A Sense of Balance

Believe it or not, this is our "oldest" classmate, Rodney Bayne, surfing in the shadow of Diamond Head. "RB" turned 55 years old last October and is obviously still in awesome shape because he regularly surf's, paddles and snowboard's. I posted this picture to make point about "balance." Last summer, I took a physical fitness class that worked on strength, flexibility, cardio and balance. Strength, flexibility and cardio training are part of most fitness plans, but I had never heard a fitness plan that included "balance." The instructor told us that when most people reach their 50's, they stop doing activities that challenge their sense of balance (like hiking, surfing, climbing, bicycling, etc.), in essence, we tend to become less active. Soon we lose confidence in our sense of balance and stop doing physically challenging activities all together because we become fearful of falling.

When Bimo got married last year at Nawaawaa on the Big Island. Several classmates attended. One of them was Jeannine Holi who was awestruck by the coastal surroundings. She scampered out along the rocky coastline to the edge of the water. I was amazed by this because I don't have the confidence in my sense of balance to do what Jeannine did. She moved around on the treacherous rocks like they were stepping stones in your backyard. The difference between Jeannine and me is that she still regularly surfs and the only surfing I do is on the internet. In her mid-50's, she still has an incredible sense of balance.

Besides Rodney and Jeannine, we have many classmates that are still really active in the ocean like Ernie Akana, Riley Smith and Bimo Akiona. For the rest of us, we need to challenge our sense of balance everyday. One simple technique is brushing your teeth standing on one leg or walking on a low curb or wall. Anything we can do to help our sense of balance will help us to be more active and give us more confidence from suffering a catastrophic fall. Of course, you could always take up surfing!