Vrksasana is one of the most recognizable balance postures.  The trick to holding vrksasana for an extended period is twofold.  First, good leg strength and control is needed so one can remain balanced on the single leg for a lengthy amount of time. Some of the muscles must be tensed and some must be soft.  Not only do we learn balance in our posture but we learn balance within our own bodies.  Second, one must maintain a strong focus as distraction will, like a strong wind, cause your tree to sway and even topple.

It is not only in our asana that we can and must learn balance but also in our daily activities.  If we allow one activity or line of thinking to become feverish and all-consuming then the other activities and needs in our lives become neglected.  This is easy to see at the first of the year, many make lofty resolutions and work feverishly toward reaching those goals for about two weeks and then two things happen:  They become burned out on the new activity and, at about the same time, those things they may have neglected suddenly demand their attention.  The attendance in my evening classes is a great example of this:  24 one night, 30 the next and now back down to 15 last night.  I expect that the class will stabilize between 14 and 20; so, where did all the others go?  I would hazard a guess that they were finding their lives were somewhat out of balance and did the easy thing, which is to drop the new activity.

I would encourage you to find balance in your life.  Build your strength by improving your relationships with yourself and those around you.  These relationships are like the strength of your legs and some will need to be more intense and others will need to be softer.  Also find your focus, why are you doing what you do?  Find purpose in all that you do and if you cannot find purpose in an activity, then why do it?

I find that the purpose of many of the things I do is to care for my family:  Work, taking care of things around the house and family activities fill much of my time.  My church responsibilities fill a great deal of my free time and as this church service makes me a better husband and father, I am again focusing on caring for my family.  My Yoga study and teaching brings a well of calm to my everyday activities.  That spills over into how I interact with my family.  I feel safe in saying my main focus that helps me balance my life is my family, why?  The answer is simple, my family brings me joy—heartburn and sleepless nights as well but mainly joy and men are that they might have joy. 2 Nephi 2:25.

Namasté