Flow Dan Palac MA Provisional LCP Thorpe s focus in Chap 9 I hope to reveal the sensuous snowboarding experience as nothing but the body the principal means whereby the body mingles with the world and with itself overflows its borders Thorpe quoting Serres p 222 Ethnography that illuminates epiphenomena to help bring snowboarding experience closer to our skin Thorpe p 221 Every domain of sensory experience is also an arena for structuring social roles and interactions Thorpe is interested to explore the sensual relations of social life within various geographies Thorpe p 220 Take into account the somatic of the body multisensual as many senses as possible in research metasense Unlike freestyle riding which is heavily visual big mountain riding relies on feeling being in the moment and experiencing everything that is around you the snow the mountain the trees the speed the wind the airtime Holt 2005 p 91 Affect affective Affect Feelings emotions sensations experiences meanings Expressions such as music or snowboarding can transmit affect Ethnographic work on affective experiences of snowboarding Take into account the somatic of the body multisensual as many senses as possible in research Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explored why increases in material well being don t increase happiness Why do people societies persevere without any reward or fame What is it about civilizations that give people ecstasy new realities Csikszentmihalyi s answer is related to our study of affect and the sensual in snowboarding culture Csikszentmihalyi coined the term flow because many used this word when they spoke of effortless spontaneous state of ecstasy merging with an activity that is seemingly difficult work yet loving it From Csikszentmihalyi Flow thesis People do not toil at something because of a reward They toil because they like the feeling of intensity and exhilaration from involvement in specific activities Flow usually happens not during relaxing moments of leisure or entertainment but rather when we are actively involved in a difficult enterprise in a task that stretches our mental and or physical abilities FLOW a state of mind that captures the very essence of happiness a process of centering one s involvement in a given reality has a motivational power a source of personal and social energy Exists in individuals and societies e g subculture of snowboarding FLOW in the flow state you feel exhilarated satisfied creative and concentrated no matter what task is at hand you are so absorbed in an activity that nothing else matters but the moment involves a sense of discovery and creativity pushes person society to higher levels of performance person society may feel they are transported to new reality this new reality may be experienced in slow motion sense of time altered Csikszentmihalyi believes that individuals and large communities may restructure activities or consciousness to make flow possible to improve the quality of experience In part he argues that flow is enhanced when the self is transformed by complex situations activities experiences when the self is pushed to higher levels of performance fantastic states of consciousness are achieved Immersion in a field high level of expertise enhances flow Challenge How to put flow into everyday life Csikszentmihalyi Csikszentmihalyi s TED Technology Entertainment and Design talk http www ted com talks mihaly csikszentmihalyi on flow DISCUSSION In what microflow activity did you engage In what situation was the microflow activity used What were the qualities of this situation that make it a non flow experience for you How did you make the microflow activity provide challenge for you while you were engaged in it How could you make it provide even more challenge in the future as you become more skilled at the microflow activity How do you create flow in situations in which you are skilled