Fight Flight Freeze Faint or FLOW
As we continue with our Spiritual growth in our practice of Aikido, we need to be able to relate to our class mates in a language that is clear to all. If we can communicate with them in a language that is consistent with all of our natures then we can help the Clarity process to start to grow from a basis that the brain can start to see where it is involved whether conscious or unconscious in its contributing functions.
In its attempt to function in its online way, the brain, when it is unconscious will mainly work in its framework of to either fight, flight, or freeze in its relationship with life everyday. When it is allowed to function in pure default without any consciousness or awareness of what is happening when it is happening, in other words, could be an adrenaline cortisol dump and then we are caught in the crosshairs of where a potential perpetraitor knows enough to set us up and we are caught in no choice of fight, flight or freeze or faint.
When we enter the martial arts world we are moving into an arena that lots of people may never become involved in as an interest. There are a lot of assumptions about what that entrance is supposed to be depending on why one has decided to join in in whatever art they choose. People seem to be drawn to an art that at the moment of decision is really being decided to relate to their personality, this may seem to be on the periphery, but could be a lot deeper, but most don’t see the whole comprehensive picture.
Hopefully, what we have chosen will hopefully, gradually reveal ourselves to ourselves from a higher, less locked down perspective that we had when we entered the practice. So, in the testing ground of everyday existence, we start to get feedback as to whether we are gleaning positive, balanced insight into the nature of conflict.
In so doing, we start to see how we are involved either consciously or unconsciously. I have had serious students come back into sessions and report their experiences that came into their everyday situations and how they were able to handle the situations so we could start to process where they really were at those moments and how we can use our martial arts training to live more in a flow approach between chaos and rigidity, or fight, flight freeze or faint.
The neurochemicals that come online in a moments instance are very much based in our brain’s survival mechanisms, these are adrenaline, norepinephrine and cortisol. They all contribute to narrowing our focus of attention to the situation that has arisen and potentially calls for all of our brains emphasis on saving us from the danger it has perceived real or not.
In our practice in class, we are attempting to come as close to a true, committed energy attack and how we will respond from being present or react unconsciously. At this point we can be made aware by our brain’s reaction as to whether we are or have moved beyond its default position to a more centered, balanced response based in what our art is attempting to teach us, stay centered, grounded, and stable in our breath and how we can start to possibly stay in flow with the energy that has invaded our lives and not get caught up in just fight and freeze so we can safely leave the situation.
If we have become stable in our centered Awareness, we have a better chance of not getting locked up in our brain’s online dump, even if we do, we want to have experienced it enough to be able to channel its strength of the neuro chemical input so we may be able to use it to further our defense to escape or help us to deal with the situation if it turns highly physical or potentially terminal.
So, to become more aware of our survival tendencies to lock up, is to further get beyond their sub and unconscious input at times when we need to access beyond the situational energy and get into an arena of where all of our training, discipline and principles come together as a FLOW EXPRESSION. This is where we have brought a lot of all of overall attempts to stay balanced, centered and integrated come together and we start to function from a more synergistic, harmonized unification consciousness.
When we start to access this consistently, a lot of our prior conditioning maybe from other arts or disciplines start to fall in line with Principle and we are not left guessing as to our next response in each moment, this is where we become the present moment as NOW Presence and we have an answer to the situation because it is happening out of the present, we have trained to be fully in the present, so all our systems along with consciousness awareness are all firing in unity.
When we are living as Presence in the NOW, we are not surprised by too much in our daily life. If we are reacting or overreacting to situations that arise, then we are not living in the present, we are not connected with the situation as it is because we are at that moment not in tune as a WHOLE, partially fragmented, not living in the FL
OW of “what is”.
As we allow ourselves through our daily practice to stay in connection with whatever we are involved with, we can start to SIFT our values and see why we might have gone unconscious. This sifting needs to be continual and go much deeper than just societal, political and financial issues and concerns. It needs to allow things and situations to arise as they are and feel deeply to see what we are reacting to, which is the feedback of Awareness in the moment as to what buttons are being pushed and by whom or what.
If we are not being affected then there is no reason for concern or to have our Attention disturbed, but if there is emotional upset or being hijacked on our part then we need to inspect what was the underlying internal reaction.
As our practice of Aikido centering, grounding and stabilization and non attachment takes hold we can transcend these possible fight, flight, freeze or faint scenarios by staying Openended in the FLOW of the energy as we practice it in class and move beyond the biological online defaults that can take over because of our not being aware that they exist.
Our practice is much more than self defense, we allow ourselves to go through the acceptance of the possible situations from committed situations in class that show us whole other realms of how we can handle these possibilities that can keep us in the FLOW and not allow us to be overwhelmed by just our ego/mind default self.
Thank you, Will Gable
December 6th, 2018 at 12:28 pm
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