Unlocking Flow and Living In The Present Moment

Issue #23

Mindful Moments – Unlocking Flow and Living In The Present Moment

Hello Reader!

Last week I spoke with Cara Bradley about two of my favorite topics……present moment awareness and flow! I love these topics so much because I have both experienced and witnessed the transformative power they have in life. Cara is a yoga teacher among other things and she previously owned a yoga studio called Verge. She also has a booked called On The Verge. So I just had to ask Cara why she named her studio and book using the term verge, which I of course love! Cara explained how she learned from her husband, who had spent some time in the Amazon with Indigenous communities, that the term verge is used to describe the spot where two rivers converge. These locations are considered sacred sites and the indigenous people stop and pause each time they come to a verge. When 2 rivers come together, it is the joining of 2 separate ecosystems. This coming together of different ecosystems creates an environment where plant and animal life are abundant, diverse and thrive. Cara decided that she wanted to live on the verge (theoretically speaking of course 😜). She realized that she wanted to live in a space where she was thriving and abundant instead of just surviving. I think we can all relate to this concept. You can probably guess what helps us transition from surviving to thriving…..present moment awareness and flow! Every single moment is an opportunity to show up and be present which allows us to access our internal wisdom, connect and shine our gifts into the world.

Hitting Our Edge

As a yoga teacher we often tell our students to be mindful to not go beyond their edge. What does this mean? In the physical practice of yoga (asana), that means finding the depth in each pose where you are pushing yourself, it requires effort and focus to maintain, but you are not hurting yourself. It is not painful. It is challenging, but you can continue to feel safe and breath through the posture. The edge is the place that over time, leads to growth in your practice, but not injury. Each day your edge will be different, but with consistent practice, your edge will keep moving in the direction of growth. Yoga asana is a metaphor for life. When we hit our edges in life, when we bump up against things that are hard, uncomfortable and challenge us, it may feel like the universe is fighting against us. But actually, it is inviting us to grow. If we can learn to breath through it, if we can consistently show up to the present moment, return to the wisdom of our bodies and take intentional action in the direction of our desired outcome, we will grow.

What Does It Feel Like To Be Present?

Cara describes it as clear mind, bright body and an open heart. Think about that for a second. Can you think of times in your life where you feel those combination of factors? According to Cara, and I can testify to this in my own life, it is most easily found when we engage in activities that light us up inside and makes us feel most alive. It is also most often found when doing the simple things in life like; spending time in nature, sipping a cup of coffee, reading a book, cooking dinner, getting down with a good kitchen dance party or taking 5 deep breaths. These, and many others, are all opportunities for us to remember awareness, wakefulness and vitality. When we can be fully present we enter a flow state. It is actually our natural state of being and it is available to us at all times. We do everything better from this place.

Flow

Flow states are optimal states of being where we are fully absorbed in what we are doing. Time may seem as if it is slowing down or speeding up, but time becomes altered in some way. We feel we are at one with whatever we are doing, and we are fully present. When we are in flow, we are performing at our optimal level. Flow states make us feel happy, connected, alive in body and mind and purposeful. Our physical body feels in coherence or synchronized. There is a rhythm to what we are doing and we feel strong and grounded while also feeling light and open, we feel relaxed and yet alert, we are fully engaged.

How Do We Find Flow During Amidst The Stress of Daily Living?

So…you may be thinking, this all sounds well and good when I am able to engage in the activities that naturally bring me to flow. But what about when my kids are driving me to my limits, work is stressful, money is tight and I feel pressure coming at me from every direction. How do I return to the state of calm clarity then?

Well, the answer to that question is the same answer you have probably given your kids when they complain they aren’t doing as well as they would like in their sport, activity or school work. Practice, practice and more practice.

Have you heard of the expression neurons that fire together wire together? In case you haven’t, it basically means that when we engage in any activity or thought process, it requires our brain to perform a sequence of firing neurons to get the job done. The more often we set off that sequence by performing the action or thinking the thought, the faster and more efficient our brain will become at doing that thing. It becomes what we call “second nature.” We eventually don’t even have to think about it that much, it just happens.

In Yoga we call this a Samskara. A track in the brain that is laid down over time with repetitive thoughts or actions. Samskaras can help us or hinder us. Creating a Samskara for present moment awareness or mindfulness, that calm, clear, alert presence, will create beautiful shifts in our lives. When we repeatedly practice it in the areas of our life where we find it easy, or by repeatedly engaging in mini activities that bring us back to the present moment, we begin laying the track. Over time, little by little, that groove will become deeper and more easily accessed in more challenging circumstances. You CAN learn to become calm and clear in the midst of chaos. “You can make your optimal state your default state” – Cara Bradley

Mindful Moments

What Cara and I kept coming back to through this conversation was learning to return to a state of calm clarity. This is where we feel most alive, connected, purposeful and intuitive. It’s also where we perform at our best. We can access this state through engaging in activities that naturally bring us into flow. When we do this, we learn what it feels like to be present. Once we understand what it feels like, we can begin practicing returning to this state over and over, until it becomes our way of being more often than not. Here are some ways you can begin.

Catch the Glimpses – At the end of the day, think back on moments when you felt most alive, where you were absorbed in a task and time seemed to morph, where you felt relaxed and calm and yet alert and clear. What were you doing during those moments?

Recognize Your Flow Activities – Become aware of what activities in your life bring you into flow. Begin being intentional about engaging in those activities as often as you can (practice, practice and more practice).

Catch Yourself In Busy Mind and Body – Set the intention to become aware of when you feel busy in your mind and body. When this happens you are out of coherence and alignment. It’s ok! It happens to everyone all the time. Becoming aware of it is the key to change!

Go For The Mini Wins – Practicing present moment awareness does’t have to take a lot of time and can quickly bring you into coherence. Practice small ways of being present and in flow every day. Here are some suggestions. But do what feels right to you!

Resonant breathing- inhaling and exhaling for the same count

Taking a 5 -10 minute walk outside

Doing a short meditation

Doing some slow easy stretches

Look at the sky

Pet your animal without distraction for 5 min

You, your loved ones and the world, deserve a you that feels fully alive, purposeful, connected and is performing optimally. And if you do it for no other reason, do it because IT FEELS SO GOOD!

Love and Blessing To You Always,

Katie

p.s. Email me and tell me where you find flow. I would love to hear!

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