SKYSCRAPERS AND MAINTAINING YOUR BALANCE

WEEK OF 9/15/25

 

A few weeks ago I took one of my every-few-years trips to Chicago for a long weekend of pizza, hot dogs, and architecture.  No, seriously, the buildings in Chicago are amazing.  From the tallest skyscraper to the smallest row home, Chicago’s aesthetic is just so perfect (to me, anyway) and it’s always a joy being back in my hometown.

One of our Chicago trip customs is the Architectural River Tour.  If you ever go to Chi-town, trust me: book this tour.  It’s incredible.  A ferry boat takes you up and down the Chicago river and the docent on board weaves tales about the towering skyscrapers on either side of the bank.

So, what does this have to do with martial arts?  Well, sort of nothing.  BUT — some of these buildings are so tall that they need creative ways to mitigate the pushing forces of the wind that cause the structures to sway.  There are a number of innovative solutions, but one that is so cool and so simple is the “tuned liquid sloshing dampener.”

Basically, a large tank of water is installed on the upper floors of the building and as the building sways under the force of the wind, the water’s movement works against it to mitigate the sway and stabilize the building.  Simple, effective, and necessary.

I think about that a lot.  In any given day, we may find ourselves emotionally “swaying” in response to outside forces.  Maybe it’s traffic, maybe our boss is being a jerk <insert self-employed terrible boss joke here>, and maybe it’s something serious that we’re dealing with.

It happens to me too.  I deal with a lot of people with important needs, goals, and challenges.  Add punching, kicking, grabbing, choking, and exhaustion to the mix and you have a powder keg of emotional TNT ready to blow up on any given day.

Having an internal, emotional “dampener” — something you can focus on, that helps you balance against the external forces) — is an essential tool for handling high stress, high temperature situations.

For me, personally, if I’m able to get a quiet moment I just visualize the water moving against the direction of my feelings if I’m feeling a bit out of whack.  I try to lean against it, keep my posture, and work forwards from a more balanced mental state.  Give it a try next time it gets a little blustery out there!