The Flow of Yoga

Being in a state of flow is when many of us feel most alive. In these awe-inspiring moments, we flirt with the sublime, and can momentarily feel transcendent. We become filled with meaning, connecting to something greater than ourselves.

Flow is a subjective experience. Just as the tourist may see a boulder as just a piece of rock, the climber views it as something to be conquered. They immerse themselves in the challenge, and evaluate the countless possibilities of getting to the top of the cliff.

Yoga is an activity that is almost synonymous with being in a state of flow. It is a moving meditation requiring one’s focus on the breath and the continuous movement of the routine. As noted in the book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience,

The similarities between Yoga and flow are extremely strong; in fact it makes sense to think of Yoga as a very thoroughly planned flow activity. Both try to achieve a joyous, self-forgetful involvement through concentration, which in turn is made possible by a discipline of the body.

I’ve known James from high school, and we reconnected recently due to our mutual interest in yoga, spirituality and philosophy. His responses to the questions were insightful and illuminating. I was particularly drawn to how he eloquently articulates the connection of being in a state of flow with the disappearance of the ‘ego’, and how the practice of yoga enables him to fully be present.

His full responses were provided below.

1. How did you first get into yoga and how long have you been practicing?

The very first time I practiced yoga was 10 years ago. I followed some friends from university to a hot yoga class. I almost passed out during the session but remember walking out onto the street with a great ‘high’ that I had not experienced before.

I practiced on and off since then, but it was 4 years ago that I became dedicated. In 2015 I sustained a bad whiplash injury from bungee jumping. When I started my full time desk job, symptoms bubbled up in the form of back and neck pain to a point where I could not concentrate on anything for more than 20 minutes. Yoga presented a way to take charge of my own healing that other traditional medical routes could not provide. And it healed me.

2. What do you find most enjoyable about yoga?

What I find the most enjoyable about yoga is the way my body and mind feels during and after the practice. Stretching and moving the body is such a great way to undo tension and stress we sustain throughout the day. I see it as sort of a ‘shower’ routine for my body & mind. There is a real cleansing aspect to it.

3. You’ve said before that yoga is like a meditation for you. How does it feel to be in a meditative state? Does this experience share similarities with the ‘flow state’?

For me, a meditative state and a flow state share a main similarity which is the disappearance of self. In both states, “I” cease to exist along with any thoughts of who/what/where/how/when I am.

At the end of every yoga session, you practice a pose called ‘savasana’ which is Sanskrit for ‘corpse pose’. You lay down on your back, close your eyes, and let yourself go into a half-sleep state. The idea is that having exhausted your mind & body with the previous poses, you are able to let everything go and allow rest. And in this process of letting go, you sometimes experience a complete disappearance of your self. And when the ‘self’ disappears, you start to simply be. This state of just ‘being’ is the ultimate meditative state for me. It is a feeling of simply being and nothing else.

So both meditative and flow states share this quality of disappearance of self. But one difference that I see between them is that flow states have an active quality to it. My sense of self disappears in a flow state as similar to a meditative state, but in flow, I am also actively participating in something. I am in constant motion and creation. For example, in the ‘flowing’ part of my yoga practice, the sense of my ‘self’ has disappeared, but I am also still moving and flowing. And it’s not “I” that is controlling or directing this movement. My body just intuitively knows where to go next. Before ‘I’ know it, I am doing it. And there is no hesitation or pause. I flow through my movements without thought and it unfolds as the ‘perfect’ sequence of motions that I can take.

4. Do you associate the state of flow with happiness, how is it similar or how does it differ?

I wouldn’t associate the state of flow with happiness per se, but more so bliss. Or perhaps contentment is more accurate. I typically associate happiness with gaining something. You get something that you wanted and you become happy. On the other hand, I see the state of flow as more of contentment with what already is; the lack of desire or need. Flow is being OK with the lack, whereas happiness is feeling good through some gain.

Reverse Engineering Bliss: Hacking the Flow State

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:04KJER0243.jpg

High stake situations require complete and utmost concentration. Any distraction or lapse of judgement can shift your attention away from the present moment, hindering your efforts to achieve a state of effortless flow. This could make all the difference in the final moments of a championship game or dictate whether you are in peak performance mode when giving a big presentation at work. In the case of extreme sports, there is no room for error. For athletes such as free solo rock climbers, being in a flow state is a matter of life or death. Scaling a boulder thousands of feet above the ground demands one to be immersed in their climbing, and plunge into the here and ‘now’.

We do not need to perform dangerous or extraordinary feats to achieve a state of flow. Many of us at some point in our lives have achieved these states of consciousness in one form or another. We all have interests and passions that we pursue for there own sake, irrespective of any attention or other benefits we may gain from them. We engage in these activities in which we experience moments which distort our sense of time, optimize our performance, silence our ego and make our actions feel effortless.

For me as a musician, these flow states occur when I ‘let go’ of over analyzing what I am playing, forego the fear of failure and channel my emotions into my guitar. This is why I admire the late great guitar virtuoso Jimi Hendrix. His live performances and remarkable solos are an exemplar of what is means to be in flow. Describing his 1969 Woodstock performance, David Moskowitz in his book The Words and Music of Jimi Hendrix writes,

The guitar solo in the middle of the song illustrated how lost in the music Jimi could be. He played for several minutes with his eyes tightly shut and the solo reached a climax with Jimi returning to his old trick of playing with his teeth.

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jimi-Hendrix-1967-Helsinki.jpg

The question thus remains – are these just spontaneous fleeting moments that we experience at random? Moreover, can we attain these states in any sort of systematic way?

Building off the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Steven Kotler’s research identifies four triggers that can help you get in a state of flow.

Clear Goals: In order to achieve a state of flow, one must have a concrete understanding of what they want to achieve. Having a clear set of tangible goals provides purpose and structure to your efforts and ambitions.
Immediate Feedback: Just as a musician knows if they have played the wrong note or the surgeon is constantly aware of status of their patient, immediate feedback is a significant requirement of flow. It enables us to continually alter our actions in response to the situation to achieve our desired result, and meet the necessities of the current situation.
Concentration in the Present Moment: To be in peak performance mode, we must be immersed in the activity. High levels of concentration effectively narrow our attention on the task at hand. As Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi notes in his seminal book Flow, during these states of consciousness:

Only a very select range of information can be allowed into our awareness. Therefore, all the troubling thoughts that ordinarily keep passing through the mind are temporarily kept out of abeyance.

4. Challenge /Skill Ratio: The flow state exists between boredom and anxiety. That is, it occurs when an individual is pursuing an activity that has the appropriate level of challenge for their skill level. For instance, a tennis match is most enjoyable to play when the two players are evenly matched. When a skilled player competes against an amateur, they get bored as they lack the challenge and competition. They fail to utilize the full capacity of their skills. On the contrary, the amateur is filled with anxiety as they are stretched beyond their present level of competency.

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lucgaloppin/6324319992

We all strive to experience moments which send shivers down our spine. Moments which provide us with temporary respite from the daily grind – the rat race. Experiencing flow puts you in a meditative state, jolting you into the ‘now’, silencing the nagging thoughts and trivial problems that we ruminate on throughout our day-to-day existence.

We can get to these optimal experiences and experience flow through pushing our boundaries. By pursuing our unquenchable thirst for new challenges. Through learning new skills, and continually seeking novelty and unique experiences.

It all begins with finding what activities resonate with you. The sort of things that you pursue because they have intrinsic value to you – activities that you engage it not primarily for fame or fortune, but because you deeply love and admire them.

So, what gets you in the state of flow?

Till next time,

A Jazz State of Mind: Entering the Flow State

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:19°*International_Jazz_Festival_of_Punta_del_Este*–*150111-2052-jikatu*(16077813707).jpgy

Jazz has a unique element that separates it from the other musical genres. It relies heavily on improvisation allowing the musician to express themselves and demonstrate their technical prowess through their solos. During improvisation the musician does not have time to think or engage the rational part of the mind. Rather they must immerse themselves in the music, let their intuition guide them and rely on the muscle memory and musical knowledge that they developed through countless hours of practice.

In order to reach peak performance, the soloist must let go, embrace spontaneity and ‘go with the flow.’ Known for his spontaneous prose, ‘Beat Generation’ author Jack Kerouac writes about this sought-after mental state in his seminal book On the Road. Contrasting the self-conscious musician to one who is connected to the music he writes,

“Prez has the technical anxieties of a money-making musician, he’s the only one who is well dressed, see him grow worried when he blows a clinker [a wrong note], but the leader, that cool cat tells him not to worry and just blow – the mere sound and serious exuberance of the music is all he cares about
Jack Kerouac, On the Road

Whether it is through music, art, or being ‘in the zone’ whilst playing a sport, we all strive to be in what psychologists call the flow state. Completely immersed in what one is doing, focused on the task at hand and free from the mental chatter that dominates our day to day lives. Coined by positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, flow states involve,

being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one……… Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.

To achieve a state of flow one must walk the line between discipline and surrender. That is, they must engage in an activity that is sufficiently challenging and rewarding utilizing their skills developed in a particular area. However, to achieve creativity and perform at an optimal level, one must be able to let go of conscious thought, expectations and the fear of failure. Only through quieting our mind and surrendering our self to the experience can you enter a state of flow.

Research demonstrates that when an individual is improvising key areas of their brain are less active, namely the default mode network and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The default mode network is the part of the brain that is active while someone is day dreaming, and is associated with one’s ego – constantly critiquing one’s thoughts and actions. Moreover, the DLPFC is the region responsible for ‘conscious self-monitoring.’ Decreasing activity in these two regions of the brain allows us to be more courageous, confident and push our limits to become more creative and discover new possibilities.

In an age of constant digital distraction and ‘busyness’, many of us find it difficult to set out the time to engross ourselves in one task. But why should we care about flow? Research proves that there are significant benefits of entering flow states. A study conducted by Harvard professor Teresa Amabile noted that individuals reported higher levels of creativity, happiness and productivity three days after they experienced a flow state.

Humans have always sought to push the boundaries of our existence, to discover new frontiers and learn more about the possibilities of human consciousness. We engage in activities such as rock climbing, mountaineering and extreme sports which seem may seem illogical to the rational mind. However, as dangerous as they may be, these are all attempts to enter a state of flow. To temporarily forget about the mundane aspects of modern society, to dissolve one’s ego, and as the famous rapper Eminem preached to “lose yourself in the moment.”

Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-rock-climbing-3077882/

Next post I will continue my discussion on flow states, focusing on how we can manufacture and trigger these states of mind.

Till next time,