Earlier this week, I saw a post on a business networking site promoting yet another book on how to ‘master’ the flow-state for so-called ‘mental toughness’ and was directed to a website that was clearly put together by AI as it consisted of snippets of information and bits of data gathered online promising peak performance using pre-recorded courses spanning over 300 topics.
You may recall from my books and research that the original paradigm of flow was created approx. 50 years ago by psychologists, and that modern mindfulness has all but thrown out the Buddha in favour of the app. This latest book/website (along with countless others) is simply an amalgam of these same approaches which are getting more and more mechanical and less and less pertinent over time i.e. are now watered down into top 10 tips and checklists without any methodology to support those in pursuit of the phenomenon first coined by athletes such as the legendary tennis player Arthur Ashe.
It’s alarming that so many people buy into this, believing flow (the zone) to be a highly focused mental state or a form of mental toughness that can be summoned at will – yet when I speak to the athletes, performing artists and musicians I work with about what flow feels like, a very different story emerges. This story is real and not manufactured; it is based on the actual experience of those who have taken up the challenge of a daily performance practice and must be continually heard so it doesn’t get drowned out with all the BS.
Here’s what I’ve heard from those I’ve been working with over the past few weeks about how flow shows up in their game:
It’s a softer sense or awareness that starts to awaken – Pat B., Las Vegas
It’s feeling centred while moving – Mike A., Florida
It’s a quieting and settling of the mind, David P., Tucson AZ
It’s about preparing for the possibility of it taking place – Mark B., Illinois
This work is more of an allowing than a doing – Blair P., Vancouver
It’s about body engagement, with the breath and the centre – Murray G., New Zealand
The final word on this subject for today’s post comes from my client Riley Lewis, a young PGA pro out of Arizona who has just qualified to play in the US Open. Riley has been dedicated to his daily practice and on-course applications of Chi Performance for the past six months and says that his golf has become “more artistic and less mechanical by bringing everything back to the centre (t’an tien) when preparing for the shot”. Well done, Riley!
What’s your story? Why not write and tell me about your practice and how it’s showing up in your sport? I’d love to hear from you.
Jayne
