Being in the flow

Back in the 70s a Hungarian-born psychologist called Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi (points for correct pronunciation) coined the term "flow". To be in the flow. To be in the flow state.

But what does it mean to be in the flow? I'm absolutely sure you've experienced it at one time or another. It's when time just seems to fly. All concept of time disappears, we're completely absorbed in whatever we're doing. According to Csíkszentmihályi it's "the creative moment when a person is completely involved in an activity for its own sake". Being in the flow seems to lead very naturally to happiness.

People often go to extreme lengths to get into that feeling of flow. When you're skiing down a tricky piste, bungee jumping, racing at high speed, or paragliding, you can't not be in the flow - or you might die. It's addictive because it feels great. And it's not just the adrenaline; you begin feeling at one with the universe. It may be the closest some people get to a spiritual experience.

But the question is do we need to go to those extremes to get there?

Csíkszentmihályi came up with a plot showing the ways we can come into this flow state (see his talk on TED), based on the challenge of the activity and your skill in doing it.

According to him, you need sufficient skill, and the activity needs to be sufficiently challenging. Not enough skill and you become anxious or worried, not enough challenge and you get bored or even apathetic.

Let's take the example of doing a sun salutation in yoga. When you're a beginner it's very challenging and we're unskilled (that's certainly how I remember it!). Our bodies are stiff, we don't know the sequence, we tire very quickly, and we get feelings of worry, anxiety. "I'm rubbish at this, my body isn't good enough." Gradually you get better at it, your muscles and joints loosen up and you get the sequence memorised. You move through the arousal stage (cor, my body is loving this), you start to feel in control, until one day you find ourself moving without consciously thinking - you're in the flow. You're so involved in the activity that there is nothing else.

The same thing goes with, for example, learning to ride a bike or drive a car. 


So by focussing on an external object in this way we become more and more alive. Our life becomes present and vivid.
... And I would argue that the activity has to be neither challenging nor require much skill for you to get into the flow. All you need is to be mindful. Simple, repetitive tasks can actually work very well - like weeding, cleaning or washing up.

But as Zen Master Koun Yamada says, "when we concentrate on an object outside ourselves, for example archery where we aim at a target, no matter how strong the concentration may be, we cannot attain the Zen experience." So in meditation when we're aiming towards waking up to reality (enlightenment), we need to be absorbed inwardly.

The other thing about the flow state is that it's ephemeral. Like sleep - the more you try the harder it gets. You've got to let go into the flow. And you can't hold on to it either. As they say in Zen, you can trail your hand in a mountain stream and enjoy the cool, fresh water, but as soon as you try to grab hold of any you come up with nothing.

One of the reasons people get addicted to flow-inducing extreme activities is that when you're completely absorbed, there is no ego. That sense of self (little old me, and the big Universe) disappears, and that's why you get those feelings of oneness. When the concept of self dissolves, you are the Universe. You touch your true nature.

But it's no use to you (or to others) if you can only feel at one with everything when you're surfing a 4m wave - unless your friend who needs advice and a shoulder to cry on can come with you on the surf board! That's why we start learning to find that flow state during more mundane activities, then gradually during more inwardly focussed practices (as Master Yamada said).

But it's one thing being in the flow riding your bike, or ironing shirts, doing a sun salutation, or observing your thoughts and sensations on the meditation cushion. Can you live permanently in the flow state? I believe you can - I'm nowhere near there though. It takes lots of practice. Letting go, letting go, letting go, not holding on.

Mindfulness practice is one of the first steps into this. Bringing your thoughts sensations actions into your awareness, letting them be, accepting, acknowledging, and not judging. We cover this extensively on my 8-week mindfulness courses. For more on flow and it's connection to mindfulness, see this great article.

Autumn yoga

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun"
     - To Autumn by John Keats  

I don't think any of us are in doubt that autumn is upon us. From the admittedly wonderful balmy summer, temperatures dropped on the 9th September and have barely made it over 15C since. Is it too early to put the central heating on? Or perhaps try some heating Tummo meditation...

On 22nd September (this Sunday) Earth's axis of rotation is exactly parallel to the direction of its motion around the sun, meaning that the length of the days and nights are equal - this happens once here at the autumn equinox and again in the spring. As we move past this and the nights start to draw in, the possibility of a last blast of warm weather fades too and this can leave us with a feeling of loss. No more summer! But this is a wonderful opportunity to practice letting go. Acknowledge these seasonal changes and notice how we respond to them. Don't hold on. Autumn is also a time of refinement, getting rid of things that are not serving us, and focussing on what's important.

So in all this it's important to allow our daily habits, yoga/meditation practice and food choices also to change. To help tailor your yoga practice for autumn, we can make it calming, warming, strengthening, and consistent. 

In Chinese medicine the lungs and large intestines are the two organs most associated with autumn. To open the meridian lines associated with these organs, cat-cow movements, bridge, cobra, wheel, any chest and arm/shoulder openers, all work very well - and of course any breathing practice works directly on the lungs. From the Ayurvedic system (of which I know very little), warm soups, spiced ginger tea, and root veggies would seem to be the autumnal foods of choice. Makes sense!

Autumn can also bring with it a cold or flu - like the one I've just had. I found keeping my yoga practice consistent and regular helped a great deal with keeping my energy up. Just a short, gentle practice each day through the rough achey, nosey stages kept my body ticking over and the symptoms at bay. I was also gargling plenty of Propolis - a natural bee product that's extremely good at healing infections and combating colds/flu. I think that helped a lot too.

Spring comes with its flowers, autumn with the moon,
summer with breezes, winter with snow;
Free your mind of all idle thoughts,
And for you how enjoyable every season is!
     - Mumon Ekai

The fall bonsai exhibit at the National Arboretum in Washington, DC. Toshio 2008

 

Karma and epigenetics - exciting stuff!

In this post I wanted to talk a little about karma and the exciting (pretty new) field of epigenetics. My knowledge on both subjects is a little shaky, but it seems that new research in epigenetics is showing hints of how the effects of events from our lives and those of our ancestors may be passed down through our genes.

Firstly lets look at what karma is. The idea of karma was around in India before the Buddha, but it was the Buddha who explained and formulated it in the form we have it today.

According to Buddhist philosophy, there are five orders or laws of nature and mind:

• physical order/law: winds, rains, seasons, time
• organic order: characteristics of plants, their tastes, cells, genes, heredity
• karmic order: I'll come on to this one more below
• universe order: gravitation and other similar laws of nature, the natural phenomena occurring at the advent of birth
• mind order: thoughts, consciousness, will, intention.

In this traditional view-point, the law of karma is only one of these five that govern the unfolding of the universe.

Why is there inequality in this world? According to these laws, inequality is due not only to heredity (organic order), environment (physical order), "nature and nurture", but also to karma. Karma is the result of our own past actions and our own present doings. Karma is the law of moral causation. (So says Wikipedia) any action is a "seed" in the mind that will sprout into the appropriate result when met with the right conditions - be that "good" or "bad". It's equivalent to saying "what goes around, comes around."

In Buddhism, 'samsara' is the continual repetitive cycle of birth and death that arises from grasping and fixating on a self and experiences. (Here birth and death traditionally refers to re-birth but it could also be thought of as periods/times/events within our life.) This is what gives rise to feelings of dissatisfaction or dis-ease with the world. The root cause of samsara is our belief in a single, independently-existing self, which gives rise to wanting (attachment), aversion and delusion/confusion - and it's these that create karma.

The Buddha taught of a way of breaking out of this repetitive cycle through wise/enlightened/true intention, speech, action, livelihood, thoughts, etc. This is how we neutralise all that built-up karma and start along a different path.

Ok, so you can take this or leave it. But one thing that has sparked my interest recently as an ex-scientist is the field of epigenetics and how that relates to this idea of karma.

We all know about how DNA is inherited from your mother and father. Our genome (our "genetic makeup") is encoded in DNA (or sometimes RNA) and includes all our genes that control biological traits such as what eye/hair colour, how many limbs you have(!), blood type, your pre-disposition to certain diseases/illnesses, etc.

But we now know that genes aren't a fixed, predetermined program simply passed from one generation to the next, as was once thought. Epigenetics has shown that genes can be turned on and off by experiences and environment.

Epigenetics is the is the study of changes in your genes caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence. Epigenetic processes do not change the DNA sequence, but tell your genes to switch on or off, like a light switch. For example, in cell differentiation, it tells certain cells that they are a part of your skin (not a neuron or a liver cell), even though (for the most part) they all have the same DNA.

So genes can be turned on and off by experiences and environment, huh!

Here's an example: according to this great article, "a woman's diet during pregnancy seems to have a major impact on her baby's epigenetic tags. Prenatal diets that are low in folic acid, vitamin B-12, and other nutrients containing "methyl groups" — a set of molecules that can tag genes and cause epigenetic changes — have been linked to an increased risk of asthma and brain and spinal cord defects in children. Stress, too, can alter fetal epigenetic tags. Pregnant women who were traumatized at the World Trade Center on 9/11 were far more likely than other women to give birth to infants who reacted with unusual levels of fear and stress when faced with loud noises, unfamiliar people, or new foods."

Changes to our genes by epigenetic processes can also happen during our life (i.e. they're not just inherited). For example twins may inherit a gene that predisposes them to cancer, but only one will develop the disease because diet, toxins, or smoking turn on that gene. According to Andrew Feinberg, director of Johns Hopkins University's Epigenetics Center, even eating foods rich in methyl groups — such as soybeans, red grapes, and green tea — might protect against disease by silencing detrimental genes.

So it seems we can control anything up to 70% of our genetic makeup with things like lifestyle, diet, exercise, what we put on our skin, stress, etc. Isn't that exciting?!

As far as I can see this is the closest science has come to karma. How we live our life - the actions we take and environments we put ourselves in - can have a direct effect on our genes through these epigenetic processes. If negative actions lead to negative consequences for our genes, then positive ones must lead to positive consequences. If that's not karma I don't know what is!

"Enlightened (wise) action leaves no wake" - Zen Master Jiyu-Kennett

If you're interested in some positive experiences in south London, why not come down to one of my zen yoga classes, or sign up for a course in mindfulness!

 

I'd love to hear from you

If you're interested in this topic of epigenetics and how it connects to the Buddhist concept of karma, I'd love to hear from you! Leave a comment below, join the discussion. 

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The art of being a teacher

A while back, my teacher Jonathan Monks read out a quote from Yogi Manmoyanand in one of our sadhana course sessions. It relates to being a teacher. Because it was in a book about yoga, I guess he was talking about being a yoga teacher, but it's absolutely relevant to being any kind of teacher.

It's beautiful - I keep on thinking about it and re-reading it. As Jonathan said at the time, there's a great deal to chew on. How much of this can we put into practice in our daily teaching? Is it possible to be fully as he says in the Western world?

I'm not going to attempt to paraphrase - just read it.

"No matter how good or bad, wise or dumb the teacher may be, he always remains respectable in the eyes of the student.
A teacher never makes the student; it is always the student who makes a teacher.
A teacher is only a teacher for the purpose of the student.
A teacher does not claim himself as such; rather it is the student who recognises him as a teacher.

The answers from a student only reflect his recollection capacity, while his questions reveal the way he thinks, and this is precisely what the teacher is looking for.
The mode of questioning of a student always helps the teacher to modify his teaching, and thus allows the teacher to remain completely aware of the student's questioning pulse.
A teacher is never satisfied with the correct answers provided by the student; rather he looks for the correct questions from the student.

The teacher should never be jealous and protective about his teachings and should never attempt. To give his teachings a concrete shape in the mind of the student.
The teaching has to be perfectly fluid and flexible. Creating a rigid and concrete block in the mind of a student causes more damage then any long term benefit. Such kind of teaching is less teaching, more brain-washing. Hence, all attempts to create a solid 'belief' in the mind of a student must be avoided.

The teacher should bear in mind that he is only a passing phase in the student's life, and any attempt to hold onto that phase will only prove disastrous for the student.
A teacher has no right over the future of his student.
The teacher should be willing to pass away from the memory of his student.

The teaching is never judged on the basis of how much knowledge was imparted, but on the basis of how much knowledge was demanded.
A teacher can expect nothing from his students, though he deserves and is entitled to a 'tuition fee' from his students, which he can ask for only at the end of the teaching - not on the basis of how much he has given, but on the basis of how much the student has taken.
Greed and expectation always spoil and dilute the teacher-student relationship.
As long as the teacher has not embodied the correct mindset of teaching, he should not commence teaching." 

Sivananda Buried Yoga; Yogi Manmoyanand; O Books; 2008