Natural Movement Skills: Balance

Here we go into more detail on some key Natural Movement skills and techniques. Without proper technique, you will not be able to be moving efficiently. Moving efficiently means not wasting energy, optimising your performance and moving safely.

Key Natural Movement skills covered in this series of blogs are:

Balance, Running, Jumping, Crawling, Climbing, Lifting and Carrying, Throwing and Catching.

BALANCING

Balance is necessary for any movement. And you don’t have to be walking a tightrope to be demonstrating it - even standing still requires balance. In order to improve your balance you should focus on Perception and Posture.

Good perception means a heightened awareness of where your centre of gravity is in relation to the surface that you are on (e.g. the floor) and your points of support (e.g. your feet if you are standing, or your buttocks when you are sitting). Your bodyweight needs to distributed evenly over your points of support and from your centre of gravity down to the surface.

So for example, if you are standing then your centre of gravity is slightly behind your belly button, your feet are your points of support, and the floor is the surface. If you are carrying something heavy, you would naturally shift your body weight to accommodate your new centre of gravity. If you are crawling, then your points of support are your hands and your feet and as you move, you are shifting your body weight according to which of these are in contact with the ground.

Posture plays a vital role here too. If you have a proper alignment, you will find it easier to re-distribute your bodyweight to where you need it without feeling tension in your muscles (i.e. the shakes!).

For more about Posture, you can check this video here