The Secret to Surfing Balance

Aloha Tribe,

I've been thinking a lot about balance lately. Training night and day, sometimes, even sleeping an hour or two here or there. And, as I've been exploring what's happening inside my bodies muscles, I've also been following my chi flow.

And, I found a secret. At least, for me. And, ultimately, that's really all that any of us can do, namely, find what works for us.

I mentioned earlier that I built a Tight Wire Trainer for tighrope walking today, and, I've spent countless hours on it today and this evening.

I've been studying my balance, on my new training equipment.

And I found that the secret seems to be flexing or tightening your psoas major and also your iliacus muscles. These are located on the front of your hips, sort of on the outside front actually.

By flexing these muscles, as well as flowing chi into them, I found that my balance on my tight wire trainer instantly improved 100%.

The first time I did it, I simply flexed the muscles, that is to say, I merely noticed that they were flexed as I walked on the thin steel pole. But, once I realized what muscles were involved, I was immediately able to use Nei Dan Chi Gung to mentally guide my energy or chi through those muscles.

In the field of tighrope or tightwire walking, the masters of the art say that one needs to flatten out the arch of the lower back. There are numerous ways to do this, the simplest being a game called Trap the Mouse. In it, you lay on the floor and have a friend place their hand under the arch of your back, and, at their chosing, they try to draw their hand away, while you try to straighten out your back and trap their hand. It's a fun game. Of course, it can be done alone, standing against a wall, for example.

In any event, the masters of the high wire say that the key to balance is in this movement. Thus, hip flexion, in other words, lifting your knee towards your chest.

Now, as it relates to balance, at least for me, the mere slightest energy or chi flow into the muscle, without actually flexing it, is enough to alter my bodies balance, thus, enabling me to remain casually standing balanced upon my tightwire.

Transferring this idea to surfing, such flexing of these muscles is enough to allow one to play with their balance upon their board. This then frees up the dramatic and even extreme body movements of shifing your entire weight in any given direction.

Granted, this might not work for most, but, I wanted to share it since it seems to be working for me. It was a truly wildly fun discovery tonight, and, I'm looking forward to an evening of exploration regarding degrees of tension, chi flow direction, chi density, chi temperature, chi movement patterns such as spiraliing, circling, zigzagging, or going straight, and so on.

Bodaciously Stoked,

Lily of the Valley