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This week was the vernal equinox so I have spent the week focused on finding balance. In my healing practice three amazing woman received a chakra balancing attunement in water designed to restore alignment and energy to their chakra system. In my classes we explored balance in our physical and mental bodies through breath and poses becoming aware of the peace we feel when finding balance.

But what is balance? We all seek it, think we want more of it and believe our lives would be easier if we had it. We spend a lot of time and money trying to effectively manage our time and the demands on us thinking that if these outside things changed we would find balance. When it comes to balance it seems that we think an easy problem free life and balance are linked.

So what is balance and how do we achieve it? The point is we do not achieve it because balance is an active state. In order to be in balance we must continuously react to the shifts and changes that our world creates for us. How we react creates our balance. The information we take in from our senses, the to do lists of tasks and the worries of threats cause us to react. When we react to events externally we tend to respond quickly and instinctively from a place of frustration, fear and emotion  usually creating extreme shifts and changes which can cause us to be imbalanced. If we chose not to react immediately but take a pause to dive inside through breath,closing of eyes or repeating a mantra or prayer when we come back to the surface we have slowed our reactions.  The shifts and changes are slower and more subtle. They come  from a response to what is the need and the true nature of the information or situation which creates a balanced response in which we are steady and calm. You start to feel that you are more in a flow with our life and that even when challenges arise you are able to not panic, stay in the moment and find the solution. Ahhhhhh peace. That feeling of fluidity and peace is the best sign you have found your balance. You are living life, life is not living you.

As true with most things when I spend this much time teaching something the universe seems to step in and challenge me to practice what I teach. This was very true for me this week. Since I had spent so much time focused on balance and what it is and how to maintain it the universe decided I should step up and put my teachings into action. Be careful what you focus on or, in Sanskrit, chose your drishti wisely for it may manifest.

On Friday afternoon my husband was informed  by a company that was interested in hiring him that they had decided to go in another direction. When he first broke the news that he was once again “underemployed” in January I jumped into my old reaction pattern, fear of economic insecurity and lack of health insurance. I was upset and angry and not in a good place for a week. This time I took a moment, went inside and felt that overwhelming sense that we had been supported by the universe before (during 2.5 years no income while working on a start-up) and we will again. I came back and shrugged , said that it was not the right position for him and something different was on the horizon. No anger, no frustration this time just acceptance and faith. Now do not get me wrong I have moments of sadness and fear but by going inside and taking a moment to check in and find I am safe allows me to move through it ,not get stuck in it and adjust to regain my balance. It allows me to maintain balance and peace within me even when the world outside me is shifting, changing and challenging.

Just like in a challenging yoga pose life shifts and moves but how we shift and move with it determines our balance and ultimately our quality of peace. If we start to wobble in yoga and over react with our body we will fall out of the pose, if we make subtle shifts and changes from within we stay balanced for as long as we choose.