STABILITY - IN BODY AND LIFE

Stability is commonly understood in life as a sort of predictability; a surety about the world and our place within it. There’s a sense of consistency, of capacity to plan and interact with the environment in a way that maintains some sort of homeostasis.

‘Stasis’ means equilibrium, to stand or stop from moving. It is similar to the meaning of stable, ‘being firmly fixed, unlikely to yield or overturn’.

Without a complete understanding of its true meaning, striving for stability can result in a life that becomes fixed, where the flow slows to stillness, and the outline of existence begins to take on a more rigid and stagnant form.

So it happens that the search for stability drifts unconsciously and inadvertently in the direction of stagnancy and rigidity.

But this is not about taking an audit of all the ways one’s life is stagnant or rigid, no.

It is about realising that stability, in the same manner as balance, is not a fixed state or place to arrive.

Rather, stability is the capacity to respond to the constantly changing environment, the order, chaos and uncertainty of life in the most efficient way available, where energy is built or conserved for the next move.

Stability shows up in the realms of martial arts, dance, board sports and athletics through a characteristic ease, grace and effortlessness in movement.

A stylish surfer demonstrates the capacity to navigate the breaking wave beneath them whilst building speed and power for their next manoeuvre, all the while making it look relatively effortless to the observer, an ‘easy grace’.

Their capacity for stability enables them to respond to the situation without compromising on what is coming next. They can make turns whilst holding speed and building into the next phase of the ride.

So there is this constant dialogue between external and internal, between sense and situation, that produces an outcome in the way we manifest in the world.

Simply put, stability looks fixed, still and solid, but it is really the result of a continuous conversation happening within, invisible to the external observer.

Improve your stability through challenging yourself with novelty, uncertainty and dynamic environments. This improves your capacity to deal with the bumps and perturbations of life, all the while holding the semblance of stillness and solidity without becoming rigid and stagnant.

Make it stand out

Bamboo has this quality of stability through its capacity to bend and sway in the turbulent winds, whereas a tall gum tree may, in its own way, fall to the winds (of chaos & uncertainty) through its own inability to yield, by being too rigid and ‘stable’ (in the old definition).

Seek novelty.

Challenge predictability.

Discover an unexplored pathway.

Then return to the sameness of life with a more robust and intelligent system.

Ride the wave with an ease and grace that previously felt unavailable.

Train hard, fight easy.