One of my favorite aspects of traveling around the world is the potential to meet amazing people that can change your life at any given moment.
Back in 2000, my first year traveling through South East Asia, I met an Italian dude in northern Thailand. He was 15 years older than me and for the week we were living in the same in apartment complex, he was like a mentor. I then bumped into him in Southern Thailand 3 months later and then on a tiny little bus in Northern India 6 months after that. It was very cool.
A few months ago I was on Koh Samui, my favorite island in the gulf of Thailand, and went to the beach for my morning swim. When I got there, I noticed a guy right at the entrance swinging a kettle bell. We struck up a conversation, had a deep belly laugh and quickly realized we were kindred spirits. We made plans to meet for coffee a few days later.
We met at a little café called Bar Baguette, one of the coolest breakfast places I’ve ever been to. This is the view from the front and what I had for breakfast one day.
My new friend was an American who lived in SE Asia most of his life. He owned one house in Beijing and one in Hong Kong but was unable to return because of China’s pandemic policies. He was a professional musician and anatomy teacher at many yoga teacher trainings on a nearby island.
As we spoke, we covered a lot ground. I introduced him to the 4 archetypes of the masculine and how I have begun outlining a 3-month mentorship program for teenage boys. He spoke about his music, the teacher trainings and a topic he’d studied extensively, the “flow state”.
I had heard of Flow and had a base understanding of what it was but had no idea it was coined back in 1975 by Hungarian psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and there were volumes of literature on it.
Flow is basically a state of mind where one becomes completely immersed in whatever activity they are performing. The subject and object disappear. The ego falls away. Your whole being is involved and you are using your skills to their utmost potential
As I spoke with my friend, I realized that this state of being is what I have been searching for every day of my life. For years, I was able to find it in my daily yoga practice. I would be completely absorbed for hours every morning learning about the poses, my personal capabilities and the movements of energy in my body. When I was done, I felt like I could conquer the world. Insecurities didn’t exist, confidence exuded and daunting tasks were conquered with ease.
Nowadays, I find it most mornings on my spin bike. The first 5-10 minutes are quite boring but the moment that first bead of sweat runs down my forehead and the music picks up, my mind stops. There is not Jory and self and ego and bike anymore. There is just the movement of my body, the music and the breath. Tapping into this place for just 10 minutes sets the tone for my entire day.
There are 10 main characteristics of Flow, of which 5 are my favorite:
- There is a complete focus on the activity itself.
- The activity is intrinsically rewarding.
- The goals are challenging yet attainable.
- There is a loss of self-consciousness and a feeling of serenity.
- There is a sense of timelessness.
Flow actually describes in detail what the yogis call Samyama. Samyama is a state of being where subject and object disappear. The yogi attains a place that is a timeless, concentrated, still and ego-less. It’s from here that full liberation from suffering can occur.
Modern science has also identified specific neuro-chemical responses when flow occurs. The brain releases dopamine, norepinephrine, endorphins, anandamide and serotonin. These are all performance enhancing, pleasure inducing chemicals that have very specific attributes.
Dopamine and norepinephrine, for example, tighten focus and enhance pattern recognition. More focus lets us gather more information per second and heightened pattern recognition lets us process information quicker. Watching Roger Federer win a grand slam or Michael Jordan hit a buzzer beater after scoring 50 points in the game are examples of athletes being in Flow and having an enhanced dopamine and norepinephrine experience. (So is THIS experience I had playing ultimate frisbee in 2013 after a yoga class).
So, how do we get into Flow?
- Choose something you enjoy: Flow states occur when a person is actually interested in what they are doing. The cyclist loves to cycle. The artist loves to paint. The musician loves to play their instrument. If you are bored or apathetic, the likelihood of attaining Flow is low.
- Eliminate distractions: Concentration is key to attaining Flow. If your mind is being brought this way and that, Flow will not occur.
- Add an element of challenge: Flow happens when a person’s skills are fully involved in overcoming a challenge that is slightly out of their regular range of capability. If it’s too easy, you can go on autopilot. If it’s too hard, you can get frustrated. Find something around 5-10% harder than you’re used to and go for it.
If you’re like me, you are reading this and realizing many times in your life you have attained Flow but never knew there was a specific, scientific word for it. You may also be inspired by hearing some of the benefits of Flow.
People who achieve Flow regularly have a higher tendency for:
- Greater enjoyment of life: There is a lack of mental activity when one is in Flow. This leads to a more rewarding and fulfilling experience. The more we experience this, the more we can repeat it and bring that state of consciousness into our every day lives.
- Better emotional regulation: This feeling of “getting out of ourselves” allows for easier growth towards emotional complexity. We are no longer as burdened by the attachments to our identity and can experience a more flexible version of ourselves.
- Improved performance: This goes without saying. Research has shown that Flow can enhance performance in a wide variety of areas including athletics, music, teaching, learning and many other forms of creativity.
- Greater happiness: With the increased endorphin release, research suggests that Flow states are linked to increased levels of joy, happiness and self-actualization. There is also a decrease in depression.
So go out there, find the thing that helps shut your mind off and do it over and over again. It may just be an important part of your liberation.