I found it's not so much about "standing still" it's about allowing the rolabola to move underneath you without your upper body moving with it. Picture your hips as the pivot point with the rolabola "swinging" beneath you like a pendulum.
I've not worked on this one for about 15 years (blimey! where did that time go?) but I found it helped to think about which bit of your body you use to correct which part of the trick.
For the rolabola, the balance is driven by (in order of importance) hips, knees, toes. Get your rolabola technique to a point where your upper body doesn't need to play much part in maintaining it.
For a face balance, corrections are done by (in order of importance) neck, shoulders, torso. Get your face balance to a point where your lower body doesn't need to play much part in it.
This is useful because it allows each muscle group to control the item nearest them. For example, your arms don't need to be involved in staying balanced on a rolabola. If you're using your arms to stay balanced you're also using your shoulders - and that limits your necks ability to correct the face balance.
Peters advice about closing your eyes is good (it's surprising how many visual cues you use without realising), and I also found "standing on a rolabola with your head back staring straight up" to be a useful exercise as well.
You should also work on keeping your hands on your hips, keeping your upper body steady and vamping the board back and forth. The rolabola is a dynamic balance, not a point balance. Don't treat it as one :)
by Little Paul, in response to this post 2015-08-12 06:32:07