Marsden Ball: Level One — Stillness in Motion

If you’ve ever introduced a patient to the Marsden Ball, you already know it has a kind of hypnotic simplicity. A ball, a string, and gravity — that’s all it takes to begin unlocking the subtleties of eye control. Level One is where the learning starts, and the goal is beautifully straightforward: follow the moving target with your eyes alone. It sounds easy, but it reveals everything. The moment the head tilts or the body sways, you learn exactly where visual control gives way to compensation.

We start by suspending the ball so it hangs at nose level, about sixteen to twenty inches from the patient’s face. A therapist or training partner gives the ball a gentle swing, observing how smoothly the eyes track its motion. Both eyes should move together, in rhythm with the arc. If the ball seems to “jump” or disappear for an instant, that flicker reveals a loss of fixation — a momentary disconnect between the eyes and the brain’s sense of motion.

If the task proves too difficult, there’s no harm in scaling back. Have the patient sit instead of stand, slow the swing, or even switch to a larger target like a balloon. The goal isn’t perfection — it’s awareness. You can even allow them to touch the ball for feedback and grounding. What begins as a mechanical task quickly becomes mindful: how still can you be while the world moves in front of you?

When you finally see a patient tracking smoothly, the shift is almost meditative. The eyes, body, and breath fall into sync. The nervous system quiets. Stillness emerges, not because the world has stopped moving, but because the patient has learned to move with it. And that’s the first real victory of the Marsden Ball — finding calm within motion.

The New Red/Green Cancellable Emergent Marsden Ball features a soft, durable rubber design, a pull-proof 15 ft cord, and perfect red/green cancellation for suppression control because the best therapy tools shouldn't hold you back.

Next up: Level Two — Thinking in Motion.