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Finding “body balance” is more important and, ultimately more aesthetically pleasing, than the “body beautiful”, says Lorunna Jansen Van Vuuren

In class one morning during Baddha Konasana (the Butterfly Pose) I asked my yoga students to turn their feet up so that they could see the soles of their feet. I then asked them to gently and lovingly stroke their feet, conveying to them (their feet) that they were gratefulto them for carrying their weight around all day, every day.

My students just sat staring at me, with question marks on their faces. Was I serious? Had I finally lost my sanity? To me, it was a pretty normal instruction, but this request puzzled them and some students even started giggling. I reminded everyone that in all the years leading up to that very moment their feet had probably never been thanked. Our feet that offer support, balance and grounding never ever really appreciated or even considered. Our feet that hold our weight, both physically and emotionally, and we walk on them in a state of unawareness of what they do and represent.

The metaphor of feet as an anchor that holds us together and connects us to earth and to life at large can be paralleled to that opposite pole of the body – the mind. The two are inextricably linked. Perhaps it is our reluctance to thank our feet and reflect daily on the burden they carry for us that mirrors our inability to really love and accept our physical form and the physical and emotional “weights” that we carry.

The ongoing illusion fed to us through the media is that we will all be happy when we are thin. Thin is healthy, thin is sexy, the media tells us time and time again, and yet, we do not see the maya or illusion that is well at play here. If you look to nature, certainly all the flowers don’t look the same, it is their individuality that precisely makes each one beautiful. And it is the same with people.

Optimum health exists when the body is in a state of balance and a balanced body is always at the weight it should be. When you look into the mirror, what is it you see? The media’s definition of what thin and sexy is – the typical “body beautiful”? Or perhaps, if you are lucky, the real you looking back at you? When you start seeing the real you, the body literally begins to morph into the image which the self holds to be true – a body that’s balanced and beautiful reflecting right back at you.

This is the healthy, happy view to pursue that is more wholesome, balanced and grounded than those of fad diets, appetite suppressants or plain starvation and something far more uplifting for the feet to bear and carry through.

The wonder of our human differences is found in different measures and pertain to certain tendencies that determine our individual constitutions. Take those of the Ayurvedic Doshas and the air quality of Vatta, the fire quality of Pitta, and water qualities of Khapa that are present in each of us in different degrees. The most beneficial form of Vatta is Prana representing our primal life force, of Pitta is our inner radiance and of Khapa is Ojas, our primal vigour. We naturally strive to have each in the desired quantities for our individual balance and, this balance we seek is also actually for our survival, as seeking balance is an evolutionary trait.

These elements of earth, water, fire and air also rule our emotional lives and can further be seen through the kaleidoscope that is astrology and the planetary influences that affect our make-up. For some it is always easier to let go and shed the emotional baggage we carry than for others. For example a water sign will hold on to things a lot longer than a fire sign will; an earth sign will be more prone to stubborness than an air sign.

Our emotional worlds trigger within us behaviours that try to counter the experience of negative emotion. This affects how we “feed” ourselves both physically and emotionally. Too many people know unhappy over-eaters or equally unhappy under-eaters. Being off balance internally will do this but, when you start to tune into how the body and mind work together through your yoga, it can serve as a motivator and accelerator toward positive action, understanding and finding that healthy, happy weight” where we can finally thank, love and appreciate our feet – bunions, warts and all.

With awareness all negative tendencies and habits that limit our ideas of the self, both outer and inner, can be changed or broken. Success does not lie in denying yourself but in coming to understand your balanced predisposition to weight. Until you have a fundamental knowledge of yourself, not just your likes and dislikes, but the nature of your being, you’ll always be waging a battle against yourself where weight is concerned, and this is not what the gift of life is about.

According to the Tao, “When life is simple – pretences fall away – then our essential nature shines through”. So we see that it is our essential natures that we should rather seek and not an image in the mirror. The benefits of pursuing nobility of character and equipoise far outweighs being thin and sexy. How do I know? My feet told me so.