From Flow to Peak Performance

24 Jan 2024 - Sport

In 1975 the Hungarian psychologist Mihály Csikszentmihályi introduced the concept of flow in English “Flow” to indicate a state of consciousness in which the person is completely immersed in an activity and in harmony with the surrounding environment. Flow presupposes passion and creativity, the full involvement of the person’s best abilities, their total attention, the clarity of the goal to be achieved, an optimal sense of control, the body and mind engaged to the limit. This concept has been transposed into various fields, such as spirituality, education, seduction and sport.

In sports psychology, the Flow model is associated as the basis for achieving Peak Performance, i.e. sports performance where the athlete expresses himself above his usual standard. The more the athlete perceives and enhances his state of Flow, the better the mental conditions will be to express Peak Performance, thus being able to better evaluate the conditions with the external environment and his internal psychic states. It can be said that Flow is the condition that predisposes Peak Performance.

For Csikzentmihályi a person can choose whether to be happy or unhappy by changing their state of consciousness. It is thought that to be happy all you need is a big house, a new car, a lot of money, but according to the psychologist and various research this is not the case. His study shows that 30% of people interviewed in the United States between 1956 and 1975 say they are very happy despite the fact that these same people have a different income from each other, demonstrating that it is not income and material well-being to make man happy. What we need to change or improve therefore is the state of consciousness. How to do it?

The best way to change our state of consciousness is to place ourselves in an optimal state of experience called Flow. Csikzsentmiháhilyi describes this state as that state where one is so immersed in an activity that nothing else exists, one does not think about problems, about time passing, about the sense of hunger and thirst, about tiredness, but only about enjoying that moment that for a poet it can be writing a poem, for a musician composing a song or for an athlete dedicating himself to his own activity.

The Hungarian psychologist identifies seven key factors to understand if we are in the state of Flow:

1. We are completely immersed in the activity we are doing – we are focused.
2. A sense of ecstasy – breaking out of the daily routine.
3. Sense of inner clarity – knowing how and what we are doing, therefore having clear goals and not being afraid of making mistakes.
4. Knowing that the task is achievable even if difficult – our abilities must match the task at hand.
5. A sense of serenity – you forget about yourself and feel part of something bigger.
6. There is no time – you are focused on the present, the hours seem to pass in minutes.
7. Intrinsic motivation – after carrying out the activity you feel a sense of satisfaction – autotelic experience.

When all these factors occur, then we are doing what we like to do. This graph below shows the person’s skills on the x-axis and the perceived challenge at that moment on the y-axis.

For each person an average can be established which is the center of the diagram. This is the middle level between challenge and skill which is different from person to person. If we know with certainty where that fixed point is located in each of us, it is possible to predict with extreme accuracy when a Flow experience will occur, that is, when the challenges are higher than average and therefore the abilities will be higher than average too. It’s a different experience from person to person, but when we reach the state of Flow we are doing what we love to do to our fullest potential. The other areas gradually become more and more negative. The state of excitement is positive because you are under challenge. Our skills are not as developed as they should be, but we can easily move into the Flow state by improving our skills. So, excitement is the area where people learn the most, because that’s where you get out of your comfort zone. Control is also a good place to be, because it feels comfortable, but not very excited and the activity does not become more stimulating and if you want to get to the Flow zone by passing through the control zone you have to increase the challenges.

Therefore, the areas of control and arousal are ideal and complementary because moving towards the Flow area is easier than other challenge-skill combinations such as apathy where the person feels that he is doing nothing and will continue to do nothing . Many people know how to create Flow, but others don’t.

Each of us reaches our state of Flow by doing what we love most. We try to transpose the concept of Flow from the psychological field to the sporting one.

When playing football, Pelé says: “…it’s as if I felt a strange calm… a kind of euphoria. I felt that I could run all day without getting tired and that I could dribble past any player on the opposing team and almost physically pass through them.”

Personally, I have had this optimal flow experience several times while training or competing. My discipline consists of performing pre-established choreographic figures, in the air or in the wind tunnel, within 35 seconds with three other members of the team. The feeling that I personally feel when I am in Flow is truly unique, because it is like feeling invincible, strong, fast and mentally you are at your best, all the senses seem to be more developed in that moment and it is like not being in your body because you almost don’t feel it. you perceive because of the lightness, it seems like you are observing yourself from the outside in that moment.

In sports psychology it is defined as competitive trance and several studies carried out on athletes who are in the “Flow state” have shown that their brain waves vibrate on the border between the Alpha state and the Theta state, operating in a similar way to the brain waves of who is immersed in meditation.

It can therefore be said that Peak Performance is achieved when our brain reaches the ideal frequency for the state of Flow during training or competition.Si può quindi dire che la Peak Performance la si raggiunge quando il nostro cervello raggiunge la frequenza ideale per lo stato di Flow durante l’allenamento o la competizione. 

If we find ourselves in a state of excitement, we need to increase our skills and we will be inclined to do so by leaving the comfort zone; if, however, we are in a state of control, then we feel at ease, but by doing so we will not be able to perform at our best. better than our potential, falling into routine, without new stimuli which will slowly lead us to lose the passion for the sport we love. It is therefore important to always find new stimuli and synchronize our brain waves in the Flow area. What are brain waves? Is it enough to reach the ideal frequency to perform at the limit of our potential? How can we achieve it? How much do brain waves affect performance and how can different waves be exploited for different tasks?

We start from the assumption that all the so-called superior mental processes that an athlete needs, such as motivation, attention, decision making, memory and learning, come from our brain and certainly also happiness, the basic state to perform at its best. Our brain, in addition to the control of psychological factors, governs motor execution through neuronal impulses, therefore an electrical signal that starts from our brain and reaches the motor plate located on the muscle fiber thanks to communication between neurons via synapses. Without the brain there would be no movement.

The electrical signal produced by communication between neurons in the brain produces brain waves. We have 5 brain waves which are Gamma, Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta from fastest to slowest respectively and are measured in Hertz (Hz). These waves change based on what we are doing and the sensations we are feeling. Gamma waves are the fastest, 40-100 Hz, and the most recently discovered. These waves are involved in higher cognitive processes and are important for learning, memory and information processing.

High frequencies of gamma waves can lead to anxiety and stress. The low frequencies have been found in subjects with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder or depressed subjects. Ideal Gamma frequencies, however, we find in cognitive processes, information processing, learning, memory, perception, REM sleep. Meditation is the tool that allows us to increase them. Delta waves, 0-4 Hz, are the slowest and we reach them in deep sleep and deep transcendental meditation. High levels of Delta can cause brain damage and make it difficult for us to think. Low levels, however, lead to insomnia and the inability to regenerate the brain. Optimal frequencies lead to self-healing and deep sleep which is important for recovery processes.

Beta waves that oscillate between 12 and 40 Hz are associated with normal states of consciousness and high levels of attention, logic, memory and problem solving. Having the right Beta frequency helps us stay focused, but a high threshold can lead to high levels of stress, anxiety, irritability, fear which trigger mental and physiological chain reactions in our body that do not allow us to achieve the right performance ( such as the production of Cortisol). Alpha waves, 8-12 Hz, are dominant during relaxation and is the border state between conscious and unconscious thought. High levels of Alpha waves lead us to excessive relaxation, vice versa they lead us to anxiety, stress, insomnia. Optimal states lead to relaxation and lay the foundation for the state of Flow.

We arrive at Theta waves, 4-8 Hz, optimal frequency of creativity, emotions, intuitions, relaxation, but if too high or low they lead to anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, impulsiveness. Performing at your best means being reactive at the right point, but at the same time relaxed at the right point. The secret, in everything, is balance. The balance for Peak Performance is found in the Sweet Spot between the Alpha and Theta state where creativity meets the state of relaxation giving the athlete the opportunity to reach the optimal state of Flow that precedes Peak Performance where work seems effortless on our body.