"Finding Balance in your Life" or some similar headline dons the covers of magazines, newspapers and the latest self-help best seller.  Even kids are needing to find balance between school work, play, and the multitude of scheduled add-ons--soccer, violin, swimming, cheer, math tutoring, science and drama clubs, and karate.   There are an overwhelming amount of tasks to perform in one day.  Add to that the past to ruminate over, the future to plan for and a heap of worry about it all and it can be overwhelming.  Where is the balancing point?  Why should you care?

There are others besides Oprah that encourage us to find the middle ground.  Take for instance, Siddhartha Gautama, later know as the Buddha.  Having been raised in a life of luxury, he joined a group of ascetics who were looking for a way to find enlightenment.  The thinking was that by ridding themselves of worldly goods, including food (didn't they have Haagen Dazs Belgian Chocolate?)  and practicing self-mortification, they would reach a higher, desired state.  These guys were pretty serious and Siddhartha nearly starved himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day.  He collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha realized that extreme asceticism nor self-indulgence didn't work and discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way--a path of moderation away from these extremes. 

In the yogic teachings of Patanjali in the Yoga Sutra 2:26, Patanjali suggests a balance between effort and ease in our yoga practice (sthira-sukham asanam).   In this sutra, Patanjali explains that every yoga posture needs to be balanced with qualities of Sthira (steady, stable, effort, steadfast) and qualities of Sukham (ease, delight, and joy). It is by practicing both of these extremes, between effort and ease that we find balance in the middle, blending effort and ease, moving and pausing, expanding and contracting. 

I don't know about you, but much of my yoga practice is about moving and efforting.  I have to think about relaxing and finding the ease.  Not a surprise, given our society's tendency for overdoing.   It seems like over-doing becomes the natural state and one has to "work" to relax or find "balance."   Try to find books titled "Lowering your Expectations",  "Seven Ways to Underperform", or "Find Success in Taking it Easy". 

Are you able to move closer to the middle, finding the sweet spot between overdoing and underdoing. Can you help your kids schedule more unscheduled time.  If you're days are filled with necessary tasks, try to find the middle ground.   While tidying your home, notice if you can unclench your jaw, relax your shoulders, and move slower than feels natural.  Can you try to find that middle path?

[Want to read some of my earlier posting.  You can find them here.  Enjoy.]