The Center of Mass
Your center of mass exists about an inch or two below and behind your navel. There are several different ways to locate it, but the following is the easiest. You can find your Center of Mass by imagining two lines being drawn through your body; one vertical and one horizontal. The lines intersect at your midpoint, or your Center of Mass.
Your weight is being pulled (or pressing downward) towards the floor. Shift yourself slightly in the chair and you will feel your Center of Mass shift as well. With your feet still flat on the floor, slowly rotate your torso in a circular motion. Slowly inch forward to remove your back from the chair. You will feel the point of center mass keeping your torso upright. Remember what this feels like, and where it is located as we will work with this location from here on forward. This is the point in your body that will work directly with your equilibrium. Any off shift of weight, poor balance, or inattention to your center of mass will be translated in your actions at the table. The Center of Mass is the point that you momentarily and consciously attend to in order to ***CENTER*** yourself. When you are ***CENTERED*** it is much easier to achieve "Dead Stroke", and here’s why:
Sit in a chair and with your back straight, and your feet placed shoulder width apart and flat upon the floor. As you are sitting in the chair, you should feel most of your weight when you are CENTERED, your muscles will loosen up and breathing will be steady and slightly deeper and slower than usual. This will bring about a feeling of relaxation and balance. Any negative change in your Center of Mass will result in a loss of that feeling (remember that) and you lose your ability to move equally in any direction, while at the same time being balanced.
So what does this have to do with your stance???
EVERYTHING!!!! Every error that you have ever committed has been due to a miscalculation or an error in judgment. When you are faced with any shot, physically getting the ball into the pocket starts with the way that you get down into your shooting
stance. Your stroke is relying on you to at least balance yourself properly. If you body is not balanced properly, your stroke WILL suffer. Let’s look at our Factors of Stance Mechanics.
1) The head
2) The ears
3) The neck
4) The shoulders
5) The bridge arm
6) The spine
7) The center of mass ***
8) The hips
9) The legs
10) The feet
From top to bottom, all need to be in line with your Center of Mass. If they are not, your balanced is flawed. The flaw may be detectable, or non-detectable, but still there remains a flaw that can be corrected. Try this next exercise while you are preparing to get in your stance. This starts from the top of your head and works its way down to the toes.
