twist, roll, arch, curl and use all the movements that arise from our two-legged length - as long as we return to ground and hold the center.  As long as we don't fall, we are amazing.
  
But reach out too far in any direction and feel parts of yourself seize up as the body attempts to maintain balance in gravity. In other words, to not fall.  Knowing that center line, and how far we can safely deviate from it, is core to confident movement.  Confidence to know just how far you can go, and how to get back to home when you stray.
 
This lesson explores the center line of human body.  Know that, depending on your body and how you use it, that center line may NOT be exactly down the middle.  It doesn't have to be in order for you to be balanced and effective.  You just have to know where your center is today, and how you use the rest of the body to maintain balance.

This lesson is for both people sitting on a firm chair or sitting on the floor.  Seated students might again want a small stool to raise the feet and enable a little more hip mobility.  

We begin with small movements of the hands to sense the center line.    Gradually we add turns of the torso and movements of the back and hips to experiment with maintaining the centerline in complex configurations.  And keep the hands soft and the breath steady.  

Fall off and return, fall off and return, fall off and return.  That is the human condition.  

This lesson has its roots in martial arts, meditation and spiritual practice. See where it meets your curiosity about what center means to you.