A Matter of Balance: Stillness in Motion

Marnie Sanborn Myhre

April 27, 2024

Healing Motion Wellness Center will turn one this June, and we recently installed a sign at our entrance off Big Bay Road to help visitors find us.  Shortly after that Penny Gill came up to me and said she wanted to put the word “stillness” underneath “Motion,” and though she didn’t elaborate she sure got me thinking.  Being still is an important element of wellness.  Being still can allow us to notice more and be more receptive to the world around us.  This winter I received a picture of a white ermine taken through the window of a friend - stillness had allowed her to notice the fun of that little creature.  And people can practice stillness while moving … When walking, running, swimming, knitting, practicing yoga, we can focus our attention in a way that promotes a stillness of mind, a kind of active meditation.  Many studies have identified the extensive health and wellness benefits of meditation, a stillness of the mind promoted by focused attention.

This relationship of motion and stillness requires a balance.  Sleep is required for the body to restore and repair - stillness to the max!  However, too much time in bed leads to adverse effects on the body and can make one stiff and sore.  Stillness of the body is needed for bones to repair after a break or surgical repair, but movement is essential to regain the normal range of motion of a joint - without it the joint tightens up and mobility suffers.  Our muscles, bones and joints benefit from movement which helps keep them strong and healthy.  Movement is important to maintain or increase strength and balance.  The profession of physical therapy gained widespread recognition and after WWI from work with injured soldiers revealing that those that got up moving recovered sooner than those that followed a prescription of bedrest.   

Everyone needs to discover their healthy balance between movement and stillness, yin and yang.  Some of us need to slow down and appreciate the benefits of stillness, while others need to get off the couch and get moving.  Screen activities of all sorts - phones, texting, tv, on-line gaming, social media - threaten to limit healthy movement on a large scale.  Screen time does not equal stillness in the meditative sense and can even have a more agitating effect.  Most of us have had the experience of getting caught in the trap of too much screen time.  Physical motion can help us escape.  

Healing Motion can help as well.  Recognizing the need for stillness in a meditative sense we offer sessions in Sound Bath Healing and Meditation along with more physically active sessions in Tai Chi, Yoga, Strengthening and Stretching, and Exercises for Balance, to name a few.  Come explore what fits best for your body!  And we have some new offerings coming in June: Story with Sound Healing with Maureen Muldoon, Yoga for Every Body and Gentle Movement for Pain/Healing.  Come give us a try … Your body and mind will thank you!