Pleasure, Pressure, Flow Arts

Pleasure, Pressure, Flow Arts

If there’s anything boldly obvious about this experience we call “life”, it’s that we can all feel something. Call it love, bliss, joy, and the opposites – fear, anger, pain. There is a vast spectrum of emotion and feeling. Isn’t it safe to say that there are obvious highs, and obvious lows?

We like to use the phrase “pressure and pleasure” as an overarching description for the polarity. In life, in relationships, in experiences, there seems to always be a swing, a balance, between feelings of pleasure in all its forms, and feelings of pressure in all ways it manifests too.

How does this relate to flow and flow arts?

When the pressures of life are present, when challenges come face-to-face, when you are afraid of potential outcomes, what do you do? And do you experience pleasures, pressure in flow arts?

It’s natural for triggers to come into play when we experience pressure, challenges, fears, frustrations. When we feel triggered by discomfort, it only makes sense at first to tense up, resist, run away, fight-or-flight, and act from a survival based instinct. However, what if we could train ourselves to flow through the pressures?

This is mental alchemy. When presented with challenges and triggers that don’t feel comfortable, if you can automatically (or at least start practicing) remembering that the Universe always comes back into balance, and that all is in perfect alignment, the circumstances seem to fizzle out in ways that don’t feel as tough. Flowing through, rather than resisting what is, is the best way to avoid injury during tense times too.

Just imagine, if you’re in a car accident and all of your muscles are tight (bracing yourself amidst the collision), your body become more rigid and prone to influence upon impact. If you’re relaxed, your body is more fluid, movable, and less likely to “break”. Now don’t try this at home, (we don’t need any car accidents). Though do consider and try out the practice of relaxing through whatever it is that makes you feel tense by focusing on your breath and posture. For more on this, go to Jesse’s YouTube playlist for True Yoga.

Life is going to come with challenges, pressures, and sometimes you might experience pain. Though things will always come full swing, and the inverse pleasures are also there.

What can I do to start?

Start something new! Aside from the internal thought practice of remembering the polarity and relativity in everything, pick up a new hobby or task that involves both physical and mental aspects of yourself. Flow arts is a great tool for this because it not only balances the hemispheres of the brain, it’s challenging, and there’s always more you can do to grow with it.

No matter how good you get, there’s always another trick. Another prop you can master, and you’ll always be working with flow. Flow arts can teach us what it means to be in the flow of life; By reflectively being in the flow with your prop! Give it a shot!

More to come!
Infinity to flow!

–Liora of Infinite Comings
A Sacred Flow Art Community Blogger

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