Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Bird of Paradise: Relaxation Response, Music, 'Flow' in a City

Practicing a musical instrument can offer somehow richer and more immediate access to "flow: the psychology of optimal experience" experiences, than not. Let's go 'there' now. {Omega-3 fatty acids (1000 mg, 3-4 times per day from flax seed oil, for example) can help}.

While Harbin also more gives rise to "flow: the psychology of optimal experience" experiences in the aggregate, than almost any place I know, Harbin's pools, beauty, easy sense of time and freeing, as well as communal sociality, aren't readily available in a city. So dancing-in-mind, while creating sound patterns - practicing, especially when this information-technology-for-flow is fluent, lyrical and rhythmic {what is optimal here for you, in ongoing ways, - and profoundly so?} - offers avenues for exploring 'flow,' and sometimes bliss. And when the relaxation response in a beautiful, communal, warm pool isn't readily available, one can come inwardly, exploring the relaxation response, for example, quite richly in a city (shaped by Modernity). I find this has beneficial consequences in other aspects of life, as well. I'm not sure how this works neurophysiologically, but I think it has something to do with integrating the biology of one's bodymind through easing, with related social benefits vis-a-vis empathy.

How might I or we learn how to develop this in a virtual University? And how would a virtual Harbin help facilitate this (for example, building on an extraordinary performance, audio or video recording, of Mozart's "Magic Flute," and also making it interactive in innovative, ongoing ways)?

What is the anthropology of this? And of practicing a musical instrument to elicit far-reaching flow experiences? And vis-a-vis brain research?

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