Like Kotler and Csikszentmihalyi, I’m sure you too can think back to a time when you were “in the zone” - when you were so engrossed in an activity that you lost track of time and you seemed to be a spectator watching your actions unfold in front of you. Other activities known to induce flow include swimming, skiing, rock climbing, painting, tai chi, table tennis, meditation, and yoga (among others). What is more, flow occurs on a spectrum of intensity ranging from micro to macro, so even an activity as simple as taking a 20-minute walk in nature can induce a microlevel flow state of mind.
#Flowstate yoga how to
Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.” How to reach or induce flow state Every action, movement and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz.
Csikszentmihalyi, who believes that flow plays a pivotal role in promoting human happiness, describes the mind state as “being so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter: the ego falls away.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian-born professor of psychology at Claremont Graduate University in California (and the author of the book “ Flow”), has been leading flow research in the United States since the 1960s. The definition from Positive Psychology: “Psychological Flow captures the positive mental state of being completely absorbed, focused, and involved in your activities at a certain point in time, as well as deriving enjoyment from being engaged in that activity.” In other words, flow is an expression of peak performance, during which the individual is operating at 100% of their capability as a result of being completely focused and immersed in the present moment. I’ve also achieved this pleasurable state while woodworking, running, meditating, practicing yoga, public speaking, performing music, and writing. When I first read Kotler’s description of one of his many surf-inspired flow states - distinguished by a sense of timelessness, effortlessness, and selflessness - I realized that I too have had many similar experiences throughout the course of my life, and not just while surfing. “One good lesson I’ve learned from water is to go with the flow.” In fact, Kotler himself experienced several surf-induced transcendent states, or flow states, during the course of his research which he attributes to ultimately helping him defeat Lyme. What Kotler discovered during his spiritual quest was that surfing, in its own unique way, is akin to religion and the devout surfer is no stranger to the mystical experience. In his bestselling book West of Jesus: Surfing, Science, and the Origins of Belief, author Steven Kotler recounts how - after being bedridden for two years and on the brink of death with Lyme disease - he was able to overcome the illness by embarking on an epic globetrotting surf odyssey in search of answers to some of life’s bigger questions.
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