🌊 Go with the flow?

DO I WANT TO GO WITH THE FLOW?

When do I ride the waves of change?

When do I resist the waves of change?

My teacher asked our group this question in a movement class recently, and it made me think about when I feel at ease in myself and the situation, and when I feel resistance or strain.

And now I’m bringing this question to you.  

Here is my lens (what’s yours?):

We are self-regulatory beings, designed to meet moments of resistance and adapt.  

We are designed to discern what is happening, integrate what we need, allowing us to adapt to a new situation, and discard what we don’t need.  

“Adaptation/learning underlies the literal physical adaptations our system is constantly making to our lived and imagined experiences. We are talking about adaptations on every tissue level  from genes in our cells to neural network connection and pruning--- WHOLENESS.”

Babette Lightner, Wholeness in Motion

Every need or desire is paired with a corresponding resistance (#wholeness).  By bringing gentle awareness to our resistance, we can learn more about how we learn and what’s meaningful to us.  

Perfectionism is an example of resistance AND support.  Am I overeager to learn this new piece of repertoire perfectly? How is my resistance impacting my learning?

How is my resistance supporting my learning? What function is my resistance serving?  Perhaps it’s a message from my system to slow down; maybe I’m rushing through this too quickly to really integrate these new skills, for example.

Resistance is Assistance

Change (a.k.a. learning) involves a letting-go process, and acknowledgement of what is impermanent (thank you to Babette for introducing this word as part of the learning process).  

This can be challenging when we’ve been holding onto our habitual patterns for a long time, even if we have outgrown them.  Letting go of “trying to be right” tendencies can be a challenge because we are so used to being perceived in a certain way, predicting outcomes, etc.  Trying to be “perfect “has probably served a very important purpose up until now.  

(If you’re curious to dive a little deeper into our familiar “trying to be good/right/perfect” routine, and how it impacts our experiences with learning and performance anxiety, check out this great article, Good For Whom? by Elizabeth Garren on David Gorman’s Learning Methods website.)

What is your experience of going with the flow?  How do you experience your resistance to change and impermanence?  In what situations?  How is this process present in your learning, teaching, and facilitating?

When is your resistance assistance?  

How are you aware of your students’ or clients’ resistance?  

How can you support their process?