Kempton describes meditative states in some of the following ways:
- spontaneous
- natural
- immune to manifestation by force, yet unable to be approached passively
- matter of atonement and awareness
- gradual
- affected by attitude
- not just an act or a process, but a relationship; a relationship with oneself and one's consciousness
- power to enable us to become whole
- power to clear the mind
Csikszentmihalyi identifies the following nine factors as present during one's experience of flow:
- Definite goals: challenge and skill level must both be high
- Concentration: single-minded focus on a specific field of attention
- Loss of feeling of self-consciousness: action and awareness merge into one
- Distorted sense of time: one's subjective sense of time is altered
- Feedback: success and failures in one's engagement with this activity are direct and immediate
- Balance between ability level and challenge: the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult
- Control: a sense of personal authority over the situation or activity
- Reward: the activity is intrinsically rewarding; entails an effortlessness of action
- Lack of awareness of bodily needs: one can reach a point of real hunger or thirst without realizing it
It is clear that there are commonalities in experience between both meditation and "flow activities."
My question: Can the inner world of the self, awareness, and consciousness be achieved in ways other than still, quiet meditation as suggested by Kempton? I know there is no "wrong" way to meditate, and that every individual's has a meditation practice that is unique to him or her self, but I am curious to know whether or not it is possible to "enter the field of consciousness" that Kempton describes through engaging in some form of physical activity? Is that possible, or do you think that the experiences differ between the two? Is "flow" more limited in capacity than the form of meditation she describes?
Christen,
ReplyDeleteThe other day I ran around the track at the CCRB, and decided to make my main goal to BREATHE BEAUTIFULLY.
No matter how many people are passing me - the pace does not matter. This run is about beautiful, spacious, rhythmic breathing. I promised my Breath that I would not drop it, and realized that if I take care of the Breath, the Breath takes care of my whole body.
This became a transcendental experience, which, after reading your description, was exactly like Flow. I felt no sense of time or self consciousness. I felt continuous reward in the energy surging from soul, to breath to body.
And, most importantly, there was NO THOUGHT. This is the greatest gift, the most peaceful relief imaginable.
The brain alone uses ONE FIFTH of the body's metabolic energy. When you attempt to stop using it, that excess energy can make you quite antsy... it wants to get burned up! Trying to hold completely still makes it even harder, and that ball of pent up energy inside you might turn into something ugly if you don't yet know how to release it. For me, this means a relentless screaming voice in my head, or a squirming emotion rising up in my stomach. Or it means I bounce my leg and tense my shoulders, and find ANY excuse to move during meditation (my foot is cold, my arm itches, there's mucus in my throat!).
This is why we need Flow activities, like running - the bottom line is, they burn up energy and leave the mind sublimely vacant, for awhile. Compulsive thought patterns are the main obstacle to satisfying meditation. We need to draw energy AWAY from them so they will die, and finally stop crowding your awareness.
Next time you Flow, embrace the blankness it creates in the mind and try to carry that with you. Or better yet, come to Siddha Yoga next Thursday and feel how much easier it is to meditate after a half hour of exhausting singing! That is definitely Flow...
Laura makes some great points. Chanting definitely became flow, as can running (I ussually close my eyes and just listen to my breath when I go on the eliptical), and so on. I also feel like, something we had discussed, taking hallucinogenics can perhaps cause that state, but I kind of prefer to imagine they are different. Like, what is the motivation in meditating if all you are really doing is invoking your own trip?
ReplyDeleteNah you've got it backwards, Roxy - hallucinogens are offering a glimpse of what meditation can bring you. They are sort of cheating, in that way, but they certainly do bring insight and inspiration.
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