“Our experience shows that by keeping your mind focused on what you are doing, you can greatly increase the intrinsic pleasure of vigorous movement as well as the benefits you receive.” — George Leonard and Michael Murphy, The Life We Are Given.
When you exercise with full awareness of what you are doing, without FitBits or other external and distracting accessories, you can easily discover yourself exercising in a Flow State, and getting far more benefit than you would get from the average exercise session. No watching TV or reading magazines while on the Treadmill, please.
Remember that the Flow State is defined as:
1. An optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best, and
2. 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.
It’s a temporary state brought about by focused engagement in an activity that you do for its own sake. It’s a mind-body “thing” that helps you perform at your best, that which you have mastered through long term practice.
When you move into a Flow State, certain chemicals are released into your body and brain that provide you with feelings of euphoria, intense focus, sharpened sensory perception, and complete present moment awareness.
Ironically, Exercise can produce these same chemicals, particularly exercises which increase your heart rate and cause you to breathe faster and more deeply. When you exercise, you produce most of those same chemicals and they have a similar effect on your brain and body. You feel alive and in the flow of life.
Also ironically, some of the chemicals are the same chemicals found in certain mind altering substances, many of which are illegal.
“To live is to move. Even when seemingly motionless in sleep, the body is incessantly moving. We share a silent pulsing of heart, blood vessels, glands, diaphragm, lungs — the busy intercourse among a hundred trillion cells — with many other organisms. When we consciously move through space, we can’t help but affirm what is both unique and universal about our species.” — Leonard and Murphy, Ibid.
Physical activity is not necessary to move into a Flow State. Artists, musicians and entrepreneurs often find themselves in Flow as a result of deep focus on their activities. This article is limited to the discussion to exercise and flow and how they merge together to form a powerful fitness experience.
Mastery of a physical activity often precedes flow. When you have Mastered the activity through deep practice, you will find yourself feeling better and performing better because you are doing it for its own sake. The motivation comes from inside rather than from some external reward.
All of the elements I have listed need not be present. The “runner’s high” is one of the first examples people use to describe Flow. The euphoria involved in running or rowing or other sports is the easiest way to describe flow to the novice. Yet the same state can occur when lifting weights, doing other exercises or even in children playing games.
And the fitter you are, the more likely you are to encounter the Flow state in your own activities.
“Every person, no matter how unfit or fit he or she is, can rise a little higher, go a little faster, and grow a little stronger. The joy of surpassing the limits of the body is open to all.” — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
So, if you really want to feel good, and if you want to really improve your performance in all that you do in life, then — MOVE YOUR BODY!
Thank you for reading.