I grew up in surfing. I am most grateful for the lessons I got there. There were three aspects of great surfers that were always present. Speed, power and flow.
Out of those three, the last is a actually the first in terms of performance. Flow governs speed and power.
No flow, no go!
Working in endurance sport, I have seen this carry over. I have witnessed great athletes missing the mark because of a lack of flow.
We kneel at the altar of speed and power. That is the metric we measure, the yardstick that we use to gauge our progress.
Here’s the thing, in all sport, regardless of whether it is 10 seconds, 10 hours or 10 days, flow is the critical component.
If the process is not embodied physically and psychologically, you cannot know flow. I can tell you without the shadow of a doubt, many athletes exhaust themselves because they believe they have to head butt the process. It’s a matter of energy in, energy out.
There is an energy inside you that flows. If you don’t know it, here’s an opportunity for you. This energy is smooth, soft, subtle, even relaxing as it moves through your body.
It’s the energy that I witnessed great surfers employing to relax and flow through incredibly intense situations. It is the pivotal point where speed and power are channeled into flow.
You could think of flow like a power inverter. It turns DC current into AC, which you can use to power any appliance. In this case, the appliance is you!
Without the inverter, your power is raw, undirected and wasted. I’ve seen many athletes running DC current. They end up burnt out, all potential and no softness. All Yang and no Yin.
I spend a lot of time talking about relaxing into pain and tension. This is the flow aspect of speed and power. I am constantly referencing it because athletes flame out in the absence of it. I’ll go a step further and say unless you find flow in your life you will flame out.
Stop fighting with the process, stop fighting with your life.
Allow the god damn power. You don’t need to throttle yourself. Relax, all the effort is wearing you out.
I know you know what I’m talking about.
Force does not equate to output. For every action, there is a reaction.
Flow is the energetic stamp that directs the power in the process of both sport and life. This is not an opinion, I know this for sure!
Flow is trust and trust is flow. Let go, dude, relax into it and trust in your own natural power. It already flows through that body and mind.
You don’t know it because you don’t soften and allow yourself to feel it. You won’t have flow if you can’t allow the process and your life to bring you what it’s going to bring you anyway, regardless of your thoughts about it.
What does resistance serve?
Let it all go and fall into natural trust and you will know the nature of speed, power and flow.
Gilesy