In a flow state magic happens. But what exactly is it? And how do we get there?
With the help of a little jazz improvisation, a new neuroimaging study from Drexel University’s Creativity Research Lab discovered it is the combination of ‘expertise and letting go’ that puts us ‘in the zone’.
Using electroencephalograms (EEGs) to measure areas of the brain indicating high-flow states, the researchers recorded 32 guitar players of varying ability levels, and found that musicians with more experience were able to get into a flow state, and more intensely, than those with less experience.
On the practical implications of flow being this equation of ‘expertise + letting go’, John Kounios, PhD, and Creativity Research Lab director, said: “Productive flow states can be attained by practice to build up expertise in a particular creative outlet coupled with training to withdraw conscious control when enough expertise has been achieved. This can be the basis for new techniques for instructing people to produce creative ideas.”
Kounios added: “If you want to be able to stream ideas fluently, then keep working on those musical scales, physics problems or whatever else you want to do creatively—computer coding, fiction writing—you name it. But then, try letting go. As jazz great Charlie Parker said, ‘You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.”
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