Balance for Women Physicians: Ease in the Wobble

In our culture, balance is usually framed as a tug-of-war between opposing forces:

Work vs. life
Family time vs. alone time
Yes to one thing, no to another

Balance is the optimal management of opposing or conflicting forces. In this setting, boundaries become walls. Self-care starts to feel like a fight requiring self-protection.

Yoga, mindfulness, and coaching have changed how I see balance.

Balance can feel peaceful. Easeful. Open. Balance can be an act of love. An opportunity to create beauty and harmony—right in the middle of a full life.

When we’re holding “hundreds of competing pressures,” we can approach them with more kindness than we’ve been taught is allowed.

Even dictionary definitions of balance point to something different than stress:

Grace. Equanimity. Stability. Harmony.
“Remain upright and steady.”
An emotionally and mentally steady mind.

In yoga, we practice this kind of balance.

In a difficult balance pose, we don’t muscle our way through it. We’re encouraged to “relax in.”

To stop resisting the tips and wobbles.
To welcome them with humor.
To notice what’s already working.

And to remember: the adjustment needed is often slight.

Balance isn’t rigid control.
It’s softening.
Letting go.
Breathing.

Balance also requires strength—especially core strength.

In fact, the practice of balance doesn’t just require strength. It builds it.

You find balance. There’s ease. Maybe even joy. And then—there’s a wobble.

That wobble isn’t failure. It’s life.

When we breathe, connect with inner strength, relax in, and make a small adjustment…we find steadiness again.

This is the kind of balance I want for you:

Ease and joy amidst the wobbles.

If you want support practicing this—inside your actual life, not an imaginary one— join me for coaching, a retreat, or yoga.

Core strength, letting go, softening, breathing, grace, equanimity, steadiness, and feeling stable are on the other side.