The Come Alive Project

Tag: flow

  • Energy Bite 336 — Beyond Fitness: Fitness and Flow

    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.

  • Energy Bite 320 – Fitness, Flow and the Mind

    The brain seems to be as much of a beneficiary of exercise as is the body. In his great book, Spark, the author, Psychologist John Ratey says:.

    “Exercise is as effective as Zoloft for Depression”.

    Others have suggested that not exercising is like “taking a depressant”.

    Modern neuroscience is bearing out what others have said for years about the power of exercise and its benefits for the mind. They are discovering that we are literally “wired for movement” and that sitting on the couch looking at a screen is one of the worst things we can do for our bodies, our minds, and our well-being.

    Almost everyone has heard of the “Flow State”. That’s where body and mind are one, time is distorted or disappears, concentration is focused, and the mind and body are in optimal states. It has been variously described as “optimal experience”, “runner’s high”, and includes full concentration and focus on a task or activity that is so intense that nothing else can gain attention other that what you are doing.

    In his book, Flow, author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced: Chick-sent-me-hi) describes it as an “activity that produces such experiences is so gratifying that people are willing to do it for its own sake, with little concern for what they will get out of it, even when it is difficult, or dangerous.

    Author Mihaly C writes: “When we are unhappy, depressed, or bored we have an easy remedy at hand: to use the body for all it is worth.” He goes on to say that while most people nowadays are aware of the importance of health and physical fitness . . . “most of us ignore it and use their physical equipment as little as possible, leaving its ability to provide flow unexploited”.

    Neuroscientists are confirming what we have long accepted as true, that exercise has a powerful effect on the mind, both from the experience of the state of “flow”, to the general feeling of physical and mental well being that exercise provides. We all know that exercise stimulates the mind. Most of us just don’t do it.

    “Physical Fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.”   — John F. Kennedy

    Physical exercises such as crawling, cross body movements and even the stimulation of a brisk walk have been demonstrated to provide valuable mental benefits as well as physical.

    In upcoming articles, I will explore some of the many benefits of physical exercise on the mind and how it affects us far beyond what we see above the surface. Let the phrase: “The tip of the iceberg” play in your mind for a while. In the coming weeks, we will explore mental and physical aspects of our minds and bodies that are in the 95% of our “being” that lies beneath the surface. Stay with me.

    Thank you for reading.