13 February, 2008

Worthless Trick

I have never been particularly good at balancing on one foot with my eyes closed. I think I once told how I keep my ankles strong for tennis by doing odd balances, but I need my eyes open to stay upright for more than a handful of seconds.

You might enjoy trying balancing right now, before I tell you what I did, so you can do a before and after.

So anyway, I was trying to give my eyes a little break after several too many hours staring at a screen. I went to a conference room, and just started staring out a window instead. Then I started passing the time by balancing. And I decided to see just how far I could move my balance point forward and backward and right and left. I was moving in kind of a size 12 rectangle. I'd balance on my big toe, then my outer heel, then my inner heel, and then my little toe, and that meant moving my weight back 10 inches or so, and to the right 2 inches or so, then left then back forward and right, etc.

I did that for a while on each foot, and I began to feel how stable my balance was when my weight was directly over the first knuckle of my little toe.

Nothing amazing. Just a mindless way to pass the time between perl hacking and red tape.

Then I tried to balance with my eyes closed.

And I could.

I had taught my foot what it feels like to have my weight at the outer limits in each of the four directions, so when I started to drift toward my big toe or elsewhere, I could feel it and fix it.

Not very profound, but it was funny for my mind to finally understand a feedback for the first time that my foot has been giving it for years.

10 comments:

Missy said...

That is one of the more profound worthless things I've heard.

Then again, maybe I'm up too late...

:)

Milly said...

:-}

Anonymous said...

I think it's fascinating. The OT who comes to see my son three times a week gets paid to understand how the brain works (and how to help it when it's not doing so great) with balance and touch and coordination and to help my son learn to manage these and other sensory under and overloads.

karen said...

Can you figure out how to balance our lives next, please? :-D

Kevin Knox said...

> Can you figure out how to balance our lives next, please? :-D

Pshaw! Give me a worthy challenge next time.

Set your eyes on the future, then wait for nightfall. Close your eyes, stand on one foot, start hopping for dear life in the last direction you remember, and pray like mad for the dawn!

karen said...

Okay...I'll try.


Trying. Trying.

Thunk!

:-)

Kevin Knox said...

See, that's the trouble with trying to help people. You tell them the most obvious things, and they won't even give them a fair try. :-)

Milly said...

See, that's the trouble with trying to help people. You tell them the most obvious things, and they won't even give them a fair try. :-)

Could be that some of us have more to balance then others.

Milly said...

Can I really do this > instead of trying to figure (Learn by reading the notes from Codepoke, while I balance all of life’s burdens) out how to italicize so that those of you who care aren’t bugged by the fact that I just don’t do it? You should, however, be use to it and find it endearing. Or as my saintly momma use to say “Get in, hold on, and shut up.” And as I use to respond “Don’t make me put you in a state run home old woman” From now on I when in the mood shall do what the heck I decide to do. So keep finding it endearing ya’ll.

Kevin Knox said...

> You should, however, be use to it and find it endearing.

Far be it from me to do less than I ought. Count me "endeared." ;-)