Finding balance and harmony seems to be a broad subject encompassing many aspects of life. Psychological studies have moved into exploring the interplay and connectedness of these two separate qualities and how they complement each other.

One can have balance but not necessarily be harmonious, but I find that as I have created more harmony in my life, it has become more balanced. I find that the two have an interplay with each other, not substituting one for the other, but at some stages of my life more balance is needed and in other phases more harmony.

Searching on Google, I came across people that asked, “What is the best definition of balance” and found the same for harmony, they give a great and concise definition.

Balance - a state of equilibrium or equipoise; equal distribution of weight, amount, etc.

Harmony - agreement; accord; harmonious relations. a consistent, orderly, or pleasing arrangement of parts; congruity.

As I was reading and investigating how I wanted to approach this topic, I discovered that one can have balance but not necessarily harmony and harmony can exist without being balanced, I would like to share two quoted examples –

If one described a work team, for instance, as “balanced,” while this could imply a good mix of people and skills, it would not necessarily mean the colleagues got on well or thrived as a unit. But these latter qualities may well be brought to mind if the team were deemed “harmonious.” - Insights from the First Global Survey of Balance and Harmony | The World Happiness Report

A Forest Ecosystem’s Harmonious Imbalance - To surely grasp the essence of the stability of imbalance, allow us to explore the fascinating dynamics of a wooded area atmosphere. At first glance, one might understand it as a tumultuous battleground, with timber vying for sunlight and area. However, a more in-depth observation exhibits that this very imbalance is what permits the wooded area to thrive. - Finding Balance in Imbalance. Embracing the Hidden Harmony and Wisdom… | by Tech Evangelist | Medium

There is an interesting interaction between balance and harmony, in the first example, things may be in balance and equal, but it is not necessarily a positive trait on its own. However, in the second example, the author explores deeply into how an extreme diversity and imbalance can be completely harmonious.

An image just sprang to my mind, I want you to think of two houses, the one has all the furniture meticulously placed, balanced, and measured with equal spaces between the furniture, art, and walls. An extremely calculated aesthetic of colours and spacing which can be pleasing to the eye and certainly can work. Yet in another house, one can have an absolute mismatch of furniture, varied sizes, colours, proportions, art completely filling the wall, other places bare, a complete imbalance yet it can be harmoniously aesthetic, and the mismatch goes together beautifully.

Both harmony and balance can exist without the need for the other, but I do believe that an interplay between the two can certainly enrich the quality of life.

“Health care equals a balance between doctors’ and patients’ expectations. There has to be harmony there. When the two overlap, when there’s resonance, there’s a wholeness. A completeness.” - The ideals of balance and harmony - PMC (nih.gov)

I found this quoted piece resonating strongly for me because it applies in my work with my clients. I can also see, how I have done this for myself within my own healing journey.

As I have gone through my journey, I found myself creating a harmonious balance between three things, myself as a client or patient, my own education and training as a practitioner and the knowledge or expertise of other practitioners.

I began my journey through entrusting myself in my Pilates instructor’s hands, I was in pain, I had no idea what was going on or why the pain was even there in the first place. It was a good balance and certainly brought about positive changes and improvements to my life. As I progressed into becoming a Pilates instructor myself, I gained greater understanding and a deeper insight as to what was needed for myself and clients. I found for me; Pilates gave a good balance of exercise for us, but I did not feel a harmonious interaction, I was plagued as to why there was a certain ache or pain and what specific things, I could do to help that. When I moved into a modality called the Egoscue Method, I was given specific exercise sequence for neck pain, or back, foot etc. It also brought about balance to the body, but I was able to harmoniously bring about that balance. I had an overlap and a resonance to work with, I was not only doing balanced exercise, but I was doing exercise that was in harmony and agreement for myself or with my client.

My heading piece, Balance gives you strength and harmony gives you grace. I liked the sound of what I wrote, but was not exactly sure what I was meaning, it just seemed true to me and now I can see why.

When I started with the Pilates it was a good balance for my body and that gave me more strength, but I still experienced pain, it was reduced but it was still there. I could have continued and progressed in Pilates, and I am sure it would have continued to improve me. However, when I moved onto the Egoscue Method it gave me both balance and harmony. I was doing an exercise regime specific to my postural deviations and the balance of specific exercises truly gave me strength and the harmony gave me grace because I no longer experienced daily pain.

I also want to express that my experience by no means is a comparison of the two modalities, I don’t believe one modality is better than the other, they uniquely have their own strengths and benefits, but by bringing in harmony, I was able to find the right balance for myself and I try to keep this as a strong reminder when working with my clients as well.

“Harmony brings our focus back into the present moment, how you are experiencing your emotions, and placing a focus on feeling at peace in your life in any phase. It is about being able to guide yourself to inner peace no matter what is going on in your external world.

Balance places our focus on one or two aspects of life and prioritizes the end result, rather than the feeling through your experience.” - What’s the Difference between Balance & Harmony? | Spiritual Growth | Emotional Wellness — Adventuring with Poseidon Wellness | Spiritual Mentor

This author speaks of how balance is weighing out two or more things and bringing them to balance, for example creating balance in your life, between work, family, play etc. And she expresses a particularly good point of how it is hard to create a perfect balance between these aspects of our lives, since perfection does not exist and chasing after perfection can set us up for disappointment.

This is where harmony comes in. Harmony guides us into what feels right, let’s look back at the definition I brought in at the beginning, its agreement; accord; harmonious relations; congruity - things fit together in a way that makes sense.

Even a rider with their horse, there is a balance between the hands and legs, which creates clear communication signals of go, stop, turn and more. However, the best outcome for both the rider and horse would be a harmonious interaction. There were times when I was balanced with a horse and got the necessary results, but we did not fit together and have congruity, personalities clashed, and it just did not feel in sync. There was one horse that I felt truly harmonious with, I loved her spunk but never felt unsafe and her trust in me grew over time, in fact it was a more harmonious ride before it became balanced, the communication aids weren’t quite on the same page, but the interaction together was strong and as I got both balance and harmony, we were unbeatable. It was a matter of mindset for that day, but I knew exactly how to win the jumping round with her, there was no question in my mind about that. It was such a blissful and exhilarating feeling having this deep balance and harmony with another.

We have got to be clear and know our boundaries, or where we are going but we also need to be able to work together. I do not feel like there is an exact step by step how to, for bringing balance and harmony into one’s life, we all live such different lives. But it would be a great exercise, to spend time exploring for yourself or with a coach or therapist on how you could bring about more balance and harmony into your life.

“There is a beauty in harmony,” observes Dr Southey. “You get this tingling feeling. A feeling of the sublime. Where everything is in perfect harmony. Voices in a choir. The beauty of a body balancing in nature, moving in snow. Or water. Wind. Sail. It doesn’t always work perfectly, but when it does … harmony … well, it’s physical poetry.” - The ideals of balance and harmony - PMC (nih.gov)

This article gave a beautiful image of balance and harmony -

“If balance is like splitting a pie into two even halves, harmony is like slicing that pie into however many pieces you want at whatever size you want. For example, if “work-life balance” is 50/50, harmony is hobbies 20%, relationships and connection 30%, exercise and nutrition 15%, and work 35%.” - Balance in Life is Out - Why We Should be Aiming for Harmony Instead | Life Goals Mag

I have found since moving to Saudi and my entire life changing, my husband and I are having to find harmony within an unbalanced state. I have noticed and feel that it is a common challenge for expats, many of the wives are staying at home, or working from home and the husbands are out in the work environment dealing with so many diverse things and the imbalance seems to stem from being a stay at home, with little stimulus or external challenges and my husband comes home from an overstimulating environment.

We have realised that our needs are not balanced, and I do not think they ever are perfectly balanced, things change and are dynamic, however the expat life has put us on two opposite spectrums that not necessarily meet or balance out harmoniously.

I find that I am hungry for his company, communication, intellectual stimulation, at the end of the day and he is needing peace, calm and down time. To create harmony within this differing environment we have found ourselves having to change the way we interact and be honest in our communication so that we can find a balance somewhere in the middle.

Even in my work with NeuroKinetic Therapy and postural therapy it is a constant juggle between balance and harmony. For instance, in the corrective exercise techniques, when we work on muscle imbalances through an exercise menu, the goal is to bring the body back to balance through movement therapy but to make it harmonious for myself or the client, certain exercises or rehabilitation techniques need to be changed or adapted as it might help balance the body but is not necessarily harmonious or in agreement at that moment in time.

Pain management is like cutting the pie analogy, we need balance of the right and left side of the body for functional anatomy but through harmony we discover which piece is the focus on biomechanics, neuromuscular re-education, functional movement training etc.

Balance is a state of equilibrium or an equalness of something, where harmony is the agreement and the pleasing arrangement of the way things fit together. Balance without harmony does not necessarily strive for a positive environment or experience, especially within the workplace, distribution of work may be equal, which is fair but unless all agrees and working together, that balanced work is not necessarily going to be a good one. On the other hand, complete imbalance can still be harmonious. I have seen it in horse riders before, the hands and legs may not look balanced and clear, or the rider is all over the place on the horse but somehow, they have this harmonious interaction that works, and they still win in the competition.

And then in health and wellness it is important to have a balanced and harmonious interaction between client and therapist, just because the therapist has done the study and has the knowledge, it does not mean that the client must agree with everything the therapist says. It is a combined effort that brings about the improvements in wellbeing.

I hope that this article brought about a greater understanding and insight of what it means to have balance and harmony in one’s life, it clarified things for me as I was searching what to write about on this topic and it has allowed me to differentiate the two.

May we all be able to establish a better-balanced life that is harmonious to our unique individuality.

Ayla Caldwell - Motivational Speaker, Posture Therapist, NeuroKinetic Therapist, NKT Therapy Training (South Africa)

www.aylacaldwell.com

info@aylacaldwell.com

Individuality, Empowerment, Self-Healing