No matter what you do, we all experience those moments when we just feel our efforts are pure. No over-thinking, just happening. That sense of being in control with seemingly autopilot authority is most associated with athletics: The quarterback making all the reads and delivering the ball on target and on time; the pitcher keeping hitters off-balance with an array of pitches perfectly sequenced; or the goaltender making every save look easy no matter the difficulty or situation.<\/p>\n
What do you call those moments? That feeling? From an athlete\u2019s standpoint it\u2019s often referred to as \u201cbeing in the zone\u201d. Most people still identify with that reference. But when Oscar Dansk stopped by the Scripps pre-game show set at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday during Welcome to Impossible Knight to honor and acknowledge members of the inaugural Golden Knights team, he used the term \u201cFlow State\u201d. Daren Millard and I hesitated, feeling we knew Dansk\u2019s meaning, but not being certain.<\/p>\n
A quick search reveals that a Flow State is, \u201cA mental state of complete absorption, intense focus, and energized enjoyment where you become fully immersed in what you are doing.\u201d Often described as, \u201cBeing in the zone\u201d.<\/p>\n
Flow State is a concept introduced by psychologist Mihaly Csikscentmihalyi. Key characteristics include:<\/p>\n
Action-awareness merging
\nLoss of self-consciousness
\nAltered time perception
\nIntrinsic reward<\/p>\n
The brain in flow involves Transient Hypofrontality \u2013 a temporary reduction in activity in the prefrontal cortex \u2013 the part of the brain responsible for over-thinking, worrying and self judgement. At the same time, your brain releases a surge of performance-enhancing neurochemicals like dopamine and norepinephrine.<\/p>\n
So, that\u2019s a lot. And Millard and I were not in the zone with that reply. But Dansk was in a Flow State that night on October 27, 2017 at\u00a0T-Mobile Arena. He stopped all 25 shots on goal in blanking the Colorado Avalanche 7-0. The rookie netminder recorded the shutout in just his third NHL start and gave the Golden Knights their first clean sheet in franchise history.<\/p>\n
I find it fascinating from a technology\/training\/performance standpoint. The sports science aspect of athletics has evolved and grown as the business has grown \u2013 for players and owners alike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No matter what you do, we all experience those moments when we just feel our efforts are pure.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5129],"tags":[149,5317,5,4,74,39,5316],"class_list":["post-686155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vegas-golden-knights","tag-golden-knights","tag-goldenknights","tag-hockey","tag-nhl","tag-vegas","tag-vegas-golden-knights","tag-vegasgoldenknights"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117436125219896391","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}