52 FIND THE FLOW IN SPORTS OR ART

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi researched and then popularized the notion of flow, the idea that we can be so immersed in an activity that our sense of time stops and we are in a kind of timeless, nondistracted place. Being in a state of flow provides a feeling of well-being and mastery and often joy.

Athletes talk about this flow all the time. But you don’t have to be an athlete to access it; anyone can find it in physical activity. It’s also often accessed in creative pursuits, like playing music, making art, or writing. A piano player, for instance, might lose herself in her music, and it may seem like everything disappears except the playing. Others experience it when they are making love or when they are out in nature.

I’m a Zumba fanatic. The blend of Latin, hip-hop, world beat, and Bollywood dance in an entirely noncompetitive and low-key atmosphere is a blast for me. It doesn’t even feel like exercise! I’m not that great at dancing—really, I’m an amateur—but I truly love it. And when I’m in the middle of a Zumba class, it feels like time stops. My connection with my body seems to make thoughts slide away into the background. I can even notice when thoughts about something not happening at the moment pop back in (I have to remember to buy baking soda. Oh no, I keep forgetting). That’s when my sense of self reemerges and sabotages me in my happy place.

If you are an athlete or a creative person, it’s likely you have experienced flow many, many times. But you might not link it to natural awareness. My hope would be that the next time you experience flow, you are able to recognize the overlap with natural awareness—that the doing has stopped and the being has begun. I wouldn’t call a flow state a natural awareness state because there is likely not the component of awareness of awareness present; we are immersed in flow, but not necessarily aware that we are aware in the midst of that immersion. But if we learn to recognize these flow states, we can begin to discover moments throughout the day when we are automatically, intimately linked with our own natural awareness.