Flow

Being an exercise and sport science major in college has led me to exposure to a variety of applications of this field.  One of the applications is sport psychology.  It was in this class that I learned Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi’s (pronounced chicks-n-mah-hall-ya) concept of flow.

Flow is completely focused motivation.  It is single-minded immersion and represents the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning.  In flow the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized and aligned wit the task at hand.  Flow is nothing new to athletes and is often referred to as being “in the zone”, or “in the groove”.  Csikzentmihalyi emphasizes that flow can be a learned state and that athletes can spend more of their performance time in this ideal state when they learn how to harness it.

One of my most meaningful experiences with flow occurred my freshman year of highschool.  I loved to swim and so I joined the swim team.  Though I could swim well enough to survive a nice leisure swim I found competitive swimming left me in the dust and I spent most of the season performing about as well as you would expect someone who had never even heard of a dolphin kick to perform, very mediocre.  Despite this fact, I loved the sport and loved learning and growing in it.

Before long districts rolled around and the team loaded onto a nice charter bus to go down to a town that was a couple hours away.  Those who qualified for the second day of districts would stay at a hotel with the team and then compete the next day. Those who did not qualify would be sent on the ride of shame home on a school bus that very night.

I wanted desperately to be able to stay and compete the next day and the entire trip down to the meet I spent in quiet meditation.  I pictured every flip turn, every stroke….my goal; not to get last place, it would be humiliating to get last place.    Being nowhere near the star of the team I was only entered in one single event, the breaststroke.  This event is the second to last in a swim meet, so I had the ENTIRE day to sit and think and think and think about my race.

When the moment came for my swim I was more focused than I had ever been in my entire life; every fiber of my body was focused on the event on hand.  The buzzer sounded and I dove.  The familiar peace of the water surrounded me and I pushed myself as hard as I could, the peace only interrupted by my bobs above water for air.  After my second turn I took a peek to the right and then to the left….there was no one in sight and my heart sank because I knew I was in dead last place. 

More invigorated than ever I pushed even harder.  I pulled and kicked with all my might to the finish line if I was going to be last at least I could set a PR.  Upon completion my body felt rubbery and my head swimmy.  I turned around and realized that I hadn’t been able to see anyone because I was so far ahead, not behind those in my heat.  I had beat everyone in my heat by at least a pool length and set a new personal best that was a full 10-15 seconds (time has made this number difficult to remember) faster than my fastest time all season.  It was one of the most fulfilling and exciting races of my life.

Over the next few years my swimming skills increased and I was no longer struggling for last place on my swims.  But year after year the strange phenomenon continued, I performed leaps and bounds better at the district meet than I had all year.  

I credit my success at those meets to the set-up of such events.  We got the entire day off of school and a whole day to focus on just one thing, swimming.  This allowed me to perform in a way I had never thought possible.

I relive this small victory because we just attended our first hypnobirthing class and the concepts I learned in our first class sounded very similar to this “flow” experience.   I was relieved to hear that hypnosis is not the cheesy dangling a watch in front of your face saying, “you are feeling sleepy” then snapping the person into unconsciousness.  They related it more to the focus you find while engrossed in a book, or staring into a fire. 

The message is, when you prepare for birth by releasing preconceived feelings of fear and trepidation and greet the birthing process with calm relaxation and focus you can experience a more comfortable birth.  I left the class feeling ultimately empowered and believing in the power of my own mind and the ability of my body to birth a baby.  This is what these were created to do, bring a baby into the world, why should I be afraid?

I found this quote particularly inspirational:

How we give birth matters!

What our babies experience shapes who they are.

What a mother experiences at the very transition form maiden to other changes her. Gentle, natural birth unlocks something primal at our very core that makes mothering easier (and) makes families stronger…If parents would only realize that every single decision they make from conception onward influence the outcome of their birth, they could reclaim what they didn’t even know was lost.

-Kim Wildner,  Mother’s intention

I loved the physiological and medical explanations supporting natural childbirth. We learned how natural (not synthetic) oxytocin stimulate uterine contractions and promote bonding between mother and baby, how adrenaline kicks in at the end in a healthy way and how all these hormones and systems work together in harmony to deliver an infant safely into your arms. 

We then compared this to synthetic induction, pain relievers and medical interventions and how this changes everything from the temperament of the baby to the degree of bonding between baby and parents.

So I’ve been listening to birthing affirmations as well as the self-hypnosis track that is supposed to be training me to go into deep relaxation during birth. With every listen I feel more reassured and peaceful about the arrival of my baby girl.  It's funny how it has changed even my outlook beyond birth, I feel much more peace about welcoming our little one into our home as well.  

I’m thinking of birth as a tremendous challenge that if prepared for properly I can handle with grace.  So I release all the fear I previously had associated with childbirth and look forward to the day with joy and excitement.