The Neuroanatomy of Flow
As I said in the last segment, it turns out that in a “high theta/low alpha” state, we put away conscious thought, or that “inner voice” that can often stop you from moving forward with negative self-talk or doubt. Why exactly does this happen?
Well, it seems that it’s because the part of the brain that is responsible for “that voice inside your head” temporarily becomes significantly less active. The part of the brain responsible for this “voice” is the frontal lobe, and the temporary drop in activity of the frontal lobe is called “Transient hypofrontality”. This is one of main ingredients of Flow and is greatly responsible for feelings of Selflessness, Timelessness, Effortlessness and Richness. Transient Hypofrontality contributes to runners high, to high performance under stressful conditions, to the feeling of “oneness” that comes to Tibetan monks from meditation, and much more (TROS).
The frontal lobes are responsible for judgement, insight, sense of self, emotions and that inner-self talk. Thus, when the frontal lobes become less active, you feel less like “you” (selflessness) and less responsible for the actions that are taking place (effortlessness). Additionally, sense of time is thought to be calculated through the communication between various brain areas, one of these brain areas being your frontal lobes. With the frontal lobes knocked out of commission, we experience a sense of timelessness as well. Finally, since there is less activity happening in the frontal lobes, there is also less energy being consumed by the frontal lobes, where does this energy go? To other areas of the brain responsible for completing whatever the task is at hand. With more energy, your brain is able to take in and manage more sensory information, thus you experience that sense of information richness.
It’s clear that if one would like to get into the Flow state more often, then one should try their best to be in a high theta/low alpha state and tap into transient hypofrontality more often. How we can do this you ask?! Not so fast! You will have to learn a bit about the neurochemistry of Flow first ?
