Training in Trances

Getting into some trance-like states while training pk. I notice as soon as I put myself into a place where I am going to be training for a bit, I can drop my ordinary ways of thinking and just get caught up in the flow of one movement into the next one. I find myself "waking up" out of this state after several hours have passed and my body has taken a toll. Funny thing is I would never bother to go to such physical lengths in any other circumstance.

When I have a set regimen ahead of me, it takes tremendous willpower to push myself through it. When I get into this sort of trance state, training becomes effortless. I can push beyond my natural inclinations to stop and conserve energy, or get more comfortable. What's more, the feeling is so enjoyable that it causes a positive feedback loop so I just want to do it more and more. I think I started doing this kind of thing on accident several years ago but it has accumulated now to a noticeable point.

Some of the factors, or "trance catalysts" that put me in a flow state:

Music, especially flowing music can put you right into the state almost immediately

Having an uninterrupted bit of time, no obvious distractions

Resolving to stave off planning about particular routes or movements beyond the next two or three movements, not having any set goals

Not thinking too deliberately about my movements, it starts feeling too robotic and it can break me out of flow state.

I am importing this train of thought from my yoga, meditation, and running practices. The sense is not to strive with energetic effort, brows furrowed, but relaxed rather with an equanimous attitude toward whatever may result. I'm trying to also cultivate this flow state more and more as I become aware of the feeling and discover more factors that trigger it. Wouldn't it be cool to be able to produce this state at will any time?

Book Review: Consider Phlebas

Keeping this one short and sweet.

I was looking for a story about an advanced civilization that doesn't go wrong as is the case with almost every sci-fi story that isn't star trek. Most of the sci fi stories I have come across usually show in gruesome detail how bad everything will be in the future, a dystopian future. So when I heard of The Culture Series of which Consider Phlebas is the first book, I jumped at the chance for some inspiration. The first book dedicates only a few chapters to the Culture, the advanced civilization I was looking for. The rest of the story, however, revolves around the plight of shapsehifting spy who works for the other side in a war against the culture.

I was going to elucidate all the plot points but decided it was far too convoluted to get through. Let's just say that the book explores the different types of societies possible. the anarchist socialist Culture vs the religious totalitarian Idirans is the main conflict. Extremely thoughtless devotional religiosity plays a part for a short while but there is so much gore and grossness, even thinking about it right now makes me want to throw up so I won't bother. A lot of unnecessary violent and gory scenes make their way into the text and as a highly visual person, this made the book hard to get through. Splattered around all the bizarre plot points is a fully realized chunk of the galaxy with tons of detail. I don't see how this series is about the culture as there are only about 2 or 3 culture characters and they hardly get any time in.

Also huge spoiler, literally every character introduced dies by the the end of the book which just baffles me. I felt like I got invested into some characters, then the rug is pulled out from under me. But thinking about it a little more, I suppose Banks leaves a world behind despite all the the broken and bloody characters. so I may try the second book to see if things change.