Sweetly Balanced

When we were in Richmond during Spring Break, we visited the Science Museum.  One of the experiments we experienced was seeing if we could perfectly balance ourselves.  The idea was to step on this machine and gently rock your body from left to right to left again until the light stayed lit in the middle.  This meant you were perfectly balanced.  Once you had the position, the timer would start counting to see how long you could hold it.

All 7 of us gave it try.  It was really neat to see how quickly we could get our body perfectly centered. Most of our group got frustrated pretty early on trying to get the machine balanced.  Ian had the best luck at getting the timer to hit 30 seconds relatively quickly after getting on the machine.  I barely could do it.  I think I got the timer to 10 seconds before I leaned to much to one side again. And believe me, I stood as still as I could to keep anything from making the platform move even the tiniest bit.  Sam stepped on the machine last.  From the second she stood on it, she had it perfectly balanced and the counter started. And the counter kept going and going and going.  She reset the timer 3 times before we told her we had to keep moving to another area of the museum.  Not only did she master the balancing part perfectly, but she was able to move/swing her arms and turn her head while standing on the machine.  Nothing was getting the machine to leave its balanced position.  It was pretty phenomenal and such a surprising moment for us all to witness. 

This past Tuesday I am watching Sam at gymnastics and noticing something along the same lines of the balance machine.  This is Sam on the balance beam.

 

 Sam looks amazing being able to hold this position.  How cool is she!?!?  No matter how young I was, I would've NEVER been able to do this. 

It's all about the core.  Her ability to balance is amazing.  I love how Sam can do stuff like this.

I thought this picture was neat too.  Shows Sam is flexible too!