I thought the ad was funny, but I also never even made a connection that the man was supposed to be overweight. I thought he was intended to be an average American who wants to lose weight (read: everyone who isn’t in on HAES, what have you.) I don’t think he was intended to be more slovenly than any other American male, honestly. I do think it is a little bit of a stretch to say that if he’s not wearing a blazer, he’s schlubby and if he’s wearing an old t shirt, they’re making him out to be a slob.

I don’t think the last scene is intended to be secret eating (I get hungry and have dinner in my car sometimes. It’s not to hide it from anyone) and if it is, it’s to get away from the girls he hired, which I thought he was regretting at that point.

Anyway, I kind of just wanted to chime in on this because I consider myself part of the size acceptance movement– it is very dear to me. Also, in my time at GEICO I was actually surprised (and delighted) by how ethical the company is– I know for a fact I do not earn less than my male or thin counterparts, and the promotional structure is based on performance. I actually was thinking about blogging about it because I was relieved and refreshed to figure out I was working for a company that won’t screw me over because I wear a size 30. I can actually say with confidence I don’t believe that GEICO was trying to touch on negative stereotypes to make the ad.

I was training a young girl for Olympic trials in archery. Half of what she was practicing involved removing what coaching psychology calls “perturbances,” but we can just call… excessive movement of the body and mind. She strengthened her structure so that she didn’t need excessive muscular action to hold position, just quiet efficiency. She practiced her breathing so that she could exhale and slow her heart rate, and find that space between heart beats (asystole) where body is its most potentially quiet.

But not just the least amount of disturbance, she also had to balance the ongoing movements outside with wind and gravity and pressure, as well as those within the body: its constant changing tensions, expansions and contractions. The other half of her training involved finding synchronicity with these movements, their state of flow, and joining it physically and mentally… to let go at the precise moment.

No matter the martial art style, when I fought them at their respective championships, one virtue held true about their precision: Aiming happened Always In Motion. Like Wayne Gretsky said, “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” If you want to be accurate in anything, realize balance isn’t motionless. It’s a balance act, never “in balance.” Nothing is. Everything is always in motion. It’s a confusing myth which scuttles everything from holding a yoga posture with balance, to balancing our check book.

Much like meditation, you cannot still the mind. The paradox of meditation is that the more you try to stop the chattering monkey in your head, the more clamorous he becomes, often flying poo in the process. You can only allow the mind to move with no “abiding place” – to let it the thoughts flow without any attachment to them.

Of course you need to develop galvanize yourself against distractions, but the balancing act demands that we “go with the flow” to hit our target goals with optimal precision.