Center and the Idea of Me

One of the things that has always interested me, well maybe not always but for a long time, is center. Being Centered, what exactly does that mean?
One of the ideas that pops into my head when I think of center is that of a circle. The exact middle point of a circle. Another idea that pops into my head is more of a feeling of focus, steadiness, a sense of calm, a sense of knowing what it is that we want to do.
There is also an association with the idea of balance and stability like a cone standing upright on its base.
Another image is that of being on a homestead, a huge chunk of land and of course it’s circular in shape but right at the center of that land is our home. In this context I thought being centered would mean being at home and so being able to venture to any point in our land easily, or any point on the border of our land easily. Perhaps to take care of a fence that needed mending, or to take care of an incursion by would be invaders. But then once we’d finished, center, our home, would be the place we returned to so that we could venture out once again.
Because I teach a lot of tai ji and yoga I spend a lot of time teaching people how to feel their physical center. In this case the center I’m teaching them to feel is their center of gravity, their balance point. Because we all have a relationship with the earth we all are subject to its gravity. Gravity pulls all the parts of our body towards the center of the earth but because all the parts of our body are connected, the pull of gravity is focused on one part of our body, our center. We can think of this as the balance point for our body.
The way we can feel our center is by using their connection with the earth. If we are standing that means our feet. We can use our feet to feel where our center is and if we are off center we can use our legs to move body until are balance point is directly over the center of our foundation. Then our center and our point of contact with the earth all line up with the earth’s center and with the force of gravity.
No matter what shape we make our body into we can use our connection with the earth to feel where our center is and we can then place our center over our foundation. It doesn’t matter whether we are straight or bend or constantly moving, if we can feel where our center is we can place it over our foundation and stay balanced.
If we decide to stand upright, perhaps with our knees slightly bent then we can align our whole body with the force of gravity. Now our whole body is centered and because our legs and spine are aligned with gravity, we can relax a little and allow out bones to carry our weight. Balancing we can relax our hips and allow our lower back to straighten, we can balance our head and straighten our neck and then the muscles that support the spine can relax a little because the spine is straight and in line with gravity. Then we can use our head and spine for our shoulders and arms to hang down from and they relax too. And we can breathe and at the same time be ready to move in any direction we want. Or we can stay centered and stable and direct our gaze inwards, centered in ourselves.
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Standing centered as we did above means that we are centered in relationship to the earth. Centered and aligned with gravity, our whole body centered, then we can relax as much as possible and still stay centered. We free our energy to do other things. Standing centered while doing other things we don’t have to spend so much energy on balancing so we can focus it more on what we are doing at the time. That doesn’t mean we don’t think about balance, we do, but we do so in such a way that the effort is efficient and meaningful. If we are doing something while being aware of where our center is (with respect to the earth) we can notice as early as possible when we move away from center and correct it.
And this doesn’t mean that we have to stand centered all of the time. Rather, what is important is being aware of where our center is so we can shift it if we need to. And the more aware we are of our center and what we are doing at the time the easier it is to get the two ideas work together. As an example, pushing a car out of a snow pile we lean our weight forwards and then use our weight to help push the car forwards, but staying aware so that when the car actually does go forwards we can quickly move our feet back under our center so we don’t fall on our face. Or in a tug-o-war we lean back so that our weight helps us to pull the opposing team back. In these two cases we are still aware of our center but in the context of what we are doing and we use our awareness to aid us.
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So what about having a non-physical center, a core idea of who we are or what we are trying to do?
Many of the most well known companies in the world have an image, an Icon, an idea, some center around which they have built themselves up. Some of my favorites are Nike, Apple, Lexus, Body Shop, Lush. They all have something special, a Center that pulls all the other things that they do together. Nike started off as a shoe company and that they still are but now they also sell sports fashions and accessories but always at the core a symbol and a product, a sports product. Apple, integrated computer systems that work consistently and are easy to use. Lexus, luxury motor vehicles. Starbucks is another one. Not everyone likes their coffee but there are a lot of people who do. And what is at their core, good coffee in a pleasant environment.
And so the question we can ask ourselves, what is at the core of each of us. Who are we, what is the change that we want to create in the world around us? What is the idea that can be used to pull our family life our work and our passions together. What is the center that we can be ever mindful of in whatever it is that we do. What is the idea that each of us is?
Knowing the answer to this question we can center ourselves in that.
“What is the idea of me?”