in order to quicken Response Times, slow down!
Originally posted on my EarthWideTribe Blog 10 September 2014
“Slow down, you’re movin’ too fast, got to make the moment last!”
It sounds completely contrary, but at least from my experience, it’s true that when we take the time and the space to process, only then can we RESPOND instead of REACT. And, initially, learning to do this means we have to slow down.
Wikipedia says that: “In technology, response time is the time a system or functional unit takes to react to a given input.” So, like machines, when we’re operating on automatic pilot, we can be quick and “react to a given input.”
From the same source, Emergency Response Times are defined as: “A common measurement in benchmarking the efficacy of emergency services is response time, the amount of time that it takes for emergency responders to arrive at the scene of an incident after the emergency response system was activated. Due to the nature of emergencies, fast response times are often a crucial component of the emergency service system.”
In both technology and ERT, speed AND efficiency are favored. I really like speed and efficiency! It takes awareness and skill to be both accurate and fast. However, when it comes to emergencies, we’re talking a primal/limbic brain reaction of fight, flight or freeze (or fawn and maybe even other new additions..).
While a primal brain reaction might be fast, I think we’d be wise to question the accuracy of operating on pre-programming. Without awareness we are often running on outdated or inaccurate information based on our fears from the past, or of the future.
This is where I relish yoga practice as something akin to a scientific experiment. I put myself into a controlled and safe environment - the home or public studio - and then commit to staying through the resistances that arise when I hold a pose or see a timed kriya through to its end. The yoga mat is my laboratory and my body is the crucible. Within these structures I can then tweek factors:
Increase the temperature.
Change the alignment to create clearer lines, angles and circuits.
Adjust the energy levels – amp it up or tone it down.
Add some internal sacred jack-hammer-ing with Sound to break up concretized areas.
Bring in the observer to see what happens with each change.
Repeat some things, especially those that are asymmetrical, to be sure both sides are impacted evenly.
Settle the temperature and sponge up the juices at the end.
Make notes.
Do it again tomorrow, or as soon as possible.
Applying this off the mat, in a non-controlled environment like school or work or home, means that the only “control” is ourselves. Most everything else is an unknown quantity. You might think you know stuff, but really most of us don’t even know ourSelves, so how can we truly know an-Other?!
So, when a stimulus comes in that sets off the alerts and emergency signals, and all our systems hike up energy to react immediately with unconscious response times, we actually should be calling them reaction times.
Because, in order to actually respond, instead of knee-jerk react, we have to first take in the fullness of the information, the reaction it’s stirring up in us, and then tease out whether it’s relevant.
Is this my story, my responsibility, my shit, or yours?
Secondly, we have to determine how we feel or think – or better yet, how we WANT to feel or think – about this particular request or situation.
To change my patterns, I need to see that I’m in them in the first place!
From that awareness I can then cultivate alternative routes and, therefore, responses.
Eventually, with slowing down, considering the origins, the effects and also the desired outcome, the unconscious reactions are re-trained into conscious responses. And with even more practice, our response times can quicken without dropping into reactivity. This requires awareness.
At the start of developing awareness (or ‘mindfulness’ as it seems to be called these days), we are often a muddle of thoughts, feelings, old stories, and desires that aren’t quite clear or individuated. Yet that unexamined muddle is driving most of our reactions!
In short, we are walking emergency responders until we stop, drop and roll.
Stop – step off the emergency excitement ride.
Drop – the distractions and get clear on what’s what and whose stuff is whose.
Roll – from that place of awareness to flow with the moment.
Which made me recall this ancient quote:
You are what your deep, driving desire is.
As your desire is, so is your will.
As your will is, so is your deed.
As your deed is, so is your destiny.
-Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV.4.5
Interestingly, Brihadaranyaka seems to translate to “the great forest of knowledge.” Until we allow space and time into our lives, we struggle to see the forest for the trees, We lack the eyes to see the wider view that cultivating awareness gifts us.
If you’re currently feeling the heat of life via constant changes, conflict, concern, and facing into the unknown, AND you’re noticing clenched muscles, held breath, and/or gritted teeth, those are alerts! What happens if you literally, or even metaphorically, carve out the space and time to step onto the mat and inquire first before engaging?
Perhaps then you can walk alongside the power of your primal, animal body, and more clearly see the trees that make up the forest. With awareness you can more clearly see the desires that make your will, your deeds, and, thus, your destiny.
