Be still. Stillness reveals the secrets of eternity. – Lao Tzu
From the second I saw someone rock balancing on YouTube, I was hooked, like a shot of heroin to the soul. It consumed every spare moment I had for the first couple of years. Exploring this art form has been a hobby that I’ve returned to time and time again over the past five years.
For me, it has been a unique way to connect with nature, taught me to surrender to the moment and, most importantly, let go. A sudden gust of wind and a stack that has taken anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 hours is gone. The ephemeral nature of the art form has trickled down into all aspects of my life as a creator.
Learning to create a work of art and walk away with no sense of attachment or neediness for this to be seen by anyone has been a powerful lesson that has helped me let go of attachments not just to the art I create with rocks but in all other aspects of my life as a designer, musician and human.
From the moment you learnt to walk, you started a journey into balance to the point it has become so second nature that you’ve forgotten how much of a master of balance you are. This natural mastery flows into the moment you pick up a rock. If you bring your awareness into your body you will naturally start to ‘feel’ the rock as an extension of you, and from there, by rotating the rock left and right it will guide you to its natural centre of balance.
At this point, it’s a matter of using the natural bumps and indentations of the rock to create a tripod of points for the rock to naturally rest upon. The simplest way to start is to find a base rock that has a 3 – 5 cm indentation and sit a second rock on top of this. Through swaying the top rock left, right, back and forward you will start to ‘feel’ the contact points ‘click’ into place. Start with one point, find the second point, now sway the rock on this 2-pointed edge to finally find the 3rd point, after which, if the rock is centred vertically, it should stay in place.
Start small and have fun with it, there are a bunch of YouTube tutorials that can help you develop your technique and learn more complex ways to balance.
Good luck on your journey to finding balance.
– Words by Reuben Watson
