How do you get into the flow zone of your preconscious mind?
At the heart of ShapeShifting is your body and its story. The place or state of mind that allows your body to tell its story is your preconscious mind. Many musicians and freestyle rappers call it being in the “zone”. It is a place that is free of the restrictions, judgments, self-corrections, etc. that you conscious mind often places on you. It also is a place that is directly connected to your bodies interactions with the environment around it. It is a place that has constant contact with the nanosecond interactions between your body’s sensory inputs and and its muscular responses. This is the equivalent to always being in the present moment with your body as it tells you and others who you are. It is a form of meditation.
Falling
So one way to get to this place, your preconscious mind, is simply to move. Start by falling. When you fall, your body becomes totally engaged. There is no time to think. Your body just responds to the moment. Spent some time falling to the floor. Let your body guide you to the floor. Trust your body to get you there smoothly and effortlessly. Allow your body to explore as many ways to fall as it can come up with. Fall quickly and slowly.
Imagine that the floor is not something hard and unresponsive. It has stored energy that it can share with your body as they meet each other. The energy that flows in your body merges with the energy wave in the floor. They become one new energy stream. And that stream is expressed by the series of shapes that your body makes as it reaches out to the floor.
Once you have reached the floor allow your body to sink into it. Your body is not flesh and bone it is water on the floor/ground. Let it flow all over the floor. Let it sink into the spaces in-between the molecules and subatomic particles that make up that floor.
Now imagine that the floor has given you some of its stored energy. Allow that energy to activate your body into a series of movements that will get you off of the floor. Use your hands at first to help you. But eventually find rocking motions that will upon repetition propel and push you off of the floor with out your hands.
Repeat this until you are satisfied or exhausted. The more you do this the smoother and more effortlessly you will fall and rebound up.
This falling is a kind of surrender. When you move, you are actually incrementally falling and falling is a surrender to the pull of gravity which is a form of energy. Moving is the second by second energy play between you body’s musculature and the pull of gravity. It is a way of your body sharing its energy with the gravitational energy around it. The energy of your body’s musculature becomes one with gravitational energy and a third stream of energy is created. When this happens you are in your preconscious mind. No thought is required. You are in a place that relies on your body’s knowledge and intelligence. You are surrendering yourself to your preconscious mind, to your body, and to the energy that flows through it and around you. You are putting your conscious mind on hold and allowing space for you body to speak freely the truth and knowledge that it knows.
Also, when you fall you are trusting your body to catch you. When you trust your body you are surrendering to it. In this surrender you walk into your preconscious mind. Surrendering is a form of meditation.
Carve out a space for your body to move
Another way to enter the zone is to create a physical space in which your body can move. Imagine that you are surrounded by water or some weighted liquid. Imagine that your hands are knife blades. Use them to carve out a space for your body to move in- a space that is open, comfortable, and safe. Then imagine that your hands and arms are variously wings, paddles, or nets that can push, pull, and collect this liquid as your body moves through this carved out space. Imagine that your body is a sponge which can soak up the liquid/energy and redirect it through your movement. This is very similar to creating a space in which to meditate.
Exhaustion via wind sprints
When you push your body to the point of exhaustion, your conscious mind lets go and your preconscious mind opens up. Try doing wind sprints. Move with as much speed and intensity as you can for brief periods of time. Do this repeatedly. At some point your body takes over and moves as it will. Learn to breath from the base of your abdomen both on your inhale and exhale. Think of the area below your belly button as a balloon being inflated and deflated. It is your abdominal muscles that pull air into your lungs and force it out again.
Also, when your body gets exhausted it reaches into the places where the body has held trauma and emotions and it releases the energy held there. These areas of consciously forgotten pain and trauma are incredible sources of energy and set free hidden memories that your body can use to tell its story.
Move with objects/props
I have moved/partnered with umbrellas, chairs, medium sized pieces of cloth, canes, etc.. These objects create a new source of connection with your body. The shape and character of the object causes you to move differently. They become something that you can both move with and against. They bring you out of your self consciousness. And they literally become extensions of your body. Your body can flow its energy into the object with which it is moving.
Move with music or sound
One of the best ways to enter into a preconscious state is to move to music or sound. Play a piece of music, spoken word, or sound that moves you emotionally in some way. Get lost in the sound. Allow the sonic waves of your sound choice to move through your body. Imagine the frequencies merging with your body’s internal frequencies. If you are aware of musical or spoken phrases, allow your body to find its own response to those phrases. Move with the phrases, against them, and subdivide them. Do the same for rhythmic patterns. Move with, against, and subdivide them.
Move outside
Choose a space outside to move in. This space can be a familiar safe space like a favorite location in a park or in a very public space like a town square or sidewalk. I used to dance on subway sidewalk grates in Manhattan. When you are there allow the sounds, physical surroundings, people, and smells to guide you in your movement. Let your surroundings be your partner and leave your conscious mind behind. There are many incredible energy webs hidden in all of these environments. Allow them to permeate your body and move you. This is specifically a form of meditation called open monitoring meditation.