The Flow State

Master Victor: [00:00:00] Some of the tips that I recommend for those of you trying to attain that flow state practice, practice makes permanent. So what you practice is what you do. So if you go into your practice. And you’re practicing a move and you’re doing it lazily and you’re looking around at everything. Well, it’s going to take you a lot longer to attain that confidence to attain that technique.

So when you go to practice, put everything you got into it, focus on what you’re doing, focus on the technique, focus on the feeling of the movement. And then that feeling will become what you tap into. Also repeat the practice over and over and over and over again. Don’t just stop when you get it.

Stop until you cannot get it wrong. That’s when you have understood that movement.

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Master Victor: Welcome everybody to another episode of the unlimited you, who we’re going to talk about more potentials, how to unlock your potentials and become your full self. Right. And today we’re going to be talking about the flow state, or the ever elusive flow state that we’re all trying to get in, in different ways. Performing states of our lives for me personally in martial arts and in flow arts, and even in creating artwork like glass blowing the flow state is extremely important. It, the way I define the flow state is when we surrender [00:02:00] to our natural state. ourselves, right? When we turn off our thoughts and we essentially do what is necessary, we express ourselves openly without delay of thought, without delay of, Hey, I should do this move.

You just do as you hear, as it comes, you do. Oftentimes you get to this point in the flow state where you know, what’s going to happen in the beat. You know, what’s going to happen in the fight. You know what’s going to happen in that creation process. And it almost gives you this kind of a precognitive view.

Of the future. You’re like, you literally are able to predict it because you have turned off your mind. You’re not having to receive an input and then put it out. You are literally in the moment. You have become that moment and you are a channel of expression. Right? So the flow state is getting out of the way of yourself.

Our thinking is slow. Our movements can be slowed by thinking it. It takes time to receive something through the eye to [00:03:00] get through your brain to then send the signals back to your limbs. Well, what if you surrendered to yourself and you’re able to literally move at the speed of thought? That is to me what the flow state is.

That’s how I characterize it. You know, there’s different ways that you can get yourself to get into the flow state and there’s certain conditions that allow you to get into the flow state better. For example, let’s say you’re doing something new. You’re not very good at it. You’re not very confident at it.

You don’t understand either the moves or the concepts. It’s going to become very difficult for you to attain that flow state. In those situations, because you’re oftentimes in your mind, you’re having to receive that input. You’re having to learn, really be focused on what you’re doing. Now, the flow state does require focus, but it’s a different type of focus where let’s say you’ve been doing something for five, 10, 15 or more years.

I mean, some people can [00:04:00] attain flow state in like a year or two in a specific subject. Your ability to enter that flow state increases with the confidence you have in yourself with the skill you have in that subject and your motor skills right so that comes into big play with it are you able to perform these actions without thinking like can you type on the keyboard without looking at it can you Perform certain kicks without having to think about each step and, you know, for flow arts, you know, can you do these complex movements with these weapons or flow props?

Without having to think, Oh, I got to turn my wrist here, bend my shoulder here and training essentially muscle memory so that without thinking about it, our body does, it allows you to have the confidence to enter the flow state better. That’s kind of the, one of the preconditions that’s [00:05:00] required to attain the flow state is training in something long enough that it becomes muscle memory and that you’re confident in doing it without the confidence.

You’re probably going to hit this wall. You’re like, Oh, I don’t think I can do it. And then you’re back in the mind and you’ll exit the flow state. A few of the triggers for myself that I use to enter the flow state is relaxing. You have to be completely relaxed. It is a type of surrender to yourself, right?

We’re trusting ourselves to be able to do or perform these actions in a state that could potentially be stressful or dangerous. And we’re doing these actions calmly. And it increases the speed, the power, the expression. You free the mind from what everybody’s thinking, what I’m thinking. And you just do, you become that movement.

One of the ways I like to get into the flow state. Is usually breathwork. Let’s say you’re like you’re having a hard day. You’re [00:06:00] feeling stressed out. You can do a little bit of breathwork, even meditation that allows you to clear that emotion. And I like to do skull shining breath. I think we did that in one of the earlier episodes.

And It helps clear out that emotion, get you out of the mind and get you into this moment. Now, when you can feel the ground under your feet, when you can feel the clothes on your skin, when you can smell the air coming in, when you can visually take in and hear all of this information around you, right?

You bring yourself into this moment. You become this moment, right? Those are the things I use to help bring myself. Into the flow state. If I’m spinning my bow staff, that’s probably my favorite weapon just comes the most natural to me. I don’t think about what I’m doing. Absolutely not. Because if I’m thinking about what I’m doing, I’m in the thought.

I am the thought I’m thinking about it. And then I have to do. I like to [00:07:00] usually when you’re flowing, you’re listening to music, right? And the music guides you and I listened to the beat. I hear the music, I hear the cadence, the rhythm, and I allow that beat to guide me forward into what I’m doing. And this can look many different ways where, you know, let’s say you’re listening to a really high tempo beat and you surrender to it, or you’re And each one of those movements brings out a different expression.

Listening to the beat allows your mind to exit thought and you’re taking in the sound and literally transitioning that into movement. That becomes an artistic expression. And through the flow state, we can achieve new different moves. We can do things we never thought we could. We can You know, literally do very difficult techniques that if we’re in our mind [00:08:00] would be very difficult to do.

Sometimes when I throw my staff in the air. I don’t think about, Oh, it’s spinning this many times. It’s going to land here and I’m going to catch it. I’ve done it enough that I throw it. I just look at it. I’m listening to the beat. I’m in the moment and I catch it and I keep it going. I surrendered my mind and trusting myself to do what I need to do.

And the flow state can be applied in many different situations. The way that I personally apply it is in my martial arts training. Through rigorous training of different techniques, different movements, especially stepping drills is really important. Stepping drills in Taekwondo gives you the ability to move and then combine different techniques together in an application that can be used for self defense.

When I’m sparring, I really like to enter the flow state. If I’m thinking, Oh, Hey, he’s going to throw a front jab. Then I’m thinking about it. If I watched that job come at me, It sometimes will slow down. It looks like [00:09:00] it’s in slow motion. If you’re in the flow state, I’ll watch it coming. And then my body, I won’t think about what I’m going to do.

I just do it. I will see it. I will either block it and strike or I’ll move and throw a kick. And I let the moment be expressed in whatever way it needs to be. And that allows me to one, not be very predictable. react or act faster. I don’t necessarily want to react to something and want to act. So oftentimes you get into this rhythm you’re hopping, you throw a jab, you throw another jab, you throw a hook.

Next thing you know, you throw a kick and your movements become predictable. And once you know yourself and you know your opponent, you can literally predict what they’re going to do next. And if you’re in the flow state, That prediction that awareness increases and your ability to see what that next move is before it even happens is just clear.

It’s like looking at the couch in [00:10:00] front of you. You’re like, I know they’re going to throw this punch. Like, you don’t have to think about that. You just, you see it and in seeing it, your body just does what needs to be done. And this allows you to do some stuff that’s like, you can’t explain it. There’s no words for it.

Like, yeah, exactly. So the, that’s the application for in the self defense state. If anyone watches Dragon Ball Z, you’ll love Dragon Ball Z. The Dragon Ball Super introduced the Ultra Instinct State, which to me is the Flow State. Where Goku, for example, would see the block coming, and then he would instantly block that strike.

And, without thinking, full speed, doesn’t matter how fast the person is going, they couldn’t hit him. And that is the Flow State, is you getting out of your own way. Because oftentimes in our lives, what’s stopping us is this thing is constantly thinking is trained to think, and sometimes it doesn’t always think the best thoughts like [00:11:00] we’re like often harder on ourselves, right?

So being in the flow state, you have to be very gentle. You have to be confident. You have to surrender and accept the moment. You become the moment and in doing so, you become the expression. And in becoming the expression, it is raw, it is pure and powerful and you feel it. And it’s not like it takes strength or effort.

What would be maybe extremely exerting in the flow state becomes calm and joyful. Which is crazy to think about. Now, a few of those limitations and I get further into it later would be, you know, I think I already mentioned the coordination, the muscle memory, the major and minor motor skills, and your mobility could be restrictions in you attaining certain aspects of the flow state.

And that’s why we train the way we do to increase mobility, increase all of the [00:12:00] things I just mentioned. Another application is fire spinning. Like I mentioned, when you’re spinning to music, when you’re dancing, even you want to become that expression, you want to be going with the beat and doing something that represents what that art form is, right?

Sometimes I can look at a painting and move like what I feel the painting is. I can do that with the music. So I’m like combining what I see and what I hear into my movement and creating an entirely new expression that is extremely powerful in expressing ourselves in like in, in learning new ways we can move.

Oftentimes you become limited by like, Oh, I’ve only been training this specific. You know, spin and like, I feel like I’m doing the same thing all the time. And that again is predictable. So getting into the flow state lets you say, Oh, let me try [00:13:00] something new without thinking about it. You just do. And sometimes you might fail and that’s okay.

Keep doing it. And then you’re going to not only build the awareness, the confidence, the muscle memory, the coordination to do it. But you’ll be able to hit that flow state easier and retain it. For artwork, for example, when I’m blowing glass, if I’m thinking about, I do demonstrations, I’ll go to different shows, events, Renaissance festivals.

If I’m thinking about what everybody on the audience is thinking about what I’m doing, I’m not focused on my piece. I want to be focused, right? So it’s a, it’s almost a state of meditation, like state. When you are in the flow state now, it’s not meditation because meditation, we’re hyper focusing on one specific spot with all of our willpower in the flow state, it is a meditation like state.

We are focusing on a specific thing. And we are surrendering, but we’re in motion [00:14:00] normally. I mean, you can do a flow state. That’s like a writing, you know, typing, but for glass, I’ll be focused on how the glass is moving. I’ll be feeling the heat. I’ll be paying attention to how the feeling of me touching the tool to the glass and, you know, Enjoying it that’s I think one of the biggest keys to it is enjoying and filling yourself with joy in what you’re doing.

If you’re sitting there and like you’re angry or you’re dissatisfied or you’re like, I’m not doing this well. You’re probably not in the flow state. You’re in your mind. Like usually when I’m in the flow state, I am like ecstatic. I’m so happy about what I am doing. I just have this like big smile in my heart because it just feels so raw.

It feels so powerful and it’s an exceptional experience that I think everyone needs to learn and tap into.

​[00:15:00]

Master Victor: Some of the benefits of the flow state is you increase your speed. You increase your expressive ability. The creative aspect of it. Really flourishes where like oftentimes where we’re like training specific moves and we learn how to combine different things together.

We were able to [00:16:00] more easily try difficult techniques that would, you know, maybe not be successful in another state in the flow state a lot easier. I also find it to be a great release. Let’s say like I’m feeling not the best that day, and I’ll go out and I’ll do some fire practice. I’ll do some martial arts practice.

I’ll do some glass blowing. I’ll get in that flow state afterwards. I feel wonderful. I’ll feel like I’ll feel content with what I’ve done. I’ll feel that joy from that release of expression. And aside from that, we’re also learning to turn off the thought, surrender to our minds. And we’re reinforcing that pathway, the trigger to get into the flow state.

And letting go of our fears, letting go of our thoughts and really reinforcing our ability to get into that state of mind. Cause after all it’s, our mind that gets into, the way. So when we get into the state of mind, that’s like, [00:17:00] I surrendered to myself. I accept that I am not going to try to control this.

I’m just going to be and do what needs to be. It gets reinforced and then you can use that in other applications. Maybe you’re like walking down the street and you get into the state where you’re feeling that flow. Maybe you’re dancing on the dance floor and you’re learning some new moves and you’re just expressing this rawness, right?

It can be very beneficial. And applicable in many different situations, driving, when you get into the flow state, let’s say your go karting or your professional race car driver, you’re often in the flow state. They’re making such split second reactions. They’re not thinking about it. They see something boom, boom, boom.

And they do that is the flow state at it’s some of its highest points. And some of the challenges and obstacles that you’re going to encounter when trying to get into the flow state is your mind. If you’re thinking, if you’re like, [00:18:00] Oh, their hands down, let me, next time they throw a punch and their hand comes down here, I’m going to throw a right kick to their face, right?

That’s not the flow state. It’s not. I mean, you can have that process happening in your mind, but it’s going to be a subconscious thing. It’s going to be, They do it, I see it. And next time they do it, my foot’s already at their face. It’s not a thought. It’s just an expression.

You just do. And when I get into thinking, Oh, I’m getting tired. Oh I don’t know if I’m going to catch this. This looks dangerous. Oh, I might be afraid of this. I leave that flow state. As soon as I start thinking, I leave the flow state. And I’ve experienced this where. And I do those throws. If I’m not in the flow state and it’s really dark and I can’t see my staff, I will oftentimes drop it.

If there’s a lot of people talking around me and I’m listening to what they’re saying, rather than listening to the music, I’ll leave the flow [00:19:00] state. A few other obstacles are going to be your physical ability. Let’s say you want to do the splits. It like bust out the splits in the middle of the dance floor and you can’t do the splits.

Well, you flow state may like call you to do that and then you drop down and then you’re going to feel that stretching, ripping feeling and you’re growing and you’re not going to be able to do the full splits because your body’s not able to do that. So some of those challenges could be our preconditioned thoughts.

Our how our body, the state of our bodies. And you know, this is where our training really comes in and strengthening the body to be able to handle certain movements, stretching the body to increase our mobility training techniques beforehand. Like I’ll do a specific throw 20 times, drop it a whole bunch and I’ll keep going.

Maybe a hundred. 200 times and then I’ll get it in a row like [00:20:00] 30, 40, 50 times and I’m like, Oh yeah, I remember this feeling. That’s what I remember. I remember this feeling. Oh, I throw it here and it feels like this and I catch it here and it feels like that. And that feeling I’m able to tap into. And that feeling becomes what the flow state taps into.

So if you’re thinking about the move, the details of the move, like my arm up here, but if you’re feeling, Oh, when I throw the staff, it feels light. It feels like my elbows loose. It feels, I feel the stretch. I feel this muscle moving. And then when you tap into that feeling. And you hear the beat, you start to connect these different things.

Oh, this fast movement feels really nice when I’m this fast beat comes on. Oh, as soon as the beat slows down, oh, I can slow down my movement. For an example in. And sparring, you know, somebody is sparring really hard [00:21:00] and you enter that flow state and you can stay relaxed. That is probably one of the biggest hurdles for sparring is oftentimes when we’re attacked, we get clenched up.

And when you clench up, you’re going to waste a lot of energy. You’re going to be slow. And you’re not going to be able to move and you’re probably going to get hit. If we can stay calm in a sparring situation, right? When we spar, I like to have fun. It shouldn’t be about like who wins. It should be about, Hey, let’s enjoy ourselves.

Let’s also learn how to defend ourselves. If you put your hand down, tap you on the head, remind you to keep your hand up so you don’t get knocked out. And in training that and becoming comfortable in that chaotic situation in remaining calm inside of ourselves. No matter what is going on outside and our meditation teacher, Paramahansa Yogananda says that, you know, we can retain that inner calmness in an ever chaotic world.

And when [00:22:00] we do that, we allow ourselves to handle situations better. In a sparring situation, for example, if I can remain calm, I can remain in that flow state. I can act better and handle the situation more accordingly. And that’s probably the biggest hurdle when you’re sparring is remaining calm and then technique and then mobility like the other things I’ve addressed.

Some of the tips that I recommend for those of you trying to attain that flow state practice, practice makes permanent. So what you practice is what you do. So if you go into your practice. And you’re practicing a move and you’re doing it lazily and you’re looking around at everything. Well, it’s going to take you a lot longer to attain that confidence to attain that technique.

So when you go to practice, put everything you got into it, focus on what you’re doing, focus on the technique, focus on the feeling of the movement. And then that feeling will become what you tap into. Also repeat the practice [00:23:00] over and over and over again. Don’t just stop when you get it.

Stop until you cannot get it wrong. That’s when you have understood that movement. If I throw a roundhouse kick and I only throw that roundhouse kick until I hit my target, Oh, and then I go a week without practicing and I go to throw my roundhouse kick again. It’s probably not going to be the same. But if I practice my roundhouse kick and then I can hit that target with my eyes closed and I know exactly how I have to move my knee, where I have to bring it, where I have to snap and put it down.

And I remember the feeling and I don’t miss 20 times in a row. I’ll be able to use that kick a lot more effectively. under a stressful situation than I would if I didn’t practice it to that degree. So that practice making it permanent works on the muscle memory, works on your confidence and utilizing that move in a situation where it needs to be used.

Another tip would be get out of your head. If you’re thinking, if you’re sitting there thinking about what everybody else is thinking about you, man, who [00:24:00] cares what everybody thinks about you? They don’t know you. Why should their opinion matter if you’re enjoying and you love what you were doing and that’s all that matters That’s all that matters.

Enjoy what you’re doing. Surrender to your higher self and allow yourself to become a channel for it. I feel like when I’m sparring, when I’m doing all these things, it’s not me out there. I’m just surrendered. I am an expression of the universe in that moment. And like a few years ago, I don’t feel like I could have done a lot of the dance and flow moves that I do now.

And it all comes from a surrender. And not thinking I don’t give a damn what anybody else is thinking about what I’m doing in that moment. I am just doing it because I love to do it. It feels good. And that’s what you got to focus on. Just enjoy it. Fill yourself with that joy. And when you find that joy, go deeper into it.

When you find that calmness, go deeper into it. Swim in the joy, swim in [00:25:00] the calmness, and you’re going to fill yourself with it. And it feels beautiful. I’d say those are the two major tips. And if you, let’s say like you’re, you get that flow state and all of a sudden you think, and you drop something, well, Oh, well, pick it back up.

Keep going. Find that flow state again. Get used to getting into that state and it’ll become easier the next time you do it. If you get used to defeating yourself up here and every time you get something wrong, you’re like, Oh, I suck. I can’t do this. Well, guess what? You’re probably going to suck and you’re probably not going to be able to do it because you just told yourself that if you say it’s okay that I failed.

It’s okay that I can’t do it right now. I’m going to keep trying. I’m going to break it down into easier ways to learn it. And then once I get it, I’m going to speed it up slowly, making it smooth, then fast. And then I get it to that point where I feel [00:26:00] confident with it. Well, that’s going to reinforce that brain pattern, that learning method, that then you can practice something, you can do it, and then you can take it into the flow state.

And let’s say you, you hit a plateau, you’ve been training, you haven’t felt like you’ve been getting better. Well, do get into that flow state and let yourself try something new. When I’m in the flow state, I’ve done some stuff with fire spinning. Like I can’t even remember what I did. I remember the feeling.

I kind of remember what it looked like, but I couldn’t replicate it for you. If I even tried, because it was just such a raw expression and it was beautiful. And like, I wouldn’t have attained that if had I been in my head thinking. So practice makes permanent. Keep pushing yourself. Be patient, be kind to yourself.

Being kind to ourselves is well underrated because we’re so hard on ourselves. We’re like, ah, I got to push through. Maybe that day you can only do a little bit of practice, but practice a [00:27:00] little bit, but put your entire self into it, right? Be kind to ourselves. But the most important things you have to do.

Sometimes it’s okay to do it like halfway. Maybe you don’t do the full, you know, hour training. Maybe you only do 30 minutes that day, but still do it. But give your, give the most you got that day. Give what you can and reinforce your brain and your body to surrender to you. Because we’re not here. We’re not this thing.

We’re far more. We can think faster. We can act faster. We can move faster and We are not our feelings. We’re not our thoughts. We’re the thing Observing it and once we realize that we’ve removed that block that wall that is in front of us and we go through it And then we become so get out your own way your expression be freed Let who you are show who you are Through what you’re doing and [00:28:00] become the flow state.

Don’t get to the flow state, become the flow state. If you have any questions, you know, leave a comment, send us an email, make sure to check out our website, FeraAcademy.Com. And if you would like to learn more about our martial arts program, you can go to FeraAacademy.Com slash you. We also have our hoodies and our t shirts available for sale.

They are embroidered. And everything except for our ghee is fire safe. So you can use this stuff if you’re flowing rep out fair academy. Yeah. All right, y’all. If you have any topics also that you would like us to talk about, leave a comment and make sure to subscribe and like, I’ll see you all on the next episode of the unlimited you.

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