The Art of Balance, with Philippe Petit | Big Think

So of course people see me as a man of balance, and even people inquire where you born with this fabulous balance. And I grin because actually to me it’s work. I was not born with that talent, I do not think so. I think it was a lifetime of working on my balance that made me acquire the very good one. Also, the surviving feeling that, you know, my balance saves my life.

But I extend that to everything in life. As much as we need air and water and food, we have this force of gravity that nails us to the surface of the Earth, and if we stand on our two back legs as a mammal, it’s because we fought and we conquered the balance. Now it’s very natural; people walk, but actually, walking is an art.

I can tell because I perfected the art of walking on a tightrope for, you know, almost 50 years now. And I find out that balance is not only for wirewalkers, for jugglers. Balance hits you everywhere, and balance in your head is as important as balance in your limbs. If you are conscious of that, you know, it sounds silly, but if in the morning when you have breakfast you don’t slouch, but you kind of hold yourself not only erect, you know, ready to take decision for the day to come, but also perfectly balanced with the feet parallel, the hands, you know, parallel as well, and eat your breakfast, you will feel there is a little – this little exercise, so to speak, is going to input and mark your entire day.

You’re going to feel better. I mean, look at people sitting. Very rarely will you see their feet parallel. Now I studied martial arts a little bit at some point, and I read a very interesting memoir from Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee, who actually encompassed all the martial arts to create his own, was saying the human attitude to be able to spring into any kind of action—attacking, defending, dancing, walking—is standing up erect, you know, at ease with the feet parallel.

Now you look at people around sitting or standing up. I swear it’s so rare to see somebody with parallel feet. Now what is that? Well, that is an image of balance, of course, you see. So experiment that. Force yourself to be balanced, and then you’ll see. You’ll feel better.