Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance | Steven Kotler | Talks at Google

Most of us experienced Flow several times before without labeling it as "Flow". And it is not just Flow "On" or "Off" - It is a spectrum.. from micro flow (what you may feeling during Meditation, Yoga or Running) to macro flow (when more "Flow" is there, more neurochemicals are being released and you just feeling amazing and present for hours.). Keep Flowing!

HEARING a LOT of "We Don't Know", & it's refreshingly honest!

Thank you for helping me identify an experience I had as flow. After I played a gig as a drummer people came up to me and asked how I did the fills and solo that I was able to do. I just said I don't know, I wasn't there for it but knew I played better than I ever have. I wish I was present for it though. lol

Extremely interesting. The question of 'flow' appears to be very close to what the English philosopher Colin Wilson spent the best part of his life investigating. He called it 'Faculty X' and he approached it initially from  an artistic perspective in The Outsider. Kosler approaches it from an 'action sports' perspective, while Maslow approaches it from a medical viewpoint. I do hope that the insights that are gained will be used in a serious and productive way, to help us take the next step on the evolutionary ladder

i used to think more performance meant more thinking, more rumination during practice. Now I get why its so important to 'empty' yourself

I just started listening to Steven .his voice pitch is similar to Robert Downey jr … keeps you attention when he talks

Thank you so much. I experience this from time to time . One time it lasted for about a week. It's some years ago. Who I was before and after changed me completely. How I saw the world was turned upside down. After it I felt a little mind-blown for a couple days just by looking at de world. tried to explain this feeling to someone else saying: maybe it's all in my head and maybe Im just going crazy, but i never felt anything more real, and I never felt so alive. Since then I feel it every now and then but less intense. not that I can switch it on and off.(although I wished so) It just comes and goes. it feels like my fire.

It reminds me that a student, who have to pass the exam for the credit, then there are tons of textbooks which has to be reviewed again and again with little time. He or ( She) happen to know the drug that make your performance beyond infinity. It seems to me that it was a day-dream. But I am living in the competitive society which drove us to the once-upon-time story. In this video, you can see the example of excellent way of scientific discovery.

Awesome talk!!!! Thank you so much!

8:44 Flow is a gateway to more that most of us seek. - Dr. New Hallowell Emptiness | Silence | Mindfulness | Meditation

This is really good. 22:50 is important. And the opposite is true as well. The more neuro-chemicals that show up during a negative experience, the more that encounter will be stored in long term memory rather than short term. So the greater the amount or frequency of adrenaline and cortisol showing up during an encounter with a person or environment, the longer and more accutely you will 'tag' that person or environment with fear or discomfort.

Thanks for the talk! You answered some questions I had in mind for quite a time. Agree about music - that's one the way I get to a state of flow - my imagination is turning on. Why both of you had such a wide open eyes? Just curious, cause wide opened eyes got me in a micro-micro state of flow listening to you.

i didn't know about steven kotler but i selfexperienced this the last 6 months and it was the best time in my whole life .... i had so much energy, was so creative, worked so much, felt so happy, had so much self esteem, felt so healthy, could feel and see things not many people around me realized, no challenge or problem was too big to solve ... and then i had a house renovation with my family for a month .... they where treating each others and me like shit and brought me daily in situation that i tried to solve but it was impossible ... at first my mood changed from happy to sad and angry .... than i lost my self esteem ... my health ... and so on ... i only could think about them and how i can solve the problem between them and me .... i can't and don't want to delete them out of my life because there are not bad people, they only stuck in negative patterns .... i told them about my new lifestyl, positive energy, flow states but they think i'm crazy and to sensitive if i can handle this .... now i have anxiety and depression, feel like a junkie on turkey and feel worst then ever ....everything i build the last months in my work and personal life is falling apart .... we talked everything out and i thought i already forgave them, i love them but everytime i think of them i only feel pain, get angry and sad and i still don't have a real answer how i should live a productive, professional, healthy and positive lifestyle and have a relationship with them

It makes me think that the "trials of manhood" popular amongst more "primitive" societies was an instinctual seeking to engage in this flow state, which would have obvious benefits if the trials were successful. Which would also mean humanity has been chasing the flow state for far longer than the hundred or so years we've engaged in higher resolution breakdown of the state and it's benefits. And could very well be one of the major reasons for humanities intellectual and social ascension. Now I'm excited to see where the next step in the refinement of flow state induction techniques will lead humanity as a whole. So much yet to learn. I love it!

Thanks .....like the reference to limitless Thanks again

38:08 Great talk guys. I get in a flow state about half way through my running of back-woods state park trails.

Great progress... I notice in the forum there seemed some confusion to differentiate between being in flow state and the experience of adrenal high. The two states are different, but the newness of the scientific investigation may not have much clarity on this as the speakers describe. In my experience (and my approach to use flow has been through my Shaolin lineage and Spiritual knowledge combined with a lifetime application in first world that led me to even save my life at one point by resetting my immune system) is that the flow state comes as a "break through" a barrier—not unlike a plane breaks the sound barrier, but although that involves an emotional psychological "conscious" decision to surrender, to let go of the ultimate attachment that keeps us in the adrenal-cortisol state - i.e. high stress fight flight. In my case this surrender although conscious becomes a deep state where conscious awareness is lost - but also the breath to induce the flow state is not the same as going directly into theta and meditation. But yes the breath kick starts the pushing beyond that barrier and then the Ego surrenders and we lose ourselves in the totality of nothingness. Maybe we lose consciousness sometimes - I did when I nearly died but not before I put my body into the flow state - and that's how I survived. But I had practiced that for most of my life without having the label of science upon it—I later came to know the scientific term was flow state. But I used it in business—not just my recreation or personal and spiritual life. Many could not understand how I managed to sustain eighty hour week contracts and deliver into organisations the work of four people. This actually became a problem later as no future recruiters would believe my roles and work ethic!

I found you through Big Think, I was a 100m sprinter. A very good one at my time, flow clicked right away when I heard it explained. Exploit your flow zone and you will be an amazing person.

Very valuable information, thank you

Great talk. Thank you!