Balancing Rocks 

By Lori Bestler

Balancing rocks is an artful process that demonstrates how to live a richer, fuller and more meaningful life.  Today as I took time during lunch to enjoy the beautiful weather this unusually warm day on November 3rd, 2015 in Minnesota, I decided to put into practice this tool I read about just last week…

The Art of Stone Balancing is an amazing method of achieving a calm concentration of divine stillness of mind – a state known as “Samadhi”. It involves the use of two or more stones or rocks placed one on top of the other. However, it is not just about stacking the stones one upon another, but finding a spot on the lower stone to place the upper stone using the least possible contact between the two stones.

In the past I’ve stacked stones by focusing on size and shapes, building them up like a pyramid.  However, today my focus was not ease of task.  I wanted to be one with the stones, and find the most unique stones to balance unusually angled that would require more than common sense.  

Realizing that I needed to be one with the stones, I sought spiritual insight into which one desired placement on the other.  I know this sounds a bit “out there”, however when I share my story, it might open a few individuals mind to give it a try and be enriched by the experience.

Playing with different stones, I asked them which one wanted to be balanced on top to complete the creation.  Now you might think this is crazy, how could a stone speak to me?  Well believe it or not, one did.

I asked the divine Spirit in me to unite with the energy of the stone and pick the one that wanted to be placed on the top.  I grabbed the one that seem to attract my attention to it, almost energetically, and placed it on top and it stayed.  Now, that’s no big deal you might think; just find a tiny stone and place it on top and Walla, it easily stays, right?  Wrong!  Well let me tell you how very far off that thinking is.  

Once my stack of stones was topped off, I noticed that stuck to the tiny stone was a little leaf.  No big deal right?…

Well in my mind I thought “This is “supposed” to be a bunch of stones stacked together, the leaf was not on the agenda.”  Thinking this was out of place I proceeded to gently, and I mean GENTLY, pick off the leaf.  What happened next totally surprised me.  The tiny rock fell off; the rock below it fell down too, ultimately immersing both in the river bed.  The weight of one tiny leaf held it all together! What a delicate balance of revealing how seemingly minor things are significant in fitting together in the grand scheme of things.

Searching for the rocks in the river, I could only find the larger one.  I proceeded to stack the third stone back up, and within a few minutes I was able to maneuver it into a balanced position.  Then I began the search for another tiny stone to place on top that would balance as swiftly as the last one.  This was far from easily achieved. 

Grabbing one after another, gently stacking the tiny stone on the rock would repeatedly cause them both to tumble, often times back into the river.  I’d have to search below the leaves and muck at times to find my larger stone and the tiny ones were a lost cause.  After my 15th or so attempt of simply looking for tiny stones and seeing if “this one” would work, I realized I was failing each time.  After starting over again and again, I could feel my patience wane.  

Changing my strategy I grabbed the third stone I needed to balance a tiny rock on top, and held it in my hand.  That way I would not have to fetch the falling rocks out of the water each time.  Still, one after another, the tiny stones would not stay put.

Tension and frustration we’re building up within my body as I sensed the amount of time I was taking to complete this task.  The thought of giving up occurred to me more than once.  “What was the point in it all?” I questioned to myself.  Was I being weird, silly, wasting time?  

Knowing how we are primarily the masters of our own energy and outcomes, and how my “stinkin thinkin” can cause stress that throws off my ability to be successful, I knew to take a deep breath in slowly and exhaled all the control that was causing me anguish. I told myself that this discipline was an artful experience, a teacher, and an opportunity to be one with nature and spirit.  I concluded that by placing expectations and a timeline on this journey was stealing my joy and blocking any spiritual insight I might be able to gain. 

Finding my balance in my own energy and state of mind after some time of resting, breathing, and just letting go of thoughts, I started once again. I sought the help from my inner knowing and asked again for the rock that wanted to be placed on top of the rock formation to move me so I could in turn grab it.  I shuffled through a pile and one seemed to stand out.  I grabbed it, balanced it on the stone in my hand, it stayed. I then put the entire grouping together, breathing calmly, not really looking consciously but feeling the balance of the rocks on each other in my fingers, and Walla, complete!

This helped me understand the sensitivity of how things work together, and allowed me to get to know how nature chooses to be. The moral of my lesson was that thinking a leaf should not be there, was taking my perspective and making it a directive versus allowing and accepting what is produced by nature to be the ideal outcome. 

The leaf was a part of the magnificence of my creation. What I thought was flawed, was instrumental in making the formation of a magnificent whole!  What I let go of, which easily came together in the beginning, was a mistake in judgment.  In turn, it took me much more effort, time and patience to recreate my intended result. 

Through this experience I learned how to overcome the need to try and control or affect an outcome, to accept the nature of things as they are, rather than how I would wish them to be. Through patience and persistence I allowed time itself to become irrelevant so as to eliminate tension and the need to rush.  

Sometimes we make life hard for ourselves.  We think something is not “perfect” or “not good enough,” when in fact it is “just right.”  Many times we think that something that is not normal is bad if it doesn’t fit what is “supposed” to be. However many things in life that might appear as “mistakes” are truly blessings in disguise.  It’s all in the eyes of the beholder.  

How our life stacks up, as misaligned as we might at times think it is, is truly just how it is supposed to be.  

Remember…

Different is good.  Enjoy the journey!