Body + Soul Feature: Flow State

Feature Article, 3 March 2020 in Body + Soul.

Words by Emma Maidment

Yoga teacher and co-founder of The Mindful Morning Collective Emma Maidment, explains how finding "flow state" can have a major impact on your overall happiness. 

You have probably experienced it before. You’re so deeply immersed in what you’re doing that time ceases to exist, there are no other thoughts, no distractions, just you and the activity moving as one. There’s no questioning, no ‘shoulds’, just effortless.

This is referred to by psychologists as a state of ‘flow’. To be in a state of flow is to be so fully immersed in what you’re doing that time ceases to exist, your mind functions as its peak and a sense of pure happiness permeates every cell of your body.

There are many activities you can do to access this state; yoga, meditation, running, playing music, cooking, socialising and surfing are just some examples. Sounds pretty blissful, doesn’t it?

So what is 'flow', and how do we access it?

According to positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, who coined the term ‘flow’, flow state is defined as an “optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best.” Csíkszentmihályi popularised the term in his 1990 book, Flow: The Psychology of Happiness, and described flow as a mental state which involved “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, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”

How does your brain know it’s in a state of flow?

I asked Shelley Laslett, a social scientist, PG Neuroscientist and neuroscience coach, to explain the neuroscience of ‘flow’.

“In flow states we see changes in brainwave activity. Using electroencephalography (EEG), flow states are evidenced by our busy beta (12-36 Hz) waves reducing and our calm, creative and relaxed alpha (8-12 Hz) states increasing. This increase in alpha and decrease in beta brainwave activity helps promote cognitive control, concentration, task immersion and creativity - all hallmarks of flow states.”

According to Shelley, our brains experience ‘brain sync’ when we are in flow. Which means our brain becomes more efficient at organising information. Shelley says, “Another brain change to occur in a flow state is greater brain network and neural (brain cells) synchronicity. This enhances our top-down processing allowing the complete absorption, optimal organisation, relaxed and highly efficient state observed in flow.”

Being in a flow state not only increases happiness, but it also increases efficiency. Flow is the superpower you’ve always had and maybe haven’t learned how to harness.

As a yoga and meditation teacher and long term practitioner of both, I am familiar with this experience. It feels effortless, time doesn’t exist and I’m moving with just my body and my breath as one, it’s profound. But flow doesn’t come from just ‘doing yoga’ it comes from doing it regularly as part of a consistent practice. It’s the consistency that over time that turns an activity like yoga into an experience of flow.

Repetition, practice and making a habit of your chosen activity are the keys to finding flow state and increasing your overall happiness in life.

Why is flow so important?

According to Clinical Psychologist and Wellbeing Consultant Emily Toner, “Research shows that people who experience regular states of flow in their day are happier, so if you want to effortlessly boost your happiness, then plan your week around the activities that give you most flow. Make sure you are doing something each day that induces flow, and before you know it, you might just start to feel your whole life flowing on a grand scale.”

How to move from friction to flow

Here’s some practical tips and ideas you can implement to move towards a life of flow.

Develop your skill

Whether it be running, exercise, yoga, playing music, surfing, sport, or an artistic activity. The more skillful you become at the task and the more you practice it, the more effortless it becomes and the greater the experience of flow.

Add an element of challenge

If we don’t intentionally evolve we become stagnant. Flow, as the name suggests is moving and thus challenging yourself, upskilling or expanding your mindset will stretch your current skill level and invite greater flow.

Meditate

Not only does meditation deepen your connection to the effortless state of flow that already exists inside of you, but it can remove the stress and anxiety that often blocks flow. Regularity is the key to success in anything in life and meditation is no different. Find yourself a teacher and a technique that you resonate with, and begin a daily practice.

For me, I find that meditation is one of the easiest ways to access flow state, and to then allow that flow state to become a part of your ‘eyes open’ reality when you come out of the meditative state.

Live your passions

Take a few moments to assess the activities in your life that you’ve experienced flow during and find ways to add more of them to your everyday life.

Let go of attachment to outcome

Whilst you might be ‘flowing’ in the direction of a goal, practicing non-attachment to the outcome allows for the creative flow of life to move through you and greater ease of the situation. Have you ever felt like you’re forcing something to happen at all costs and everything just keeps going wrong? Let it go, come back to flow. The thing about flow is, you can’t force it. It happens effortlessly.

Practice mindfulness

Becoming mindfully aware of your state of being is a powerful way to consciously shift it. When you mindfully notice that you’re in a state of controlling outcomes and trying to force ‘flow’, choose to either shift your approach or the activity entirely.

According to Emily Toner “There are heaps of things we do in our day that might not involve flow, such as answering emails, driving in peak hour, having difficult conversations or doing the dishes, but it turns out that if you bring your full present-moment awareness to any of these activities, and just focus on your senses and this one thing, then even the most annoying of tasks can become an opportunity for flow."

You have a choice in each moment, to move with friction or to create greater ease and flow. Which will you choose?