Integral Taoism: Flow & Ease On The Transformative Journey

In this episode, Dr. Sally and Dr. Jen explore Integral Taoism and how to cultivate more flow, ease and gentleness in our lives. They talk about why this is important to our journey of transformation. 

Transcript

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0:08  Sally says this episode connects flow states with ways of being in the world, and creativity, and is one aspect of enlightenment philosophy in Integral Taoism, which is a fully embodied, perennial, philosophical, metaphor used throughout the whole podcast, which acknowledges identity as a flow process : “I am evolution in action”. Usually, we get stuck in many minor fixed identities, like our gendered roles, and our job. But we're actually a ‘process’. The philosophy of Integral Taoism brings polarities together, the paradox of the movement between opposites, from dichotomous oppositional binaries, towards paradoxical dipolarity, and possibly towards unity. That's the “integration”, but it's also Taoism, because it honors the fact that we're not fixed identities - we’re a process in motion. Classical Taoism uses water as a metaphor, a river. We are like that river, flowing through this life. Sally cites from The Tao Te Ching about how water flows. Her book Integral Taoism, will explain in much more detail how this polarity teaching has shown up in every single culture in the world. This is the true perennial philosophy that unites all cultures. How we can work with polarity is a very ancient cross cultural teaching. The podcast resurrects this teaching and also adds some deeply original contemporary work. The book integrates ancient teachings from all cultures, which are ‘process orientated’. Flow states reveal that we're actually embodying the principles and nature of evolution itself, as flow. In China these powerful teachings are called Wu Wei , or effortless action. Sally cites the Tao Te Ching on the ‘flow which offers no resistance’. It’s an active, deeply creative state, meditation in motion, a state of wholeness, performing egoless action, that often engenders states of bliss. We can even be at war, but still be in the state of effortless action, as revealed by martial arts. This is not the same as sitting on the cushion, with an ‘empty mind with still body’. This is ‘empty mind with active body’. And the more we get into this flow state, the more we align with evolution itself in action. Sally quotes The Bhagavad Gita, Hegel’s dialectic from the 1800s (the integration of opposites as thesis and anti thesis”, Vernon Dixon in the 70s (on di-unital thinking, when opposites come together), Abraham Maslow (on peak experiences), and Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi -who spent his entire life studying creativity in flow states. The ‘relentless movement into novelty’ as Whitehead called it, is performative, enacting through our bodies, and there are optimal states for finding inspiration, beyond our ego. 

11:13  Jen says flow states can be evolutionary intelligence being expressed. We are fields of transformation, nested fractally within other fields of transformation. We need a variety of tools and skills and supports for our journey of transformation, because it can be so tumultuous. So we really need opportunities for peace, safety,  relaxation, creativity, and learning to engage in flow states helps - when we are completely immersed in some activity, deeply focused, with concentrated presence. We can trigger these flow states. And why would that be important? Research shows that when in a deep state of flow, we stop centering our normal, ordinary sense of self, the way many of us do, in our ordinary waking states of consciousness. Normally, we live in a highly self-referential reality, inquiring into ourselves, and wondering about the self in relation to others, often born out of trauma, as a survival response. In flow states, this tendency for self-referencing is not as dominant. Jen describes her writing process, when it comes through a flow state, with deep confidence, never second guessing it, or worry about what anybody thinks about it. If she forces the writing, and is not in flow, she can be very self critical, consumed by self doubt, often deleting the work. By coming into a flow state, she can subvert the pattern of self-doubt. And develop more confidence in her ability to write. Much of writer's block is just not having the tools to elicit a flow state, and allow that writing to come through us, rather than just always trying too hard and struggling to write. She cites Steven Kotler, who studies and lectures on flow states as peak performance, and how to unlock our natural human potential. Time slows down, self vanishes, action and awareness merge. This state is a muscle-building opportunity for our souls. Kotler and Jamie Wheal identified 22 flow triggers. She discusses these, including ‘spite’, or wanting to prove someone is wrong. Jen describes her own triggers, as passion, purpose, complexity, immediate feedback and creativity – allowing whatever wants to come through, and subverting that self referential thinking, trauma and self doubt. The podcast itself is an example, where a tremendous amount of work gets done in a blink of an eye, creativity is heightened, due to two people being in flow together. 

22:37 Sally says relaxation is key, as you perform a highly skilled action. So this is the paradox. This is the yin and the yang. There are several characteristics needed a[art form the discipline, such as openness, curiosity, risk taking, thinking out of the box, intuition, imagination. Iain McGilchrist looks at the biology of this in his scientific books on brain hemispheres. So what is the yin and the yang metaphorically in the brain – the pair of symmetrical polarized opposites that work together, generating an internal electricity that creates new things, moving the whole of culture forward, through our creativity. As we relax and surrender, and imagine, we bring down the future, things that don't even exist yet. That's our right brain gift. And then we move into our left brain, we can problem solve and execute that. We have to manifest to impact culture -  get that book published, have that exhibition. This yin-yang pair is typically known as Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine, which we know now, biologically, is hormonal and as left and right brain. We're now able to be as masculine and feminine as we want. And when these two pair up, either within or without, the ‘baby’ or project is born. It's seminal. The joy is a full-bodied biofeedback reward that the body gives you as you enter these states. Sally describes how she discovered flow states, or meditation in motion. And started to access much deeper sources of inspiration. Sports psychologists call this entering the zone. The dancer actually becomes the dance. There's no split between subject and object. There's a unity between self and context that is extraordinary and optimal. And it is very co-creative with something that we don't really understand, that you could call inspiration, source, the muse, the divine, a place of potential that you didn’t even know existed. There's no ego, you don't even know where it comes from. It's timeless, with full absorption on the task, with no attachment to outcome. You're fully present. Sally discusses the paradox of desire and desire-lessness in flow states. When you are so full, that you don't desire anything else in that moment, intrinsic meaning arises. Like AC-DC, it's a reversal of current, it comes from the inside out. Usually we're searching for meaning outside of ourselves through narratives. We start creating meaning instead, as opposed to consuming meaning. We do need both though, extrinsic (frameworks) and intrinsic (states) meaning. When we are in the flow, we overflow. 

 34:26  Jen agrees that intentionally cultivating ease is important on this journey, so we're able to navigate the ups and downs with a lot more calm, groundedness, acceptance, openness, and grace. Resistance makes the journey of transformation all the more turbulent. Transformation is always happening on all the levels, personal, social, ecological, cosmological - there is no stopping it. And resistance tends to conjure up a variety of stress chemicals, while ease conjures up all the happy chemicals. Jen discusses how to cultivate these, to support our overall wellness. Bringing ease to our beliefs also allows us to not get hooked in by rigid thinking, or hyper-vigilance. We don't want to confuse flow with ease, however, they're very different things, People can be very hyper-vigilant AND be in a state of flow. She explains the difference and cites Dr. Herbert Benson, a cardiologist at Harvard Medical School. Healing can become sustainable with ease. 

43:14  Sally says flow is the golden ‘middle way’, between hyper-arousal, and hypo-arousal. When the external challenge is beyond the skill set, we're stressed. And if the external challenge is below our skill set, we're bored. Flow state is when the skill set perfectly matches the challenge at hand. Yang is – we have emerged and developed ourselves. We individuated with agency. And at the same time, we learned how to ‘merge’ - to meet the moment in a completely surrendered state,  while bringing our maximum capacity to that moment. We act, but from parasympathetic. Sally cites the Bhagavad Gita. Its not so much ‘what’ you do, but ‘how’ you do it. If you perform the action from ego or not . Sally describes the Ashtanga Yoga system of eight steps to attaining blissful states. Once you've tasted those states, your life will never be the same again. You can deliberately cultivate them, until eventually you can live there. And even die there, in flow, when the time comes. Integral Taoism is learning how to flow like a river, between the two banks of the polarities, that guide the flow. This is a solution to the meta-crisis that modernity has brought us, that only valued one bank, yang. So we're resurrecting the value of the yin as an equal partner. What's missing in patriarchy is the Yin. And this has led us to this existential moment. Sally cites Csikszentmihalyi on the biology of how creativity arose. We need to become more creative, not less.

51:53  Jen ends by talking about the importance of gentleness and how her healing journey taught her to be allergic to anything not gentle to her system, including religion, relationships, food etc. She had to develop patience, acceptance, openness and vulnerability, becoming more embodied, attuned to her inner world, on a more intimate frequency. She had to walk through a doorway of absolute gentleness that her nervous system could trust – a healing balm, which included another paradox – the practice of healthy boundaries. She cites Dr. Jaya John. Gentleness is a medicine for our souls, to heal harshness, hyper vigilance and resistance.  She describes how she is reclaiming her lineage from these old patterns.