Author: Jerry

Last week, I wrote - The techniques for building flow that I have laid out over the last four weeks can be applied to all aspects of our lives. Using ritual practice to help build flow and create habits that help create consciousness is critical to the process.

I thought it might help to start by defining the word ritual and then take you through the process of practicing our ritual.

A ritual is defined as: a religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order.

The Ritual: Standing Center
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Take a moment and center yourself. Think about your foot position; how you’re holding your shoulders; and your breath. Do you feel centered? Here’s the test – Can you take an open flowing breath? Did your breath rise from the bottom up? If it did, that’s great!

If not, don’t worry about it. Let’s go through standing center step by step so you can be confident in your ability to re-create it at any time.

Start with your feet hip to shoulder width, just like seated center. If your feet are too wide, it locks your hips and if too narrow it makes you unstable. Now, relax your feet. Soften your arches and wiggle your toes. Soft feet will give you soft knees. If your knees are locked, you will not be able to soften your feet. If your feet are tight and rigid your legs will follow suit. Soft legs will let your hips stay open and relaxed.
Slightly raise your diaphragm so your shoulders will drop and relax. Take a nice open flowing breath from the bottom up. Did the breath rise up into your shoulders? If so you are centered. If not, start with repositioning your feet and go through the process again.

If you’re ever in doubt about whether or not you're centered, just breathe. An open flowing breath always means your centered. If your breath doesn’t rise, then you’re not. It’s really that easy. Although it might seem foreign at this time, with practice you’ll find centering will get easier and easier.

Centering is where anything and everything should begin.

This week, let’s once again focus on the process of centering. Practice often. I’ll discuss the next phase of the ritual process next week.

Over the last four weeks, I have attempted to teach you to systematically increase your capacity to feel and create flow. The next step in this process is to begin to consciously apply the lessons in building flow to other aspects of your lives. As an example of how to do this, I went to the driving range in order to practice building flow within my golf swing.

I started by centering and doing a few light stretches while paying particular attention to my breath. At the end of five minutes, I was relatively loose and very centered. I took a few practice swings using a 58-degree wedge.
The goal was to create a reproducible pattern with my pre-shot ritual that would help to keep me centered while minimizing potential errors during setting up and executing the swing.

I started by standing behind the ball and taking a centered breath while picking my aim point. I placed the head of my club on the ground aimed through the center of my ball at the target. I then squared my club face to the ball and aligned my body to my club.

Addressing the ball (doffing my cap and bowing - Hello Ball! – and no it never gets old for me), I took an open and flowing breath up through my body and released the tension in my torso. Then, in order to ground my energy and lower my center of gravity, as I exhaled, I would bring the breath back down through my body and anchor it deep into to the earth. I practiced this ritual until I could comfortably execute it and felt balanced within my stance.

Now for the test: Using my newly developed pre-shot ritual prior to every shot, I would initiate my backswing from my core and attempt to hit a nice high arcing shot towards the red flag about 100 yards in front of me.

I considered a successful shot any that hit within a 10-yard radius of the flag, and the results were absolutely stunning. I hit 12 consecutive shots that all were well within 10-yards of the flag. Several actually hit the flag itself.

The next test would be switching to a longer club. Using my nine iron, I took a few practice swings and spent a couple of minutes working on the pre-shot ritual. After getting comfortable with a longer club in my hand, I started hitting balls toward the white flag about 130 yards out. After a couple of shots to dial in, the results were very similar: 8 of the last 10 shots were within the 10-yard circle.

The techniques for building flow that I have laid out over the last four weeks can be applied to all aspects of our lives. Using ritual practice to help build flow and create habits that help create consciousness is critical to the process.

This week’s assignment is to apply these principles to another aspect of your life. Create a ritual that centers you while building flow within your body. Allow yourself to stay conscious and notice what happens.

Last week we continued to work on establishing a sense of flow and allowing ourselves to move into our habitual patterns while doing chores.

Creating a state of flow as we move through our habitual patterns actually begins to infuse flow into the habit itself. Essentially, we are working on giving ourselves permission to habitually stay in a state of flow.

The assignment for this week is to continue creating flow as you move through your day. Consciously, check in with yourself a little more frequently and make adjustments as necessary. Pay particular attention to maintaining center.

Remember, staying in a state of flow requires good posture, an open flowing breath, core activation and a willingness to stay conscious.

Last week we worked on creating flow through the breath while completing a mundane task. Before we begin this week, take a couple centered breaths and reflect on how your practice went.

Was it open and flowing? Did you breathe new life and meaning into doing chores? Or like most of us, did you got caught up in completing the task at hand and slip into the comfortable rhythm of habit?

Although most of us will return to our habitual patterns after a couple of minutes, our practice is always rewarded. Because once an open and flowing breath is established, it continues to flow long after we stop paying attention to it.

The assignment for this week is simple. Continue to practice paying attention while doing chores. Establish an open and flowing breath and move about your business. However, this week, give yourself permission to move into habit. Try to notice the increased flow within your system as you move through your habitual patterns.

Last week we worked on the centered breath. Before we begin this week’s lesson, center and take 5 breathes.

Did you feel the breath rise effortlessly through the body? Try again and really allow yourself to feel the breath rise. Notice how the system relaxes into the breath and the breath flows throughout the body effortlessly. Try it again. Really pay attention to that sense of flow and ease as the breath rises throughout the body.

Now, I want you to pick a mundane chore that you perform all the time. Something like sweeping the floor, vacuuming, dishes, etc. Center yourself and practice breathing while doing the chore you picked out. Notice the flow of breath and the sense of ease in your body while doing the task. Notice how the work progresses and how your body feels. Try to re-create this feeling with each chore you perform this week.

Don’t work too hard at it, just allow yourself to find the flow and the breath within the process of being centered while doing the chore.

We’ll continue to build on this idea next week.

There are many ways to build flow within a system. Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing these techniques with you. The first and most important is the centered breath.

Take a moment and center yourself. If seated, have your feet hip to shoulder width, with feet flat on the floor. You should have your heels directly under your knees at a ninety-degree angle. Slightly raise your diaphragm, setting your core. Take 5 breathes up through your pelvic floor.

Practice this at least fifty times a day at various times.

Monday March 14th was a really tough day. Not just for me personally, but most of the clients I saw that day complained of the time change. Well into the week, people seemed to feel disjointed and out of sorts. Everyone seemed to appreciate the extra hour of daylight that came with the clocks springing forward, but something didn’t feel right.

As the week wore on, the energy slowly started to shift. By Friday, people seemed to have adjusted to the change and were more themselves. Personally, I could feel the energy slowly shift towards finding balance again, but things still weren’t quite right. I could give you many examples of how things were “off,” but I doubt they would mean much to anyone but me. Let’s just say that things were slightly off center.

Yesterday, March 20th, was the spring equinox. It was the earliest equinox in more than 120 years. I’m not going to explain why it was, but you can ask google, google knows. I looked it up there myself. To summarize, I t said something about a long time ago (approximately 1582) men, who seemed important at the time, manipulated the calendar to account for something that also seemed important at the time. Anyway, the result is that yesterday we had the earliest equinox in a very long time.

Exactly one week prior to this we adjusted the clocks forward one hour to account for day light savings time. Yet another instance where men, who seemed important at the time, manipulated the calendar to account for something that seemed important at the time. (Yes Google can explain the who and why of daylight savings time.)

Now, I’m not trying to degenerate the contributions and ideas of these historical figures. I am attempting to remind ourselves that time really doesn’t exist. That it is simply an agreed upon concept constructed by man. In fact, historically, there have been at least nine different recognized calendars. Some were fixed on the number of days, while others were based on the movement of the moon, sun, or both. Some, myself included, think that the structuring of time is man’s attempt to make himself the center of the universe. Time, is just one of the ways that we attempt to impose our collective will upon it.

The dissonance that most people felt after the time change on the 13th lasted until the equinox on the 20th. At work on the 21st, the collective energy was better overall and my clients reported feeling “normal” after a week of struggle. One client reported that she was “well rested” after doing the bare minimum the week before. She didn’t have a reason for needing the rest, it was just that she wasn’t “feeling it.” People struggled with the time change, not because of the hour “lost” but because through man’s manipulation of time, we were thrown out of rhythm with the universal energy flow.

The word equinox literally means “equal night.” So an equinox is the day that we are supposed to experience an equal amount of daylight and darkness. By changing the clocks, we remove ourselves from the balance of the universal energy represented by the equinox. It is important to remember that man is not the reason the universe exists. Man exists, because we are of the universe and the universal energy.

To live a life of balance and connectedness we have to harmonize with the flow of universal energy. The concepts and ideas that we present here use sport and performance as a way of enhancing our connectedness to the universal energy flow. Our hope is to not only help you perform better, but to live a more fulfilling and connected life. Happy Spring!

Last week I finished my piece with the statement:

The harmony of thought, expression, and physical reality creates a sense of flow, which is critical for positive change to happen.

Expressed another way – Our ideas, words and actions have to be consistent to create positive change. When these things are aligned, there is a sense of harmony or flow within the body and the energy system opens, allowing positive change.

When these things contrast or contradict each other, the system closes or becomes stagnant, blocking the flow necessary to create positive change. I am amazed at how often we use language, either consciously or sub-consciously, to block our sense of flow and well-being.

For example, last week I discussed the use of the word “fine.” To me, the word is an acronym for Frantic, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional. When used on its own, any of those words will kill a conversation and the flow necessary to create change.

It seems to me that people, consciously or more likely subconsciously, like to use individual words like fine, okay, easy, and hard to limit the conversation and block flow. Flow requires the use of language. A conversation is necessary to open the flow of energy and create positive change.

Over the last couple of weeks Ben has been discussing the use of the words Easy and Hard. When you say either word aloud, neither one has any sense of energy or flow around it. But, if we change the context we can create a sense of flow that helps to shift our perception of what easy and hard might be.

So let’s say that I bring you 5 feet from water’s edge and demonstrate how to throw a rock into the water. I show you how I hold the rock, how I’m balanced in my stance and the motion I use to throw the rock into the water. Then I have you do it. I applaud your success and verbally confirm what you were already thinking, boy that was easy. Then I move us back to twenty feet away and repeat the process. Each time building the sense of flow within the accomplishment of throwing the rock into the water.

Soon, we’ll be at a distance that challenges our physical ability to throw a rock and hit the water. I throw my rock, and barely miss the water. This time, before you get to throw your rock, I confirm what you’re already thinking, that this is going to be more difficult. In fact, you might not even hit the water. But let’s see how close you can get to it. You throw your rock and I congratulate you on the distance, it was quite an accomplishment to get that close. Your rock had great trajectory coming out of your hand and really had a chance to make it. With a little work and effort, we could hit that water in no time.

Notice, it never got hard. It may have become more difficult to coordinate body movements, trajectory, and effort as the distance became greater, but we never let it get hard. We kept the energy positive and built a sense of flow as we both moved forward. Now, at some point we will reach a distance that is physically impossible for us to throw a rock into the water. That’s OK. When we have reached the farthest distance that we know we can throw a rock, there’s no reason to struggle throwing it further. We have maximized our potential.

The language of flow is one of thought, expression, and physical reality. When used properly, we can learn almost anything. By keeping things from becoming hard, we can open ourselves to maximizing our potential.

The Language of Flow

After reading Ben’s piece from Friday entitled, Easy or Hard, I thought I would write a little about language. How we use it, and how it can help and/or hinder us as we try to create change in our lives.

Each day as I work with clients, I am constantly monitoring the words they choose to use and how those words affect their body, mood and workout in general. Often, we’ll use words that although benign in nature, using them causes a sense of stagnation and struggle. A perfect example of this is the word fine. People ask how you’re doing and the short answer is “fine.” In this case, “fine” means you really don’t want to know and I really don’t care to share.

But what the word “fine” really does, when injected into a conversation, is kill any sense of flow or feelings of well-being. Try this - as you sit reading this take a moment to center yourself. Take a couple of open and flowing breathes. Now, out loud, say “I’m fine.” Repeat it a couple of times. Notice the change in energy within your body. What do you feel? When I do this this I can feel my energy stop flowing and my system shut down.

This shut down is caused by the lack of harmony between what I am saying and what I am feeling. It really doesn’t matter if I’m feeling great or horrible, the word “fine” doesn’t flow with either one of them and therefore, the energy gets blocked and stops flowing.

For example, let’s say a client comes in and he’s not doing well. His knee hurts and walking is obviously uncomfortable. I ask him how he’s doing and he says “fine.” The conversation and the energy flow stops right there. His words and physical reality are out of sync. Because there is no balance between his statement and his pain, the energy cannot flow between them. He’s essentially stuck right there.

But let’s say that he’s not doing well and I ask him how’s he doing? He responds, that his knee hurts today. First, by voicing that his knee hurts, I can confirm the obvious visual indicators of his pain, he’s limping and grimacing with the statement that his knee hurts. This builds an energy balance and a sense of flow between what I see and my clients experience. From here, I can build on that energy by asking about what happened to his knee and what he’s done to treat it to this point.

By furthering the conversation, I continue to build the energy between his perception of what happened to his knee and what he really feels physically. This harmony between perception and reality allows for him to give me the necessary details to design a viable treatment plan. This interaction also creates a sense of flow between he and I, that builds the trust necessary for me to help him with this problem.

The harmony of thought, expression, and physical reality creates a sense of flow, which is critical for positive change to happen.

For the last few weeks, I have focused on struggle--its nature and the tendency for people to choose struggle rather than flow. As I transition to the idea and concepts of flow, I thought I would share a session I had with a client last week.

Mike is a 16-year-old male with a limited history in weight lifting. He is a good high school tennis player who came to me to get stronger because he wanted to join the rugby club at his high school. We’ve been training together once a week over the last few months. He’s made excellent gains in strength and diligently applies the instructions he gets from me each week.

Last week during our session he was talking about how he has recently enjoyed a significant jump in the quality of his tennis game. He wasn’t sure why, because he’s been focused on his rugby training and hasn’t been taking tennis lessons over the last few months. I smiled and asked how he could tell he had made the significant leap.

He told me that earlier that week he had a private lesson with his tennis coach, the first in several months. At the end of a lesson they typically play a competitive set. There’s no instruction, just head-to-head competition. After his prior lesson, he had lost the set 6-0. He said that it wasn’t even that close. He was playing his hardest, while his coach was simply going through the motions.

Last week, the competitive set to finish the lesson went quite a bit differently. He lost the set 6-2, but his coach had to “really play.” There was no joking or goofing around; the coach had to actually play his best and was very pleased and congratulated Mike when they were done. Mike wasn’t sure what changed, but he credited the training he was doing with the rugby team. I asked him why he thought that, and he said “because he was moving easier with more confidence and agility.”

I smiled at his explanation and began to explain what was really going on. In teaching him weight training for rugby, I am using the training techniques that I have developed over the last 25 years. I have taught Mike how to center and make an open flowing breath essential to good form and technique. I have encouraged him to never struggle when lifting a weight. He has applied the concepts of mindfulness to his workouts and these habits are being ingrained into his system. So when he’s on the rugby field or the tennis court, being in a state of flow is becoming his default response.

Helping Mike to create positive habits while improving his overall fitness has been relatively easy. He’s a willing student who was open to the training. Because of his relative lack of experience, I didn’t have to overcome any preconceived notions of what the training should look or feel like. Essentially, he didn’t have any “bad” habits that we had to overcome. When you combine being present and in a state of flow with increased strength and endurance, good things are going to happen.

The really interesting thing here is that all of this has derived from a basic exercise program. I haven’t shared any of the TTW principles with Mike yet.