“A tree that is unbending is easily broken.”
-Lao Tzu
In the parable of the oak and reed, the oak tree is stiffer but snaps, whereas the reed is less stiff, but able to bounce back. True core stability is the ability to react at the right time with the right amount of stiffness. Core alignment is a full-body experience, and your body is designed for mobility. Think of a surfer’s trunk shifting in all directions to respond to the waves, or a boxer who dances around his opponent to avoid a punch. Both athletes are dynamically stable as their cores are moving, and they maintain control of their body’s center of gravity with resilience. Yet true resilience extends beyond just a physical construct to encompass your mental, emotional, and spiritual ability to withstand challenges!
As Bob Marley once said, “You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice”. Just as your body must grow resilient to perturbation, so should your mind and spirit. Each of us will experience adversity in our own turbulent times. The question is, how will you get through difficult times with non-negative thinking, and how can you learn and grow through perseverance and fortitude? A pessimist focuses on the difficulty in every opportunity, whereas an optimist recognizes the opportunity in every difficulty. Negative experiences may be used to mobilize previously dormant potential from within. A tree hunkers down through the winter, yet grows bigger, stronger, and more beautiful when spring arrives. The scientific community is recognizing the importance of psychological attributes for wellness and injury prevention. Resilience, optimism, confidence, positive self-perception, and sense of purpose are all strong predictors of future wellness and skills that you can acquire and develop to improve your psychological outlook to prevent injury.
Meditation, yoga, Pilates, and martial arts improve not just core stability, but also psychological factors that are important for health and injury prevention. In addition to strengthening the core, the benefits of these practices include reduced stress, decreased anxiety and depression, improved cognition, and reduced symptoms of chronic diseases, such as fibromyalgia (a medical condition characterized by chronic widespread pain) and lung disease. So, hang loose and fly like a butterfly to withstand all the perturbations and punches life brings your way with a fluid, adaptable, and dynamically stable body-mind-spirit.