The science of flow states

According to this article: "Flow occurs when a task's challenge is balanced with one's skill. In fact, both the task challenge and skill level have to be high."

I've experienced flow states when engaged in physical activities like sport and dance, as well as intellectual activities like writing. But it took a lot of work to get to a high skill level. There is a lot of rote learning of technique where flow is not evident. That repetition has to be ingrained in body and brain memory before we can free the focus on the moment and spontaneously respond to the situation at hand.

It would be nice if we could just chant 'go with the flow' and it just happened. But it doesn't work that way. Even with meditation it takes a lot of practice before we get 'in the zone.' But the reward is well worth the effort.