In an earlier newsletter, I introduced the idea that Zero Balancing (ZB) principles can help you in your daily life. It can be so helpful it’s worth a deeper look. Specifically, how using the Zero Balancing concept of fulcrums and working states can deepen your understanding of normal responses to change, especially ongoing change like the pandemic.

To review, the term “fulcrum” is used to describe each technique used during a ZB session. A fulcrum creates an opportunity for movement, in much the same way an otherwise stationary board becomes a lever by placing it on a fulcrum. When your ZB practitioner places a fulcrum and holds it for a few seconds, your system responds by going into motion. Your internal world starts to reorganize and change in response to the stillness in the practitioner. This process is called a working state. It’s an in-between state; in between the patterns you had before the fulcrum and the new patterns that have not yet formed. Each fulcrum, working state and new pattern are part of an organic, holistic process that naturally moves you toward a higher state of health. 

Outside the context of a Zero Balancing session, a new job, moving house, getting married, going through a pandemic, all these life experiences can be viewed as fulcrums. They are all catalysts for change and the experience that follows is a working state. In some circumstances we are like the ZB practitioner placing the fulcrum.  In some instances we are like the person on the table receiving the fulcrum. 

How can understanding fulcrums and working states help you? 

It can provide an understanding of which side of the process you are experiencing and guide your choices. If you are receiving the fulcrum, you have entered a working state. This in-between state is inherently unstable because things are in motion; things are changing. From this perspective, it’s perfectly normal to feel stressed, for things to feel challenging or extremely uncomfortable. The continuing discomfort of the global pandemic is a good example. This global fulcrum ended the patterns of our pre-pandemic lives and we remain in a working state. The new patterns have not yet fully formed. The perspective of fulcrums and working states can help because it makes sense of our ongoing stress. 

Recognition that you are in a working state can help you feel more stable, even if things are still in motion. The stress you feel is a normal, if uncomfortable, response to change. You can anticipate that once the new pattern is established, you are likely to feel better. You realize that you are experiencing a normal part of re-orienting around a change and may be better able to tolerate the discomfort as a result. It may not feel easy yet it may feel easier! 

It can be equally helpful to understand fulcrums and working states when you initiate the change. Here, you are like the practitioner. You have placed the fulcrum and you can view the reactions of those around you as their working state. Like a ZB practitioner, your job is to stay present and remain still. Those around you are reorganizing around your fulcrum. Their reactions are a normal response to the change you have created, their discomfort is the normal discomfort of being in a working state. This may free you from feeling you must argue or justify your decision. If you can stay still and present, their reaction often winds down soon and you can both move forward into the new pattern. 

Try looking at experiences in your life as fulcrums and working states. I hope it helps!