Habituating to operating in a flow state requires: clear goals, high challenge, performance feedback, complete engagement in purposeful action, being in control, feeling that your efforts matter.
As you pass the phase boundary through training, to flow, you experience a merging of action and awareness. Your action becomes spontaneous and effective.
These conditions are associated with high performance and, researchers have observed, are strongly correlated to happiness. People who are accustomed to flow states appear happy, self-confident and relaxed.
Entering flow has immense significance for high performance, high achievement and victory. Science has discovered another why flow-inducing activity is appealing: it makes you feel good.
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This connection between traditional karate training and current science is an excerpt from “Mushin and the Science of Flow: Phase Transformation in Kata, Part II”
The first article in the series is “Damatte Keiko: Phase Transformation in Kata, Part I”
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Photo by Thao le Hoang/Unsplash
Post Copyright © 2019 Jeffrey M. Brooks and Mountain Karate Dojo, L.L.C.
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