If you follow your bliss, doors will open for you that would not have opened for anyone else.
Joseph Campbell
Focus on what you Love.
High performance states or flow states are stepped into as you focus on what you love. Creativity and sports have the potential to collapse time. There is really something about being lost in an activity. Just going with flow, being in the moment and appreciating everything about it. When you immerse yourself in something, time vanishes. Hours feel like minutes. And, what might have taken months to create, are developed and put into action in weeks or mere days.
Use your Imagination.
Visual meditations can re-create an experience with the power of your imagination. And, by adding sensory information to what you see, it is possible to shift your physiology and your focus towards a flow state. This is a popular and very effective training method used in preparation for competitions in sports and for games. In fact, it not only simulates practice but it creates a memory in one’s experience as if that practice had already occurred.
Details…add details!
The more you are able to focus on something, the more likely it is possible to immerse yourself in a similar high performance state. This means adding as many details as possible. Of course, it won’t feel exactly as if you are mountain climbing in the Swiss Alps, but it is possible to copy the emotions you would feel in that place. The movement of your legs, the cold on your face, the weight of the pack on your back or your hands on ropes or an ice pick will have to be imagined. However, an incredible camera shot of yourself at the top of a peak might inspire exhilaration and activate the motivation behind a strong finish on your next challenging climb.
Relaxation.
Olympic sprinters excel and gain speed when they are more relaxed. So it makes sense that if you want to step into overdrive and get more things done, learning how to relax is your ace. This is another spin on high performance that isn’t often talked about. As you learn to relax and declutter the mind, it is possible to focus on tasks, gain more speed and get more organized.
That mindset of being clear, peaceful and fully present is needed to open the door to a deeper mind. This is a highly creative, intuitive and an exceptional space for problem-solving and strategic thinking. Deep relaxation is high performance on an entirely new level. Explore this possibility while relaxed. This is rocket fuel for self-mastery and brings a calm state without the nap.
Breathing techniques.
We can use our breath to relax and to focus sharply. Learning how to manage your breath; the pace and space between each breath as well as how deep each breath is can trigger high performance mental states. As you visualize and pencil in all the other feelings surrounding what you are picturing, it is possible to use breath to raise performance and shift out of negative emotional states like panic, high anxiety or fear. You can heal resistance with breath and find fearlessness. It just takes a moment to pause, breath and refocus. Explore the box breathing method used by Navy Seals to sharpen focus and mental alertness or Wim Hof’s breathing technique for high performance states and to boost the immune system. Links below, box breathing is described in a previous blog post and the Wim Hof method is a guided session on Youtube.
Wim Hof’s breathing technique.
Step into the feeling of being there.
Use short windows of visualization to train yourself to step into “being there” – FASTER. Like a camera lens, activate memory snapshots of a high performance state and shift your physiology progressively to that state desired. Excel, heal and transform.
The details of an experience and the results, rely on being able to be fully present in that achievement. But they don’t always happen instantly. Often, these need to be played back over time to embed these images of your imagination into reality. Persist and see improvements in your results unfold with each meditation session.
Accessing Deeper Mind states.
Intentionally, relaxing deeply to find deeper mind states is one way to access the high performance mind. The other is non-intentional. When we are moving in a flowing state, repetitive movements unlock the mind from overthinking everything. Within automatic movements, the mind lets go and allows the deeper thoughts and your intuitive voice to be heard.
You can use are meditation basics like counting, paying attention to your breath, imagining your thoughts like drifting clouds to release the mental grip you might have on how things unfold.
It is logical to want to be in control of where you are going. But allowing yourself to be open to new ideas and to reach deeper levels of your consciousness, you must let go and allow the flow of the moment. Be present, let the energy flow through you and allow the switch to flip ON it’s own to high performance.
Clothing, unrestricted movement.
Loose clothing, feeling comfortable and anything that has unrestricted movement inspires you to forget about body consciousness and explore something beyond it. Either, in meditation or as a conscious exploration of your own high performance.
In Steven Kotlers book, Mapping Cloud 9, he suggests that the spiritual and the high performance paths are one and the same. And, that no matter where you are, on a high performance road, it is likely you will discover a spiritual path along the way. Likewise, deeply spiritual paths might invite curiosity about personal limits, self-discovery and a merger with high performance states.
Focus, concentration and mental clarity are created through presence and consistent practice with meditation and visualization. These are foundational skills need to tap in quickly to higher states of consciousness and high performance. You can call these spiritual or scientific exploration of human potential, but both will eventually mesh together, it will be difficult to recognize which is which.
Moving meditations vs Still sessions.
We are all unique in what best triggers our relaxed mind. For you it might be a walking meditation, laps in the pool, cycling or a long walk in nature. Mindful of the present moment, we can find what we desire and move toward it, first in the mind and then, through any activities that inspire us. For others, high performance might be faster to imagine and experience while sitting still and quiet in meditation. It might be more relaxing to block out sensory detail to fully focus.
Environments also speak to us. The sounds, smells, how we feel in them and the ambient temperature can inspire us to imagine and expand our limits as well as challenge our patterns. High performance states can be cannibalized from experiences but also pieced together from many events to create the emotion, the drive and the motivation to achieve a goal.
Memory tags.
Sometimes, being able to recall how something felt might be what is needed to recreate the experience. That perfect day cycling a long distance. The sun on your face, the sound of your bike’s wheels spinning, gears shifting and the beautiful scenery.
An old memory feeling rider’s bliss can be attached to many experiences you want to achieve that state. The blend of conditions and feeling perfectly aligned physically, mentally and a riding spirit flowing in the moment up and down hills. Flow, in other words, can be traced and reclaimed with your imagination. And, harnessed to ignite more flow states and high performance in other areas of your life.
Memory makes it possible to add more feeling. It is the key ingredient in activating shifts in states. Recall and then, step into that state as if you are living that experience.
High performance states are an important Resource.
There are many powerful ways to activate high performance states. Each of us will have our favourites. But what makes them so crucial is that they are an important resource when we are feeling challenged, stuck and needing motivation to move into a more positive and focused mind space.
Use any of these simple tactics to create more mental clarity, focus and inspire “shifts” to a bliss-filled flow state. While it may seem unrealistic to expect this each time we imagine or try, it is the times when it does work that makes up for all the effort.
Have a great week!
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