Flow-Unity State

Being in allowance of the universal flow is being in a flow-unity state, or state of Zen. The term Zen is from Buddhic origins, and it fundamentally means "union between the organism and the environment." 

It is difficult to tease out how a person can truly identify themselves as separate from their environment, because even on a practical level, people cannot survive without an atmosphere, food and water. You can then go even more finely into the particularities of your distinct living environment, family of origins and direct relationships. There lies a vast and complex order of interdependence that we are all a part of. We are both living life and being lived by life. A good metaphor is a person riding a horse, as it requires cooperation and non-resistance for both the rider and the horse, to the point that it is not clear whether the horse is riding the man or the man riding the horse.

If our aim is to understand the relationship between organism and environment, it is also important to see the distinction between voluntary and involuntary action (internal environment) in the organism. Like breathing for example, do you breathe or does breathing happen to you? You can see it both ways. We can also see ourselves as being victims of illness or as making ourselves ill, simultaneously. Do you feel sad or is sadness happening to you? Do you have depression, or do you depress yourself? Perhaps it’s both. What we know for certain is that a lack of cooperation between the voluntary and the involuntary causes unease and distress. That which is seemingly involuntary may only be an unconscious part of the self, just like a sneeze, a pain, or tension, nevertheless it is still part of the organism. As the person learns to own parts of themselves and integrate them into their whole, they become more dynamic and in flow. 

For example, clients should never be talked out of such so-called negative feelings as “pity,” and instead we teach therapists to allow clients to explore their relationship to their pity and invite them to get to know their pity more deeply. This type of inquisitiveness allows for transformation in the client’s experience because their experience is predicated on their prejudice and biased belief about their feelings, prior to examining them. 

For this reason, we facilitate flow-unity state through experiential means. We provide opportunities for people to connect to the experience of their discord with their bodies and their environment and find cooperation and completion. We also want to support our clients to find cooperation with their relationships, family and environment, so that they can feel flow on the outside as well. This may include limit setting or a more healthy boundary as well.