Flow – Do You Get it From Your Sport / Activity?

I have so many posts to write but I went to the Banff Mountain Film Festival last night and wrote a short bit, which I thought I’d share…

Just came back from watching the Banff Mountain Film Festival in Santa Barbara.

There were six films featured, one about biking (mountain biking mainly), one about a climbing/base jumping attempt on Asgard, one essentially a short film about wildlife, one about skiing, one about white water paddle sports, and one about Dean Potter’s “Solo Basejumping” attempt on the Eiger.

I enjoyed the Asgard and white water films the most, and watching the paddle film I couldn’t help but notice that the folks in it talked about flow. This seems to be a common thread in human quests.

I’m not just talking about so-called extreme sports either. Musicians talk about being in the flow, I felt it myself when performing in an orchestra, I’ve also felt it in competitive fencing bouts. I’ve certainly felt it when creating as well.

What struck me about the paddling movie, was that the participants seemed to say that it was only in their sport that they found this flow with something “elemental”. Yet, isn’t rock “elemental” as well, I know many climbers have mentioned this flow as well.

I propose that it’s not that flow is rare, but that sometimes it can only be found doing certain activities for a particular person. And in fact that same person may find it in different activities during different times of their life.

Have you felt the flow? What brings you to that state?