When it comes to fitness, we tend to think about tangible things.
- Strength is pounds on the bar or kettlebell, or the progressive step of a bodyweight exercise.
- Endurance is the time in which you can complete an event or workout.
- Body transformation is largely about pounds on the scale (as well as body fat percentage).
But what about flow?
Here is something that is much more qualitative then quantitative. In other words, hard to measure. But often, the things in life that are hard to measure are those that are worth having.
What does it mean to access the flow state?
It’s a state of grace. It’s a state of ease. It’s a state of creativity and emergence.
Let’s look at flow in relation to movement. Movement is both a way of accessing flow and of utilizing flow.
Flow in movement means a bunch of things.
You can move in a more flowing manner, which means moving better. Just compare rigid, staccato movements versus those that flow, and you’ll automatically know which is better. To move with flow presupposes a lack of pain, simply because pain is something that would stand in the way of flow. To move with flow means to move easily. Accessing flow is finding the sweet spot between too easy and too hard, where challenge is involved. And when you find that challenge, to flow through it.
Recently, I was listening to psychologist Jordan Peterson talk about order and chaos. An example he used was the Olympic gymnast that needs to pull out all the stops to win. They’re behind in points and must do something better than they ever have before to come out on top.
So they put it all out there.
They teeter on the edge of chaos, on destruction…
And sometimes that does occur.
But if it doesn’t, if they get into the FLOW, they pull off something they may have thought impossible for themselves.
For most, the flow state is something that comes haphazardly.
But what if you could access it on command? What if you could train your ability to flow? And if you do it primarily around movement as an access point, will it help you to reach flow in other areas of your life?