Kentro® body balancing is a system of movement and posture developed by Angelika Thusius. The system aims to remove a great deal of joint and muscle pain while building the strength of the body gracefully and without extraneous force. Kentro® body balancing takes a gentle approach to many of the goals of working out and yoga, aiming to harmoniously bring the body to a more comfortable state.
The system of Kentro® body balancing was built by Thusius from decades of studying how the most limber and supple people in various societies naturally moved. By seeking to mimic and reinforce these basic systems of movement and posture, Kentro® body balancing aims to gradually shift negative holding habits towards more positive positions. By looking at the habits of the movement-dysfunctional in industrialized nations, and contrasting these with the habits of those who move without pain or stress, clear patterns begin to emerge.
Kentro itself is a Greek word meaning center, and Kentro® body balancing works on helping people find their center. A movement and posture that comes from the central core of the body is one that is never be held up painfully, or forced into positions that are anything less than comfortable to the body. At the same time, the center is strengthened to help it remain where it wants to be without any discomfort.
One of the central tenets of Kentro® body balancing is that this sort of positive growth work should not be uncomfortable or particularly difficult. Kentro® is ideally suited to the elderly and sore, as it never reaches beyond what a person can easily accomplish. Kentro® doesn’t push any set agenda in terms of speed or strain, allowing each user to go as slowly or as quickly as they feel comfortable. By merging certain basic principles with everyday actions, from walking to cleaning to cooking to sitting to gardening, this type of body balancing realigns and reaffirms the body’s movements without having to set aside time to pursue some sort of active workout regimen.
The Kentro® body balancing system is set out in a book by Angelika Thusius, Kentro® Body Balance: The Secret Pleasure of Posture. The book gives various observations about healthy and unhealthy posture and movement habits, lays out some simple guidelines to shift your body into more healthy patterns, and gives an overall outline of the guiding philosophy of the Kentro® system.
One of the things that differentiates Kentro® from other systems is its lack of hardline ideology. Never are postures or forms labeled wrong, or bad. A great deal of emphasis is put on learning to love your body and how it moves, and learning simply to balance the way you already move such that you reap long-term benefits in terms of energy, health, and happiness. Kentro® body balancing doesn’t require any special equipment like weights or chairs, and can be practiced in virtually any setting, by people of any age or physical dimensions, at any time of the day. In fact, since everyday movements are used to help balance the body, even the most mundane and repetitive tasks become opportunities to experience full health and a refreshing and relaxing stretch of the body.