One area I have trouble with is my walk.
I often lose balance after stepping onto my left foot, requiring a quick step onto the right to keep up. This is made much worse when I have a partner who has any tendency to lean/step that direction. Interestingly, I do not have any problem when stepping backward.
Last Friday morning, I was attending a meditation practice, and as it happened, the practice for the day was walking meditation. With 30 minutes of slowly walking back and forth, focusing on the physical sensations of walking, I discovered two things.
First, that pushing through the step is comfortable, and if I push my center of gravity all the way up over the ball of my foot, I have no balance problems with that step. I have tried to apply this while dancing, and am making some progress. Focusing on getting my balance all the way there is hard when I'm trying to listen to the music, navigate, and connect!
Second, I during that walking meditation, I also tried letting my hips go to lesser and greater degree, and I learned that that is another way of getting your center of gravity aligned: by letting the left hip out, you shift your center enough to be balanced!
How do the rest of you reach your balance?
(Third: focus on meditation is tough when it's an act I have spent a lot of time attaching other efforts to. Whew!)
Have you ever injured that foot? I had problems for some months: my balance seemed fine in that I could stand on one foot easily, but when it came to dancing - moving - I would lurch every now and again, to the concern of partners! I was wearing a pair of very light, soft dance sneakers which were very comfortable, but gave my feet no support. The moment I switched to a harder pair of shoes the problem went away, as my foot could no longer roll out.
ReplyDeleteI'd injured the foot and limped through it instead of getting help from a physio. So the foot got injured again... and again. I've done quite a bit of work to strengthen it, and good shoes help a lot.
It's worth getting someone to film you every now and again walking and dancing, and find a way to slow it down. & look out for Ricardo Vidort on YouTube: you can watch almost everything you need to know about walking from him. Download with YouTube Downloader and slow it down if you can. Best advice I got in Buenos Aires: aim to step forwards with a straight leg; the leg straightens out with a little last-minute kick before meeting the floor. It pushes you upright and gives your partner an emphatic beat.
Wow, I missed a few of your entries here and so it is quite enjoyable to catch up. Also, quite nice to see you and dance with you the other day.
ReplyDeleteAs you know I have had some issues around this, and have found that taking it under control with some attention/meditation along with pysical work has a big payoff.
Try it with high heels sometime. :)
I would love to try it with high heels, but I need a size 14 heel, which seems hard to find! Need to commission a tango shoe, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteI have injured the *right* foot, actually, though not the left ... but it could be the result of that. I'll have to think about it.
I have videotaped myself occasioanlly, and it has been helpful ... but not for quite a while. Thanks for the suggestion!
My ankles start to wobble sometimes. I have the strength but they have some kind of bad habit to do so.
ReplyDeleteWhen brushing my teeths I from time to time stand on my left leg in the morning and on right in the evening exploring what happends. How my foot is working to keep the balance.
When walking try to keep your leggs as relaxed as possibly, then your muscles have capacity to do something if a correction is needed.