Another Perspective

Jeff Finder aka Stickman sent me this. I thought it was interesting as there are certainly many similarities with Flow Training in VCKE.
The only point I am not totally convinced by is #7 - One of the more powerful aspects of learning this way, at least in my experience, was a feeling of lack of control. Events were happening at such a pace that there seemed there was no time for conscious thought. Sonny's skill was to keep the student right at the edge of their control, to work outside the intellectual mind at a deeper level, to teach the body first, and the mind later.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is the former head of
psychology at the University of Chicago.

  " According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow is completely
focused motivation. It's a single-minded immersion
and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing
emotions in the service of performing and learning.

   Csikszentmihalyi identified these 9 factors
that accompany the "Flow" experience:

   1- Clear goals (expectations and rules are
discernible and goals are attainable and align
appropriately with one's skill set and abilities).
Moreover, the challenge level and skill level should
both be high.

* SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) - JF

   2- Concentrating: 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; one's 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 neither too easy nor 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.

   9- People become absorbed in their activity, and
focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity
itself, action awareness merging."