Can’t Stop
I somehow clicked on an account on instagram called Hair2Pearl and found myself quickly down the rabbit hole. It is an account that posts a hair video a day -- how to videos of incredible braids, ponytails, or up-dos. With over a million plus followers, clearly I am not the only one. What is funny is I never do anything to my hair except wash it. I may throw it into a ponytail if it is dirty or I am going for a run, but an up-do is not a part of my morning beauty regime. Hell I grew up in the 80's and spent all my high school and most of my college years getting a perm and feathering my bangs. But when I click on the hair tutorial, I cannot stop watching and re-watching. I find them so soothing.
What else can I just not stop once I start???
Watching "Shawshank Redemption" if I happen to see it on TV.
Vacuuming my house.
Eating shelled pistachios.
Our brains our curious things and once something grabs our attention it can be hard to shake it loose. Like a crow to a shiny object. This is when time stands till. The shame of being busted by my hubs who just caught me staring at my phone for 45 minutes.
"What are you doing?" he asks.
"Watching hair videos?"
Part of the thrill of my yoga practice is allowing my mind to focus on something that is entirely more productive than the black hole of You Tube or Instagram. Time does seem to stand still as I am amazed when I look up and see that 60 minutes has evaporated. A meditation, going on a bike ride, or a long walk might produce the same effect.
It is sometimes expressed as "being in the flow". Flow is a state of mind in which a person becomes fully immersed in an activity. Positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi describes flow as a state of complete immersion in an activity. While in this mental state, people are completely involved and focused on what they are doing.
Being immersed in a project at work or an artist spending hours working on a painting or sculpture would be examples of a productive flow state, while watching an entire season of Broad City on Thursday night was a bootless errand. Yoga and meditation offer us a way to train the mind on a singular focus that can enhance and bolster all aspects of our physical and mental well-being.
Please allow this note to act as invitation to join me for class in studio or online to provide an environment where the mind can slow down as it moves from one point to the next in your body. The ancient yogis wrote it out for us hundreds of years ago....
Yogas citta vrtti nirodhah: yoga is the cessation of the modifications, or fluctuations, of the mind.
xoxo
JK