2019 Flow: An Art Collective

Join OmBody on Saturday March 23rd at 6:00pm, as we host an array of different artists to demonstrate what flow means to them. Art will be multi media and range from pottery, to organic furniture, to an acoustic musical performance by Project Pluto. All art will be available for viewing as well as purchase. Wine by the glass will be available for purchase, thanks to Christian Klay Winery.

“When the idea of opening our own massage studio came to fruition, Leann and I  had no idea that we would be here, almost six months after opening, hosting an art show (seriously, who knew art, wine and massage could go together?!). But with the help of our talented and passionate friends, we have managed to bring the community together in this wonderful space. I am proud to own something so special, and have the ability to host such unique and creative events, such as this. I am blessed to be connected to so many talented and creative artists, who have the desire to share their work. It is my hope that their work will connect with you, in a way that sparks something within you, helping you feel the flow. I invite you to our first, bust certainly not last, very special night.”

- Leah Staley, Co-Owner

“At age 11, I found flow in running races. I would finish, and not even realize I'd won, because I was taken to a heightened place within myself of pure bliss, pure work, and connection with something that brought me true peace and courage. When people say to me, oh, you run so many races, you're so competitive, my internal response is this: it's not about winning, it's about the state of FLOW, where my body and mind lock into an uplifted, heightened awareness, of ease and feel-food effort, that to move at any other rate or pace would disrupt the light erupting within my soul.”
- Brynn Cunningham

Brynn is the founder of Inhale Exhale Run. She says that the brand was founded upon the concept of Flow.
“In yoga and meditation, I have also found flow, and in kayaking, climbing, swimming... but mostly it's in running and racing. These physical activities absolutely require the mind to be totally present, here and now, in order to create beauty, to survive, to thrive. Expressing and sharing one's natural born gifts and talents initiates flow, but to remain there, one must work, to keep flow, one must match talent and gifts with passion, persistence and hard work. When the balance is achieved, the symmetry formed, FLOW can remain for as long as the body and mind can simultaneously endure.”

What this all means to Brynn.....

INHALE.
It's the filling up. The expansion of the soul. A sense of weightlessness. The infinite air that keeps you moving mile after mile. A great vastness within the mind that can only be reached on the run. An extension toward divinity, a higher plane, the spirit, the angels and the gods.

EXHALE.
It's the surrender. The letting go of expectations, paces, mileage goals, races, the day's events, tomorrow's schedule and yesterday's heartaches. The air that empties out and readies itself for purity, for freshness. A great gratitude within the essence of one's being that can only be reached when setting out upon a run. A connection with Mother Earth, the land, our deeply wild instinct and our inherently good nature.

RUN.
It's the action and interaction. A unity of of all things that define the inhale and the exhale. A generation of playful, peaceful, easy feelings which renders a smile upon each step.
A flow experience.
The run becomes the yoga.
​And you become the run.

For me, finding flow, or being in the flow, is like… how high can you get? It’s a fleck of gold that I didn’t realize was missing from my eyes until I looked in the mirror one day and recognized a part in me that I haven’t seen in a while, and then saying “welcome back” to myself. It’s running as slow and steady as I need to, to slow my breath down until I have complete control of my heart rate, then matching the beat of my heart with my breath, with my feet hitting the trail, increasing in speed until I am literally running as fast as possible while maintaining complete control of my body. I get high off that shit. It is inhaling into upward facing dog and exhaling into downward facing dog so many times that I can use my breath to isolate individual muscles, building heat deep in my belly. I get high off that shit. It is putting my hands on a client, quieting my mind, body and breath until I’m able to hear the person's heart rate, feel their stress and see their aches. Letting my hands go on autopilot while they move from one area of tension to another, listening to the muscles as they tell me where to go next, letting my mind figure out the unique puzzle that is every individual body. I get high off that shit. It’s having zero idea what I’m going to say for the next 60 minutes when I start a yoga class, making up the sequences as I go, basing each move off the beat of the music, then having someone come up to me after class and say “that was awesome!”. I totally get high off that shit. It’s looking into the fridge, seeing a whole lot of nothing and a little bit of everything, and coming up with a breakfast sammy with egg, soysage, kale burger, bean sprouts, jam and spicy hummus. Then, sitting on the porch, in the sun and doing absolutely nothing except enjoying my weirdly delicious concoction. It’s writing a blurb for my business and, as a professional, saying shit like four times, and not giving a fuck, because who really cares. 

It’s doing all of these things, without any real effort and then laying down at the end of the day and thinking “That was so fun, I’m so lucky to get high off of life.” 

- Leah Staley, Co-owner of OmBody

 “It’s the energy that surrounds us. It is the environment we live in, the constant energy transfer that happens every second. It’s the energy that makes this whole world spin around and make it all happen. I’ve been doing a lot of fly fishing for steelhead and I feel that has made me look at flow even deeper. I’ve been obsessed with what the fish eat, what they see, what their daily habits are, where they like to live as they travel hundreds of miles to mate and lay eggs. I’ve been so fascinated with how they can swim so far up these river. Hundred if not thousands of miles. And it has made me look deeper at river and try to wrap my head around how it works. And what I have learned is so interesting and so in-depth I could talk forever about it. But the shot version is that it kind of comes down to these fish over thousands of years of evolution have mastered flow I guess. It’s in their DNA. When you stand in a freezing river all day in the middle of winter and start to explore how much of a thriving ecosystem is in that river it blows your mind. And how much energy is in that little stream. How dependent every little species is on each other. How if one thing starts to fail the whole thing is in danger of failing. How precious but resilient it is. And flow makes it all happen. The flow of energy!”
- Danny Piros 

 When the music is just right and the perfect blend of essential oils fills the air, the energy just flows. One massage stroke flows effortlessly into the next. That's when the massage becomes my dance, that's Flow. When you begin to let go of what's supposed to be, the ups and downs of life become fluid and somehow more organic, more flowing.
I couldn't be more delighted by the love, energy, passion, fun and friendship that has flowed together to support and create this event, and all we do at OmBody. My heart over flows!
- Leann Beatty, Co-owner of OmBody 

I first learned about flow while researching gaming theory for my Masters thesis, all the way back in 2003. How does a person become so engaged in an activity that she fully forgets the concept of time, and sometimes her bladder? Back then, videogames were scrutinized as a brain-rotting waste of time, as all new media tend to be, and I wanted to parse out the difference between addictive/destructive behaviors and behaviors that are engaging and good for you.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, in his groundbreaking book Flow: The Psychology of the Optimal Experience, called it “increasing the order of the Self”. Flow leaves you better than you were before you started.

Flow is when the challenge before you is just smidge greater than your skill. It’s when you’re right there, in that magic groove. You lose track of the feeling that there’s effort involved because you’re purely doing what you’re doing. It’s not the finished piece, but the act of painting. It’s not the song, it’s working your fingers across the keys. It’s not the top of the mountain, it’s the climb.

When I am making art, I feel the flow while I’m making one element of the piece and knowing exactly what I’m going to do next even if I’m not sure how I’m going to execute it. I can see how the colors and materials go together, and I feel myself putting them in place without knowing explicitly whether the method i’m using is going to work, but trusting that flow to carry me.

- Susy Kelly

Why is it when I try to paint I can only think in words and when I try to write I can only think in images? It probably has something to do with going against the cosmic flow of the universe or something. I mean, everything comes back to flow…in the end.

But what is flow?

Flow’s kind of like that description of hard core pornography from back in the 60s: “I know it when I see it”.

I know it when I’m in that flow site of mind, but I’ll be damned if I can describe it. And I usually don’t remember, too well, what went on while I was there. Flow’s like being drunk without the hangover.

I know I have to be in that state of mind to create anything I think is worth a shit, and that includes work and art and sex and play and everything else that means something in the larger, cosmic, scheme of things.

Flow isn’t intentional and it can’t be planned or anticipated or controlled. It can’t be found in a book, a group chat, or ordered on Amazon. There’s no hashtag that properly speaks to flow. That’s why it’s so fucking special. And in this world where instant gratification has become a form of religion there just aren’t enough things left that are really special.

So what’s flow?

To me, it’s when I paint and think in images and I write and think in words. It’s that place between muscle memory and enlightenment. It’s when paint hits canvas and ink hits paper and completely unanticipated events transpire in a manner both energizing and cathartic.

—Kathryn Gadd, AKA Kat Jones

“Colloquially, flow is also known as being in the zone.  The zone could mean many things to many people.  The zone can be the place where you lose yourself and find yourself all at once.  To me flow can mean almost anything that connects your mind and body.  To be fully immersed and focused yet still aware of the tiniest detail to potentially make the fusion even closer.  I have personally experienced what I perceive as flow on at least a few occasions in my life.  As I think intently about it I feel like I should have many examples but I don’t.  Just because you have spent days on a plane to kayak or hike somewhere you have never been doesn’t mean you will automatically achieve an intimate soul fusion.  There is an obvious heightened awareness accompanied with sensory overload when you push the limit of your sport in an unfamiliar place.  To me personally it’s getting even more focused on an already familiar space or activity.  I have personally experienced this with yoga and music.  I remember a particular class with yogi wade in the little community center where for whatever reason everything felt effortless.  I felt as if I was almost levitating above my mat in a euphoric state the entire class. It was simply amazing.  I cannot pin point why it was just another class.  I remember thinking what did I eat or drink that day, how much did I sleep prior?? All I wanted to do was try to recreate that feeling and you know what I couldn’t! That’s the amazing thing about trying new things and exiting your comfort zone because you never know where it all might come together. Another example was playing music in a good friends barn of all places.  There is something about the wood and the softness of a barn that makes it one of the best places on earth to express yourself musically.  We were playing fire on the mountain a simple 2 chord cover by the Grateful Dead.  The crowds energy is what did it.  The only way to describe it was the energy from our fiends fused with the music and the moment simply put us on another level.  At that moment I didn’t even feel like I was playing that guitar I felt like I was surfing a wave. All good things come to an end and life goes on but I hope to find my flow again soon.”

- Jess Hartmann

 I like it when the flow catches me off guard.  I find my flow in the fuck ups.  In the downward spirals The madness and bliss of screwing up royally  The flow is there in the good days, on the banner days and that is no surprise.  But when I can feel myself tumble and not have the answers, motivation, the smooth line and feel the flow swoop in and pick me up, that’s when I really feel it.  I feel the flow in the challenges of adventure and the day to day and that’s where I need it most. 

- Stacey Magda