Jumping people pic from bingbing.
I recently read one of those books that changes your life. Unfortunately I think it’s out of print, but it’s called The Energy Break: Recharge Your Life with Autokinetics by Bradford Keeney. I found a used copy at a bookstore, and there appear to be copies on Amazon as well.
I’ve been Twittering a lot about autokinetics lately and I figured it was time to write a post about it, as I think it fills in a HUGE missing piece of personal productivity for me. Autokinetics is the first technique I’ve ever seen to explicitly help you access an energized, creative flow state in 10 minutes or less. It’s also a perfect counterpoint to systems like GTD because it involves no “work” whatsoever, and actually cultivates an effortless, purposeless state of mind and body where creativity flows like a fountain, and doing and being merge into easeful activity. In Clay Collins‘ language, it is the ultimate “anti-hack.”
Since it’s a fairly new topic for me (and the blogosphere), in this article I’ll be covering the background, and in a subsequent article I’ll cover exactly how to practice it.
Who is Bradford Keeney?
Keeney was a prominent family therapist who at the peak of his career realized that for all of his cleverness (and he is an incredibly clever psychotherapist) and knowledge of family systems, he could not fix the problems in his own family. So he had a spiritual crisis and found himself looking for something deeper. For him that meant studying the indigenous spiritual traditions around the world by participating in their ceremonies and practices. And what he found was that in many cultures throughout the world, not only are there traditions of relaxing and concentrating in meditative absorption, there are also traditions of energizing and arousing in ecstatic movement and expression.
Now I want to make it clear–you don’t have to believe in any weird stuff or study with any tribal shaman to make use of autokinetics any more than you have to become a Hindu and fly to India to learn to relax and concentrate. Mindfulness-based stress reduction is a completely secular technique that works no matter what your religion or lack thereof. The same is true of what Keeney calls “autokinetics”–it is a completely secular and rational technique that can be experienced directly by anyone, regardless of belief or lack of belief.
What is “Autokinetics”?
Autokinetics is short for automatic kinetics, which is “the practice of making automatic or spontaneous body movements that bring forth life energy.” It’s practiced in one or two 10-minute sessions, sitting on a chair or bench (or standing if you prefer), and has 3 phases that move progressively more into a kind of energized flow state. But the best part is because the movements are to be made in a way that feels automatic, the technique involves no “work” per say, unlike meditation which can become to feel like a chore and still requires disciplined attention.
It sounds simple, even dumb, but so does running (put one foot in front of the other for multiple miles) or meditation (sit and do nothing but notice your breath). The key is to have the movements feel automatic, even though you are making them. Try it right now! While you are reading this, allow your body to move how it wants without conscious effort. The goals is to have it feel like the movements are moving you, rather than you are moving your body.
With this simple practice you are cultivating “effortless effort.” Could that perhaps be useful in your work life? To feel like work just pours out of you naturally and easily? Hmmm….
Friday Night Dance Therapy
Club pic from fabbio.
How do I know autokinetics works? Well, I’ve actually been practicing it for years without knowing it. Growing up I had intense, debilitating social anxiety. I never dated until age 18 (not even one date!). I felt awkward and shy nearly always. I was afraid of everything–banana peel strings, dogs, other people’s bathrooms, you name it. I was a total perfectionist, procrastinator, and generally high-strung dude.
I wanted desperately to be comfortable in social situations. The situation that scared me the most was dancing, so I counter-phobically went out dancing 3 or 4 nights a week, alone, in order to challenge myself…for about 5 years!
At first I found it excruciatingly difficult to make any movements that felt coordinated and spontaneous for many, many evenings. Every movement of my body felt awkward, planned, and just plain stupid. A voice inside berated me for my awkwardness and idiocy–why was I out doing this to myself? Eventually I broke through again and again to a spontaneous experience of flow and joy, which chipped away at my social anxiety, silenced my inner critic, and gave me an experience of social ease–even charisma–that I never imagined possible.
Today I enjoy dancing more than just about anything. I am now regularly complimented for being a great dancer and I have experienced wonderful and profound flow states from dance. I am just now learning how to apply this principle of flow and ease to my work life. But I always thought I’d discovered something new and strange that no one else would understand, so I usually keep this profound experience of growth to myself. Little did I know I had been practicing autokinetics, the practice of making automatic or spontaneous body movements that bring forth life energy.
What is “Life Energy” and How Do We Get More of It?
Reiki Cat from anomalous4.
Now what exactly is life energy? Am I getting all woo-woo on you? Put away the crystals and incense. Life energy is simply what it sounds like–feeling energized and alive, beaming with happiness and joy…naturally, i.e. without the Starbucks. It’s what you feel when watching a great movie, when you’re in love, when watching a sunset or crossing the finish line of a marathon. Life energy is inspiration, creativity, and joy. It’s what I felt when dancing after getting over the years of shyness and just moving and shaking and having fun.
If you have kids, you know that they can’t stop jiggling, shaking, talking, and generally bouncing off the walls with energy–and this torrent of energy only stops when they are sleeping. But somewhere in junior high or high school we have this constant agitation suppressed by well-meaning teachers and what happens? We fall asleep.
When we get out of school and get a job, we similarly have trouble staying awake and alert sitting at desks 8-12 hours a day. So we reach for the coffee–an artificial stimulant of life energy–in order to have the energy to do that which just doesn’t seem to naturally energize us. We are drowsy and stressed most of the day. But on the weekend when we engage in a creative project, play sports, watch a powerful movie, or make love, we feel that surge of energy throughout our bodies and feel alive again for the moment.
Keeney’s claim is that a major reason why we are tired most of the time is not because we aren’t resting enough (how draining to the body is it really to sit all day?) but because we aren’t regularly accessing this life energy, this passion, this intuitive flow of creativity that inspires us and literally moves us.
Our bodies are not machines needing to be refueled. We are fine instruments needing to be regularly re-tuned. By practicing automatic or spontaneous body movements we cultivate an energized flow state. We can re-tune ourselves to this ease and flow, and it can begin to permeate our life and our work.