Flow & Flow Arts

Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.

Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, in the zone, or in the groove.

Flow Arts is a fitness meditation practice that puts bodies in balance and motion. Flow Arts blends meditation, play, exercise and dance into a fun and healthful activity that moves the body, stills the mind and uplifts the spirit. It is movement with an external focus aimed at putting you “in the zone” or, as we like to say, in the Flow. The techniques are simple, but the adaptations are infinite, allowing for wild variations in personal style and expression, as well as the opportunity to make & share novel discoveries. The movement can be aerobic, calming, energizing, challenging, showy or anything else. Flow Arts improves dexterity, focus, coordination, body awareness, spatial skills and promotes brain plasticity.

Flow Arts is like Yoga, Tai Chi, Dance and Juggling all rolled into Fun! We have tried many different types of physical and energetic practices — Flow Arts is the most effective, most fun, most clarifying, most energizing, easiest to stick to system I have found. Students start learning tricks and forms on the very first day, and most progress quite rapidly. Learning new things rewards patience and triggers a dopamine boost. Flow Arts success is neurochemically habit forming! It is a fast growing wellness & lifestyle art form that is just about to break through into our collective cultural consciousness. One of West Cast Jugglings missions is to introduce Flow Arts to the world and to catalyze its integration into mainstream culture as an accepted and accessible vitality-increasing personal practice in the vein of Yoga, Tai Chi, meditation, Pilates, Tae Bo, etc. You get to be an early adopting trend setter.

In addition to body movement and spatial awareness, there are lessons to be learned from Flow Arts that will promote life harmony, improve your happiness, and make smoother all your interactions with people. Practicing Flow Arts teaches patience, confidence, learning to learn, embracing novelty and uncertainty, letting things Flow and take their own course instead of trying to jam and force them, calmly and appropriately handling situations in which you would otherwise panic, and helps you overcome fear. Take a moment and really imagine what your life would be like if you made marked improvement in those areas.

Skill Toys /Flow Arts are generic terms for the specific prop used for dexterity play or in an object manipulation routine or performance.

A skill toy can be any static or inanimate object with which person dances, manipulates, spins, tosses, or simply plays. Most skill toys are played alone.

Common examples of skill toys/flow arts include:

• yo-yos
• contact spheres
• kendamas
• balls
• poi
• meteor
• hoops
• clubs
• staves
• devil sticks
• swords

Information courtesy of www.flowtemple.org.