T'ai Chi/Qigong encourages 'Flow,' a mental state in which the person is fully immersed in what he or
she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement,
and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by psychologist Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi.
Components of flow
As Csikszentmihalyi sees it, there are
components of an experience of flow that can be specifically enumerated; he
presents eight:
1.
Clear goals (expectations and rules
are discernable).
2.
Concentrating and focusing, a high
degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in
the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).
3.
A loss of the feeling of
self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.
4.
Distorted sense of time - our
subjective experience of time is altered.
5.
Direct and
immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the
activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
6.
Balance between ability level and
challenge (the activity is not too easy or too difficult).
7.
A sense of
personal control over the situation or activity.
8.
The activity is intrinsically
rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
