Out of our Minds

Recess is an act of resistance

There is a calligrapher who meditates for half an hour and then, in less than a minute, he dips his brush into his ink and moves it across the paper. That is his work. 

I used to think that to do well I had to stay up late, read every last book, underline every idea, and then rearrange note cards in piles, hammering out words until the sun rose. 

I used to think that I had to stay at my desk until every last thing was done. And only then would I allow myself to take a bath or go for a walk or hang out with a friend. It’s how we are trained at school from an early age in America. Work and then play. 

Our pandemic digital life has exacerbated this. Students are on Zoom for six hours a day, and then there are several hours of homework after that. Not even two feet of snow on the East Coast this week could stop the steady stream of lessons to be learned and tasks to be completed. In online school, there is no recess. I am watching my teenage daughters become sedentary, opting to stay at their desks to complete their assignments rather than going to play. 

The English language has many idioms that describe a work ethic that values relentless effort: nose to the grindstone; going the extra mile; blood, sweat, and tears; burning the candle at both ends. It is time for a different way of working, one that acknowledges and embraces the entirety of our being, not just our ability to stay on task. Rest and play are not negotiable. 

Our brains are electrochemical organs taking in 11,000,000 bits of information every second.  It takes energy—about 10 watts of electrical power give or take—to focus and generate ideas. Our human brains get tired after a given amount of thinking and doing. The absence of rest and leisure has us reaching for caffeine, sugar, the internet, or some other stimulant (sometimes all at once) to prop us up for the next round. But stimulation is not the same as inspiration. 

Adults universally recognize the importance of recess for children as a way to reset, elevate energy, improve concentration and fitness. In America, the CDC recommends at least 20 minutes a day. In many other countries, 20 minutes would be considered negligent. In China, recess is 40% of the school day. In Finland, children have 75 minutes of recess and a 15-minute break between classes. 

No one is going to give us grown-ups recess. We need to make it happen for ourselves, even if it’s just for a few minutes. 

There are as many ways to change our states as there are pleasure receptors. Dancing, breathing, walking, running, sex, and self-pleasuring are great ways of getting out of our heads and into our bodies. Stillness has a similar effect. Meditating, taking a drive or a nap can induce lower frequency states. Let your pleasure be your guide. Play. And while “productivity” is not the end goal of grown-up recess, it may give us new ways to grow. By getting out of our minds and into our bodies, by altering our state, we create an opportunity for new neural pathways to connect. 

When we are engaged in a task or conversation or when we are fixing a problem, our brains are generating low-amplitude and high-frequency waves called beta waves. When we take a break to reflect or rest, the frequency of these brain waves subsides. We are in what is called an alpha state. If we go deeper into a flow state through daydreaming, listening to, or moving to music, our brain waves slow even more and we can hit a theta state. It is here where our consciousness expands. We can access emotions and memories that are unavailable to us while our brain is hard at work. In these altered states, we can feel and think freely. We get to be both human and being. 

These days, I work like the calligrapher, meditating and then writing in sprints. I set a timer to remind me to take dance breaks and do breathwork. I still slip into that old way of doing things at times, sitting at my computer and waiting for the words to come. There is a lot of unlearning to be done.  But I am noticing that my interludes of pleasure—my recesses—make me happier and more creative. 

What might happen if we all started taking recess as seriously as we do work? Might we find an untapped well of energy and creativity? Could recess be a form of resistance, a pleasurable way to take back our humanity one dance break at a time?

What are you noticing? What is your pleasure research showing you? We would love to hear from you. 

---

From the Institute of Pleasure Studies

Want to alter your state in a big, beautiful way? Bernadette Pleasant is a dancer, healer, and visionary who teaches a Sunday movement class with drums that will take you on an emotional journey through joy, rage, anger, and bliss. Femme. Sunday 3-4:30 PM EST Online $35

Learn more about working in sprints, increasing productivity, and the importance of taking breaks. Caveday is now a virtual productivity lab and they have a lot of research on peak performance. 

I’m loving daily 7 AM meditations with Bob Roth of the David Lynch Foundation. He opens with a short talk and then we meditate quietly for 20 minutes. He ends with the word of the day. Like this one: ikigai is a Japanese word that describes finding happiness and fulfillment in the small, mundane stuff. Your ikigai is at the intersection of what you are good at and what you love doing. 

Crossing Guard, a radio story by producer Bianca Giaever is a meditation on loneliness, philosophy, and the desperate act of finding pleasure in the small and mundane. Bianca is one of my favorite storytellers and this one is all heart.

DC Residents took recess into their own hands this week with this gigantic snowball fight on the mall.

Enjoying these newsletters? If you haven’t already subscribed, we invite you to support this growing endeavor by becoming a member.