FLOW STATE - HOW TO GET THERE AND STAY THERE

I recently had the opportunity to attend a weeklong retreat with one of my heroes, Dr. Joe Dispenza and it's kind of amazing that over the past seven years leading retreats I've never actually taken out the time to go on one for myself. I often talk to people about the importance of stepping away from your day-to-day so that you can cultivate a deeper understanding of who you are and how you want to move through the world.

I've seen people make incredible shifts on the retreats that I lead. They heal physical and emotional trauma. They get out of bad relationships and jobs. They move their life to new parts of the world and shift their focus towards living in what we call “flow.” We have all been there, doing that thing you love where time stands still and you feel like you’re floating. You feel creative and alive in a way that words can barely explain. 

When the pandemic started I was in Bali with the first of three retreat groups planning to spend March of 2020 on the island running wellness retreats. After just four days of the first retreat it was clear that it was unsafe to stay there and we had to come home. When I returned home I found out that I was furloughed from my favorite place to teach yoga and work out. Since we clearly couldn't be together in groups I didn't know what I was going to do to continue teaching yoga and living in purpose and flow. 

I began to book more one on one and small group classes which I was, and am still, infinitely grateful for. The period where gyms and yoga studios are closed gave me an opportunity to teach my students in a whole new way, it gave me financial security AND it made me realize how much I missed retreats. 

In the last few months as things have opened back up I've been able to shift more and more attention to leading yoga retreats again. I have planned eight retreats in the next 10 months including hopefully getting to go back to Bali in November. I know that my true passion and the biggest impact that I can make in this world is getting people together for these life-changing events. 

One thing that became clear to me as I exited my week long meditation retreat with Dr. Joe was that I had to get even more serious about looking at all my thoughts, all my decisions, how they made me feel, and how I wanted to feel moving through the world. I started to realize that those private clients that I felt very much in flow with only a few months ago were now starting to feel less and less fun. Our sessions were becoming repetitive and at times they were canceling with this little to no notice. 

For me the excitement had been replaced with resistance beforehand and feelings of absolute exhaustion after our sessions were over. Since my nature is to want to help people and not disappoint anyone, I've struggled with how to transition and more so, how to let them know that I want to move towards focusing more of my attention and energy into our retreats. It's super clear that when I shift my energy in this direction that I feel inspired, uplifted, abundant and joyful. Again, it's not to say that I wasn't grateful for the work we did together and how it kept me in my purpose, but it's our job to constantly look at how our thoughts and our decisions make us feel. Our only responsibility is to be our best, and sometimes that means saying no.

Who we were a few months, a few weeks, or even a few hours ago isn't who we are in the present moment. The more we chase that present moment the more we become aware of the things that serve us and just as importantly, the things that don't. 

You can apply this to just about anything. Think about how you feel after you eat a well cooked meal full of love, with great company and if you're very present while you eat it. Conversely, think about how you feel when you rush to eat something that perhaps isn't as nutritious and isn't prepared with the same amount of care and love. I can remember working in corporate jobs that certainly weren’t in flow and going to those big New York City buffets, rushing to grab my food, cramming it down my throat and feeling like I wanted to take a nap about 20 minutes later. 

I imagine we all have people in our lives that when we spend time with them we feel uplifted, inspired and energized. I'm sure we also have a few of those people that after we meet with them it feels like we need to take a nap. 

In order to get in, and stay in flow, we have to be diligent shepherds of our own thoughts, feelings and emotions. We need to take time to pause and reflect and to notice how those thoughts, feelings, emotions and surroundings serve us. Some of our patterns and relationships become so habitual they become automatic, we don't even realize that we're doing or entering into these things that don't serve us. 

In my experience one of the best gifts we can give ourselves is the opportunity to step back, to retreat, to notice and to really truly feel your feelings. Whether that's meditation, taking a walk, journaling or at least just spending a few minutes away from your devices and from people with your eyes closed. Once we get a taste of flow, we know how to get back there but it takes work — it takes effort to stay diligent and become the creator of your own reality. If we don’t, eventually we become a victim of our environment.