How to step into flow

How do you flow through the river of your life?

How do you let life flow through you?

When you flow you are open to what you don’t know. You are so completely in the moment that you let go of your past and your future. You are entirely in the present. In the full awareness of now. Alive and vibrant.

You are at the intersection of knowing and not knowing. You are in the very moment of becoming.

Saraswathi’s flow

I love the goddess Saraswathi (Saras means “to flow”) whose body is, literally, a river. Beginning in the mountains, she falls and tumbles down to the plains. She widens and deepens. She narrows and becomes shallow. She gurgles and rushes over boulders and pebbles. Wet, fluid, and alive, she is water itself.

She nourishes as she moves, bringing new life to all that comes across her way. She carries and cleanses all that is decaying and dying.

She is always moving. Always present.

Flow Moments

When I feel her flow through me I am fully present. I am one with what I’m doing, whether it is moving fluidly from one yogasana into another in my salutation to the sun. Or the effortless ease of chopping and sauteing  vegetables as I cook a dish that my body needs. Or when I sit down at my piano, listen for, and allow music to emerge from my fingers on the black and white keys.

When I walk on trails among the redwoods, I am in my body and being. And out of my mind. I allow another sense and wisdom to take over. My steps have  a different rhythm, a different mind. And I let myself be taken. On the winding trail sometimes flat and sometimes steep. Sometimes craggy and sometimes smooth. By the trail into the deep moist darkness of the woods. Off the trail to sit on a mossy fallen tree trunk. Or to gaze into the wide open hearts of white lilies in early spring.

Then, I am Wathi, “she who flows.” I am one with my river. I give up control. I shift from doing to allowing. I allow a deeper wisdom than my rational mind to take over.

How do you step into flow?

7 ways to step into flow:

1. Stay open to what you don’t yet know. Our minds with its judgments and beliefs can close us off to knowing. When we bring curiosity and possibility into our lives, we stay open.
2. Tune into yourself. Our instincts and emotions are our guides. When we keep thinking about something we want to do, chances are we’re wanting to grow in that area.
3. Nourish yourself. Go the the beach. Ride your bike. Sit on a park bench with a friend or watch the world around you. Do what feels good and connect with people from whom you receive.
4. Do something different. Are you doing the same thing and expecting the same outcome? Just as the river broadens or narrows, deepens or gets shallow, we need to change our ways of being and how we do things.
5. Laugh, play, and get creative. When we step out of trying to figure things out and into play, it creates and opens space for solutions we haven’t thought of.
6. Let go. Maybe there are past events, relationships, or ways of being that don’t serve you anymore and hold you back.
7. Keep moving!  When you feel stuck, do one thing that takes you even one step forward.

Are there other ways in which you flow? I’d love you to share them here.