This week’s article is the first in a series on Beyond Fitness — Fitness & Flow. I will write it on a practical level and try and stay away from most of the esoteric aspects of FLOW — although some discussion of them may be necessary.
The goal is to understand how Seniors can use aspects of the FLOW state to improve mental and physical performance in your daily lives. During this series of articles, you will learn:
- Definitions and meanings of FLOW
- Various elements and attributes of FLOW
- How Fitness and Flow work together
- What it means to you as a Senior
- And more.
By the end of this series, you may look at your Health and Fitness from a different and more positive perspective and apply some of the concepts you will learn. Most of you probably already have in some respects.
What does flow mean? The definition given by Stephen Kotler, co-founder of The Flow Genome Project, an organization consisting of the top neuroscientists, performance psychologists, artists and athletes, to study, define and spread the message of FLOW around the globe, is: “An optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best.”
Another definition is: “An altered state of consciousness whereby an individual performing an activity is immersed in a feeling of energized hyperfocus, full involvement, and enjoyment of the activity.”
Jamie Wheal, the other co-founder of The Flow Genome Project, says Flow “takes people beyond the limits of their experiences, and within the limits of their abilities.” I like that statement. It works well for Seniors.
Flow is not a new experience. It goes back thousands of years. But it was rarely recognized nor applied practically until Mihaly Csikscentmihaly (pronounced: Mehi Chick sent me hi) wrote the definitive book on the subject, Flow, The Psychology of Optimal Experience where he coined the term “Flow” to describe the phenomenon in 1975.
This series is limited mostly to the physical realm and how flow expands the field of fitness. It explains the exploits of people like Alex Honnald, who decided to climb the rock climber’s nightmare, the 3000 foot high vertical face of El Capitan — without the use of ropes or any other safety equipment. The exploit was filmed by some very adventurous people and was made into an Oscar winning documentary called Free Solo.
It was Honnald’s abilty to reach “beyond fitness” into the Flow state that made that climb possible.
With the State of FLOW added to the fitness equation, it becomes less “just exercise” and more a complete “Coming Alive” of your mind and body that can propel seniors into a longer, more fulfilling, and more independent life.
Note: I’ll stay away from the technical and scientific aspects of FLOW other than when it may be revealing. I’ll leave that to the Neuro-chemists and the Scientists.
I hope you enjoy the series. Thank you for reading.