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Before I was able to walk normally again after the race, IвЂ™d already begun scheming about how to get my next fix-Вtime for a surf trip.Concentrating on a task, one aspect of flow The pursuit of flow is nearly as gratifying as the feeling itself. I hobbled to the finish line.Дoes that mean my search is over? Far from it. I was at flowвЂ™s polar opposite: the pain cave. Somewhere around mile 24, I came abruptly back to earth with the biggest physical and mental explosion IвЂ™ve ever experienced in five years of racing. At the race, I went out faster than I should have. One of the problems with flow states is that staying in them can be as difficult as achieving them in the first place. I was training for the race in Marin the entire time I took the program.

The next step was to perform those trigger activities more often.

Other people were set off by painting or jamming on the sax. According to the questionnaire I filled out, mine are surfing and running in the mountains. Early on in the course, we were tasked with figuring out what those were. The neurochemicals increase attention, speed up heart rate and respiration, ease pain, and inhibit our ability to feel fear.Д«ut every person has different triggers. In addition, that state produces dopamine, norepinephrine, endorphins, serotonin, and anandamide in your brain. Which might be why things feel so effortless. While in flow, parts of our prefrontal cortex, the section of the brain that deals with most of our higher cognitive function, all but shut down. The science on flow, while ongoing, is kind of murky. The delicious cocktail of stimulants was designed to use hedonic engineering (their phrase) to get me deeply embodied. Flow, the thinking goes, is a product of deep embodiment, high consequence, and a rich environment. To be honest, I didnвЂ™t need a reason to do that, but Kotler and Wheal gave me one anyway.

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Put it on full screen and turn it up to 11, they said. Kotler and his cohost, Jamie Wheal, encouraged us to down two shots of espresso and two shots of vodka, then watch a video of surf and snowboard porn set to a dubstep soundtrack, with tones that stimulate alpha brainВВwaves (the ones that bring on relaxation). But my favorite assignment involved caffeine and alcohol. But the webisodes werenвЂ™t designed to induce the state there was homework for that.Д®ach week, my classmates and I were given a to-do list that included everyВthing from using smartphone apps to monitor our heart rate and sleeping patterns to going bungee jumping. Sitting in my office and watching the videos, only to have a coworker burst in and say вЂњSorry, are you flowing?вЂќ is very un-flowy. The six-week program revolved around webisodes outlining the principles of flow and ways to hack into it. IвЂ™d long wondered if I could prolong the feeling, so I decided to try Flow Fundamentals, a course designed by Steven Kotler, author of the book The Rise of Superman, about how adventure athletes like Dean Potter and Laird Hamilton have used flow states to push the boundaries of whatвЂ™s possible.