Think Of Mindfulness As A More Accessible Cousin Of Flow

WRITTEN BY HIRA KHAN

When you are meditating, and really present in the moment, do you think you are being mindful or in a flow state? The answer is, it depends. Possibly neither. Whichever you think it is, both mindfulness and flow are about being intensely present which meditation depends upon as well.

Photo by Pawel Czerwinski

However, mindfulness demands that you be intensely aware of both yourself and the world around you without judgment. Mindfulness is often connected to feelings of connection, gratitude and appreciation. 

In contrast, during flow you often experience the opposite: an intense focus on one activity can leads you to forget yourself, time and the world outside of that one thing you are concentrating on. Flow is most often connected to feelings of bliss, intensity and concentration.

William James famously used the metaphor of ‘stream of consciousness’ in 1890 to describe awareness. Building on that idea, flow researchers described the difference between the two as, “mindfulness seems to entail standing on the bank of the stream without falling in; in contrast, flow entails jumping into the stream and tackling a challenging task or problem.”

Why then has mindfulness been called the more “accessible cousin of flow,” what does that mean exactly? It means that mindfulness is easier to begin with. Many more people are able to practice mindfulness quickly. 

It is a fairly simple idea that most can learn to do with only a short amount of practice. What is challenging about mindfulness is learning to do it continuously and intentionally throughout your everyday life rather than only in short spurts.

Flow tends to be more difficult to learn. In fact, you usually need very high levels of experience in the subject you are focussing on to really move fully into a flow state. However, once you are in flow, it is usually much easier and more pleasurable to remain in than mindfulness.

Is flow the same as meditation?

Flow and meditation have similarities but they are not the same. It is important to note as well that there are many different types of meditation. 

Open awareness meditation, when you just sit and  try to distance yourself from whichever thoughts appear in your mind and observe them coming and going, aims to be an observer of the Self. 

The point of that type of meditation is awareness and to never lose or forget yourself in an activity like you do when in flow. It is closer to mindfulness.

Concentration meditations, like those where you focus on something like your breath or perhaps holding a yoga pose or repeating a mantra, are closer to flow states in that repeated, in-depth, long-held concentration can lead to states of intense bliss and high performance. 

The difference between flow and meditation is that in flow there is decreased personal self-awareness and with concentration meditation you often become hyper self-aware.

Can mindfulness and flow happen at the same time?

Although the two states seem related, research based on playing Tetris has demonstrated that the two actually are not compatible at the exact same time. 

Essentially, one cancels out - or forces out - the other. You are either self-aware or intensely focussed and lost in your activity. The researchers finally concluded that perhaps developing both could be complimentary though.

Those researchers suggested that people who are able to access both states could potentially start off a task being mindful and self-reflective, then go into flow states in order to become a high performer and achieve whatever was necessary. Next they could then revert back to mindfulness again once the task was complete in order to assess it and consciously reflect afterwards. 

What is mindfulness-in-flow or mindflow?

There is a new term that you may see being used sometimes that is increasingly being used called mindfulness-in-flow or mindflow . It refers to a middle ground between the two states where you are highly absorbed in an activity but still highly aware. 

What is important in mindflow is that you are engaged but that the activity is not too challenging or engrossing. If it was, then it would become a flow state. Examples of mindflow are: walking/strolling, meditation, gardening and calligraphy. 

Why mindfulness and flow are different but complementary

Like researchers, many artists, athletes, meditators and others who have experienced both flow and mindfulness describe the two as being different but complementary.

Most agree that mindfulness is more accessible and easier to practice as a beginner especially. However, flow often arrives as your concentration and experience deepens thus increasing your pleasure and performance. For this reason, they found, one leads to the other and that is why mindfulness is called the more accessible cousin of flow. ◼︎