Thread by @KapilGuptaMD

THE TRUTH About "The Zone"

1) For years I wanted to know what the Zone or the "flow state" was.

2) I would buy books about the zone, but they all said the same thing: Time slows down, things become effortless, there is complete relaxation, etc.

3) This, I already knew

4) I wanted to know what the zone actually was. But, as is always the case, all they could give me was the "characteristics" of the zone

5) Its properties. Its benefits. Its wow factor.

6) But What. Is. It! (Yes, I have read FLOW, and it doesn't answer the question)

7) Even today, if you buy every book, read every scientific paper, speak to any sports psychologist, watch any youtube video, ask any of the world-leading scientists, what will you get?

8) I will tell you. But you need not take my word for it. Have a look for yourself

9) You will get talk about: Functional MRI's, what part of the brain lights up when one is in the zone, alpha waves, beta waves, theta waves, "transient hypo-frontality," time slowing down, time speeding up, EEG data, charts of skill vs engagement . . .

10) Who does this help?

11) It is important to understand something about humans: When they don't know something, they retreat into complexity

12) Science has indeed made many advances in human civilization

13) But it is also a luxurious hiding place

14) Let me ask you something: If you are joyful, do you give a damn what part of your brain lights up?

15) If you are at your peak, do you give two cents what brain waves are running through your cortex?

16) If something is not practical, it is nonsense

17) Shall we speak The Truth?

18) The Zone has nothing to do with a calm mind.

19) The brain waves are irrelevant. And the reason they are irrelevant is because they are an effect, rather than a cause

20) What is THE TRUTH about The Zone?

21) This is what I have discovered through my own experimentation. The Zone is not a state in which the mind is calm.

22) The Zone is a state in which the mind has disappeared.

23) This has profound consequences. Because if one believes that the zone is a state in which the mind is calm, he will try to calm the mind. And he will fail.

24) But if he understands that the zone is a state of No-Mind, he will take an entirely different approach

25) They will also tell you that one cannot stay in the zone for long

26) This conclusion is the result of believing that the zone is a state in which the mind is calm. For a calm mind will eventually become uncalm

27) But The Truth is, that one can live a lifetime in No-Mind

28) And there is indeed a way to get into The Zone on demand

29) And it has nothing to do with "diet and exercise," meditation, mindfulness, and so forth

30) If it did, then most athletes, businessmen, and artists would be in the zone all the time

31) But even world class athletes get into the zone less than 5% percent of their entire career. Do they not "diet and exercise" and even "meditate?"

32) So please stop the silliness

33) Stop the lies

34) Stop hiding behind scientific jargon and functional MRI's

35) The world is not ready for The Truth

36) But a few rare individuals are

37) And these are the individuals who have a chance to discover and experience the full glory of their human powers.

Namaste.