Going with or against the flow?

The other day I was talking to a colleague about alignment.  I am not
referring to physical alignment; I am referring to mental alignment.  In
the practice of Hatha Yoga, we place so much attention on being present
and learning to address when you are "out to lunch"-day dreaming.  It is
important to realize that you can never be present all the time.  The
mind wanders and then something brings you back.  If you do not meditate
or you do not practice yoga, you are probably not aware of this, yet it
happens thousands of times throughout the day.  The practice of
meditation or Hatha Yoga helps strengthen your mind to be stable and
steady.  A large majority of our thoughts, actions, and words are
subconscious. The more we spend time in the present moment, the less we
operate from a subconscious place and start living from a conscious
place. This is a place where empowered living takes place.


Many times I hear people say "Just go with the flow!"  What happens when
going with the flow is just a habit that is not really helping me be
happy?  I have been thinking this way and living this way for so long I
will just go with the flow.  It is cool to go with the flow, right?
Well for me, I have really learned to stop and ask myself "Should I go
with the flow?"  Is this causing unhappiness or pain in my life? Maybe I
need to not go with the flow and stop and go the other way. This can
take a lot of courage, particularly when you have the momentum of your
mind and emotions telling you to just go with it and do what you have
always done; to just be in the flow.


This is where meditation, Hatha Yoga or any concentration or
conscious-deepening practice comes into play.  It allows you to begin to
understand the flowing nature of reality.  Things are always changing
and our minds are always changing.  Thoughts come in and then they
leave.  Some thoughts come repeatedly throughout the day and others just
show up occasionally.  Conscious-deepening practice allows us to develop
emotional and mental intelligence so we can begin to know when to go
with the flow and when to stop and go the other direction.  Without the
ability to pause and be conscious of the present moment, we just wind up
thinking, speaking, and acting the way we always did.  The present
becomes the past replayed and the future is nothing more than the same.

Being empowered is seeing the truth of this and learning to pause and
bring skillful action into going with the flow or against it.