As a child, I studied ballet. I can tell you that centering is not a natural thing; you have to find it. When I was a child, I didn’t care about being centered in life, in spirit, in time. I only cared about music, climbing, and dreaming. I didn’t care about the center until I was 6 and mom put me in the ballet class that I had begged her for. I learned, almost immediately, that I had a center of gravity and I was expected to respect that.
Now, I can still do the six ballet positions with a large textbook on the crown of my head and not drop it. I show my students every year. While being able to demonstrate the respect that I had to learn for my center of gravity has given me terrific posture, it doesn’t mean that I never fall.
In my 20’s I was a gymnastics coach for 6 years. The first thing I taught students was how to fall. You are always going to fall, but if you do it properly, you can get up and try again. Falling is human and it hurts. We need to be taught how to right ourselves and find center again.
Respecting my center of gravity doesn’t mean that I never fail, either.
An education instructor in college told me that learning wasn’t possible unless you felt pulled out of your safe space and had to right yourself again. Honestly, I always feel a bit off-balance. It may be because I am limping in the grocery store with my arthritic knee. It may be because I am in a social situation and I am not sure if it is safe to talk about “my wife”. It can be because I am spiritually and emotionally burdened by the hardship and suffering that I see on TV.
Centering is still not natural for me. I have to choose to be intentional every day because I always feel vulnerable. So, I pray. I pray, not only because it gives me comfort, but because it gives me a center. Praying gives me strength. It gives me the strength to get pulled from my safe space and engage people who are in a position to make change happen. Praying allows me to shine a light on injustice. Praying helps me center.
What helps you center?
Linda Kennedy