Is Your Mind Pulling You Out of Your Flow?

A few months ago I was at a workshop in which we were asked to do something a bit outrageous. Some folks sat out and watched the braver souls carry out the exercise. Others quickly fled the room to hide until the exercise was over. While some jumped right in -- enthusiastically. I stayed and did the exercise, as I'll usually try just about anything at least once.

Still, it was interesting to notice the process that occurred -- my first reaction was that of a truculent toddler -- "NO!" I got over that and then my prim-and-proper-follow-the-rules-stickler showed up -- "That's weird! You can't do that! What your friends/parents/partner think if they found out you did this?!?!" After listening to these two voices in my mind, I proceeded to ignore them and carry on. I'm so glad I did because the experience was fun and quite enlightening.

Like it often does, this shows up in my yoga practice. I've spoken about this before -- how you show up in your yoga practice is how you show up in your life. So, if you're often distracted and have trouble focusing, you'll be the same way during your yoga practice. If you get caught up in your thoughts, then you might lose track of your breath or you might find yourself saying no to certain poses rather than flowing. I've learned that I often have thoughts of wanting to quit, wanting to escape discomfort and doubting whether or not I can do a more difficult pose. Rather than get all pissy about it, I just acknowledge that those thoughts are there.

The thoughts being there isn't the problem -- it's when you start listening to them and allowing them to dictate your experience. Not good. Now I'm not saying that you shouldn't listen to yourself and force your body into a pose that it's neither willing nor able to go into - although usually something like that originates from a gut feeling rather than the thinking mind. What I'm saying is to notice without letting it pull your out of your natural flow. The flow is life in this present moment. When you start making judgments about the present in your mind, your mind starts creating stories and pulls you very far out of the moment.

When I first started practicing yoga, I was a bit too taken with doing fancy stuff. I tried all of the arm balances as well as other poses that required balance, strength, and flexibility. If it was challenging, I attempted it. As I look back I realize that I was simply curious about yoga and was trying to throw myself wholeheartedly into the practice of it. Of course my ego won out at times and I experienced quite a few ouchies.

One class in particular comes to mind. It was a great flow class that appealed to the athletic part of me. After completing some warm ups, the teacher took us into some more difficult binds and balance postures. I can't remember the exact pose, but I remember that it was one that I had never done before. It required starting from a squat position and placing your leg somewhere in the vicinity of your shoulder and upper arm. Getting into the pose was only the beginning -- once you had the bind, you were to stand up while holding it. The truculent child must have been at recess that day because I didn't even think about not attempting the pose, nor did I think I couldn't do it. I simply did it.

As I stood up the truculent child came roaring to the surface with a vengeance -- "you can't do that!" That thought totally knocked me off my game and took over. I immediately released the pose. Interesting, since I had already gotten into the pose and stood up while maintaining the hold. Ah, but the mind can be a powerful thing when you let it have its way. After that experience, I found myself letting my thoughts get the best of me when I attempted poses similar to that one.

Over the years I've gotten better at letting the thoughts be there without allowing them to take over my experience. Being in my head too much during my yoga practice isn't safe for me because it pulls my attention away from what I'm feeling. It takes me out of my experience in the poses which wreaks havoc on my breathing and the quality of my practice. Essentially, it morphs my yoga practice into exercise. This is one of the reasons I prefer a home practice to group classes -- during a class, my mind is much more engaged. My attention is divided between my environment, the dialogue from the teacher, and any distractions that can come up during the course of a class. [Blogger's Note: No, I'm not saying that yoga classes are bad. I'm saying that I PERSONALLY find them distracting. It's my personal preference to practice on my own. Many people love classes. It's these folks that keep me in business.]

So how do you stay in the moment and keep yourself from getting sucked into the whirlwind of your thoughts? Here are a few things that work for me:

• Tune into your anchor -- your breath. Your breath is always there for you, so use it! Notice what's going on with it -- is it flowing or are you holding it? Are you finding that your breath is getting "stuck" in a certain area of your body? Is your breathing fast or slow, deep or shallow? Tune in and stay focused on it.
• Notice the sensations in your body -- how is your body feeling? Is it tense or loose? Are you feeling tired or energized? Does your body need to make a micromovement to bring more pleasure or comfort? 
• Look at your environment -- if your mind is wandering bring it back by taking inventory of your physical environment. Notice the floor, the walls, room decoration, etc. You might find that you feel as though you're noticing what's around you for the very first time.'
• Feel your feet/hands -- outside of focusing on my breath, this one is my favorite. It grounds me to notice how my feet feel on the ground. It brings my focus back from wherever it's been roaming.

It's all about noticing the thoughts and continuing to flow in the present -- whether in your yoga practice or in life. Sometimes when you hear your thoughts but ignore them you wind up doing things that you never could have believed you could do. Be here now.

Namaste!

Comments

[Diane Cesa]

Hi Blisschick! I love that you've acknowledged yourself and that you're honoring yourself by not bowing down to the "pressure" to attend group classes. I believe yoga should be adjusted to the individual, not vice versa. Sounds like you're living that, which is wonderful. I completely understand what you're saying about a class sparking competition. In me, class sparks wanting to do well and please the teacher. That definitely takes away from my practice. Like you, I know this about myself and I practice at home. I think it's so wonderful that you're honoring yourself. I honor you as well! Thank you so much for your wonderful and wise insight.

[BlissChick]

I, too, find an at home practice to be much more personally beneficial.

I find it frustrating when people are so very married to the idea that yoga "has" to occur in a group setting -- this thought is especially prevalent in my beloved Kundalini yoga community.

But I happen to know myself. I come from a dance background, and so a class is a competition to me. Period. I compete with everyone around me and I compete so hard with myself that I tend to injure myself.

Sure, I could push myself to keep attending classes until I "get over" this or I could be more gentle and stay at home, getting so much more out of yoga than an internal argument or a tyrannical reaching for perfection.