flow: when engagement meets skill. where’s yours?

Here’s something interesting, courtesy a fashion writer for the New York Times (odd, I know). He references the concept I once read about in Yoga Journal; the idea that our asana practice–and, in full take-away tip mode, our life–is best when it’s just challenging enough to let our mind and ego drop away. There’s a space we can be that is active and calming, invigorating and soothing, both outward- and inward-focused. If we find that space, that’s just right for us, and likely different than anybody else’s, we’ve found our flow.

Here’s what NYT’s Guy Trebay had to say:
In “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience,” Dr. Csikszentmihalyi suggests that there is an optimal state of motivation in which engagement meets skill. And temporal impediments to creativity, stuff like hunger, ego — or, for that matter, market reports — fall away. You can call it the flow state or being in a groove or in the zone. You can think of it as riffing. Dr. Csikszentmihalyi does. “Every action, movement and thought follows inevitably from the previous one,” he once told Wired. “Like playing jazz.”

He goes on to talk about how this has played out among menswear designers in Milan. Hmmm, next up: yoga classes for fashion designers. Enhance your career creativity. Find your flow through yoga. Man, we really can take this practice anywhere.

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