Getting Out of Your Own Way

Playing the Game of Life

According to Dr. Watts, our society tells children that they are only quasi-people, that they are in the process of becoming real people and the training they receive in school and from people in their lives is how they become real people.  He describes the schooling system of preschool, Kindergarten, elementary school, high school, and eventually higher education are things that people are lead to and taught that it's how you become a person of worth.  When you finally reach that high tier person in your given profession, then you will have become a real person, but you're going to end up feeling cheated because once you realized that you've "made it", you're going to realize that life feels the same as it always has.  The final goal of it all is to have a good retirement, when you're supposed to be able to do all of the things that you've always wanted to do but were too busy working for that retirement to be able to do.  The issue with this is that when one does this, you live in a constant state of fear and anxiety about what could potentially happen and you lose sight of what's really happening and occurring in your everyday life, missing out on actually living because you're so focused on making sure the life you've made for yourself is taken care of in the future.

The Secret of Life

In Chinese, the word for nature is ziran, which means that which happens of itself.  According to Dr. Watts, you stop the spontaneous flow of nature when you tell it that it must do it.  He says that human beings are the structure and fabric of reality itself.  The secret of life is to be completely engaged in whatever you are doing right here and now and instead of saying that whatever you are doing is work, realize that it's all just play.

You're Already Awesome
Dr. Brewer's experience of flow was when he was riding downhill on a bike and he simply went with it instead of overthinking everything he was doing so that he wouldn't fall.  But, unfortunately, we spend 50% of our time getting caught up in our own thoughts and don't fully experience what we're doing.  They concluded that a wandering mind is an unhappy mind.

In another study, they found that the default mode network was quiet and the posterior cingulate cortex (what's responsible for cravings) gets especially quiet.  When you pay attention, you can make major changes in your mind in a short amount of time.  In just nine minutes, one of the subjects learned the difference between counting his breath and experiences his breath.

Reflection

All of this relates to our yoga practice because, in order to get the most out of the practice, you must be fully present in what you are doing.  This translates into acting/performing because if you aren't present on the stage, you're going to come off as one of those bad actors who can't quite keep up with the flow of the production.

I think what stood out to me the most was the idea of indoctrination into the world of education.  I've always heard people say that, but this video just really struck home.  We don't have to go to school to do something with ourselves, but our society tells us that the only way to be successful is to go to school and get good grades.