4 Somatic Awareness

Yoga Pilates Tai Chi QiGong

Dancing Walking Cycling Running

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Flow Flow is: . . . “a state of concentration so focused that it amounts to complete absorption in an activity. Everyone experiences flow from time to time and will recognize its characteristics: People typically feel strong, alert, in effortless control, unselfconscious, and at the peak of their abilities. Both the sense of time and emotional problems seem to disappear, and there is an exhilarating feeling of transcendence”. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Seven Conditions for Achieving Flow Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi The activity is performed as an end in itself, not for any other purpose The goals of the activity are clear, and the feedback you get from it is immediate. The most important thing about that feedback is the symbolic message it contains: I have succeeded in my goal. The activity is neither taxingly difficult, nor too easy. The challenge of the task is perfectly balanced with the person’s abilities. The activity requires complete focus of attention, allowing only a very select range of information into awareness, and leaving no room in the mind for anything else. All troubling or irrelevant thoughts are kept entirely at bay. The activity becomes spontaneous, almost automatic, and there is no sense of a self apart from the activity. A feeling of effortlessness arises, even though continuous skilled performance is required. Everything happens seamlessly, as if by magic. There is a sense of successfully exercising control—which is not the same as feeling like “you” are in control. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi