As part of the inaugural, 2020 NeuroSomatic Flow Teacher Training, students were required to submit a scholarly paper & video presentations based on their learnings from the course.

Some of those submittals are featured below . . . .

Somatics, Flow and Creativity by Leah Emmott

Sacred Scholarship Paper & Presentation Video

NaiAsa Institute NeuroSomatic™ Flow Teacher Training - Sept 2020

Introduction

When I first discovered poi, I found myself in it for hours, drilling new moves, dancing to music and getting lost in the flow. As the movements became more familiar in my body, the practice began to take on a more meditative quality. For example, I would get sucked into a 3 beat weave pattern for ten minutes and feel a complete sense of ease in my mind that could never attain during traditional sitting meditation. Then something interesting started to happen: I would have bursts of inspiration come through while flowing. I’d stop quickly to sit down at my computer and pump out some words, notes, ideas and whatever else would be coming through. Then I'd return back to the flow, only to have to stop again and jot down a few more notes. On good days, my flow session would turn into a full-blown writing session. I was beginning to wonder if there was a correlation between my flow practice and the creativity that was pouring out from me. Beyond that, I was starting to notice another peculiar phenomenon: my entire life was flowing better. I’d notice more synchronicities and happy coincidences happening, and things started to line up perfectly for no apparent reason. It was as if I was finally beginning to understand what it meant to be co-creating my reality with the universe. I felt my sense of spirituality start to awaken as I became more grounded in nature’s flow.

As these attunements started to become more consistent, an obvious question arose: is this flow practice priming my brain for creativity? Furthermore, I wondered if this creative energyI was cultivating was helping me tap into broader powers of manifestation. When I began this Neurosomatic Flow course, I sought to understand more about how flow states affected the brain because my own felt experience seemed to be turning into a case study. I could feel the circuitry in my brain up-levelling each time I came back to the practice. Was it possible for flow arts be used as a hack to prime ourselves to tap into our creativity more effectively and effortlessly? This research paper seeks to understand that question by looking at the intersection between creativity, somatics and flow. We will explore existing research and current neuroscience to uncover what we currently know about how these pieces weave together. 

Flow States and Creativity

The neuroscience of creativity is still quite a nuanced field with many different areas of study. This is mostly because there are so many facets to creativity, ranging from simple problem solving to full-on improvised artistic expression. What we do know is that many parts of the brain are at play and that creativity activates several neurological systems, including the executive attention network, the default network and the salience network. The ability to switch between networks is a vital aspect of creativity.

Researchers have discovered that creativity is linked to the ability to silence the inner critic. A study (Limb, 2008) investigated the neural correlates of jazz improvisation in pianists’ brains. They found a de-activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal and lateral orbital regions, which is the part of the brain responsible for self-monitoring and conscious control of actions. This speaks to the Transient Hypofrontality Hypothesis, which shows that flow states help deactivate parts of the brain that may inhibit us from trying new things. They also found that there was an activation of the medial prefrontal (frontal polar) cortex, which is thought to be involved in generating autobiographical narratives and the creation of self. This touches on the story-telling aspect of creation, which suggests that human creativity is ultimately a process of understanding and reflecting on one’s own personal journey through life and making meaning of it. 

When looking at the link between flow states and creativity, researchers like Steven Kotler have found that brain waves in flow states move from the busier beta wave of normal waking consciousness to the slower border between alpha and theta waves. Alpha states are akin to daydreaming modes and theta states are characteristic of the deep trance-like states usually felt right before falling asleep. This ability to be able to slip between thoughts quickly allows for more novel combinations of ideas to merge together, thus enhancing creativity. 

Furthermore, research done at Harvard by Teresa Amabile (2005) found that individuals see a spike in creativity for a number of days after experiencing an affective state similar to that experienced during flow. Amabile also found that creative insights were consistently associated with flow states. This points to a residual effect that flow states may have on keeping people in a creative zone over longer periods of time. 

On the subject of neurochemistry, Kotler explains that: “Large quantities of norepinephrine, dopamine, endorphins, anandamide, and serotonin flood our system. All are pleasure-inducing, performance-enhancing chemicals with considerable impacts on creativity. Both norepinephrine and dopamine amp up focus, boosting imaginative possibilities by helping us gather more information. They also lower signal-to-noise ratios, increasing pattern recognition or our ability to link ideas together in new ways. Anandamide, meanwhile, increases lateral thinking—meaning it expands the size of the database searched by the pattern recognition system.” Perhaps there is a link between the Anandamaya kosha (bliss body) and the secretion of these neurochemicals. 

There also appears to be a link between meditation and creativity. Research done on Tibetan Buddhists in the 1990’s found that longtime contemplative practice can produce brain waves in the gamma range which primarily occur during the “binding” phase of the creative process, when novel ideas are generated for the first time (Kounios, 2014). This suggests that meditation may amplify the initial stages of creative problem solving. As flow arts can be considered to be a form of active meditation, this opens up new possibilities for further inquiry. 

Embodiment and Creativity

t's not uncommon for people to report bursts of inspiration while running, biking, swimming and driving, so why not flow arts? The hypothesis seemed simple enough to explore, but when I started to dig into the existing research, I was surprised to find the field of ‘embodied creativity’ to still be relatively new. In looking at the relationship of somatic awareness to creative process, Hass (1996) conducted a study on women aged 20-51 who were prompted to do a daily practice of exercises designed to increase conscious awareness of sensations in their bodies. These included 

conscious breathing, walking meditations, Authentic Movement, Body-Mind Centering, Feldenkrais, Awareness Through Movement, yoga and theatre improvisational games. She found that participants reported heightened states of awareness, self-knowledge, power, energy and receptivity. She concluded that somatic awareness seems to be a means of enhancing and fostering creativity.

Cognitive embodiment research seeks to understand how the body contributes to cognitive processes. It is based on the premise that the brain and body evolved together to understand and interact with the world. A number of studies have looked at how we essentially think with our bodies. In looking at creative cognition in dance choreography, Kirsh (2011) found that dancers used their bodies as active tools for physical sketching in creating new concepts and elements.

The act of walking while working on creative problems has shown to be effective in helping people come up with new insights. This is an ancient practice that goes back to the days of Aristotle and his propensity to walk while philosophizing. Leung et al (2012) found participants who engaged in creativity tasks while free-walking outside of a 5’x5’ box had better scores on both divergent (originality) and convergent thinking tasks than when sitting inside the box during tasks. They even found that virtual-reality (imagined) walking was also beneficial for stimulating ideational originality, fluency and flexibility. Participants whose avatars free-walked generated more original responses than those with avatars walking in rectangular patterns. This suggests that visualizing certain flow movement patterns may even be enough to prime the brain for creativity. 

The most relevant piece of research that supports the hypothesis that flow-arts style movements prime the brain for creativity is a study done by Slepian and Ambady (2012). They had participants trace two different drawings, one to elicit fluid arm movements (using curved lines in a stacked figure 8 pattern) to enact thinking fluidly and one to create zigzagged movements (using straight lines and angles) as a comparison (see Figure 1). Across 3 experiments, fluid arm movement led to enhanced creativity in 3 domains: creative generation, cognitive flexibility and remote associations. Elevated mood and motivation were also reported. Participants in the fluid condition showed improved fluency, originality, flexibility and better connected remotely associated concepts. This suggests that circular and non-linear patterns of movements can influence cognitive processing and enhance creative processing and the generation of new ideas. 

Conclusion 

Based on my preliminary research, there is a lot of supporting evidence that flow arts movements can prime the brain for creativity. If even simple movement patterns can have a positive effect on unlocking creativity, I would infer that more complex flow patterns could indeed stimulate parts of our brain that are responsible for novel ideation and artistic expression. When 6 combined with greater understanding of the mind-body somatic connection through physical movement, there seems to be a lot of promise in this new and emerging field of study. The next layer of curiosity would be to look at how these practices effect consciousness, self-actualization and spiritual wellbeing, thus forming a broader holistic view of how flow arts can be used both in therapeutic and personal development contexts.

Citations

Amabile et al, (2005). Affect and Creativity at Work. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2189/ asqu.2005.50.3.367 

Haas, Jeannine D, (1996). The relationship of somatic awareness to creative process: An experimental phenomenological study. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/ AAI9638966/ 

Kirsh, (2011). Creative Cognition in Choreography. https://philpapers.org/archive/DAVCCI.pdf 

Kotler, Steven, (2014). Flow States and Creativity: Can you train people to be more creative? https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/the-playing-field/201402/flow-states-and-creativity 

Kounios, (2014). The cognitive neuroscience of insight. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ 24405359/ 

Leung et al (2012). Embodied Metaphors and Creative “Acts”. https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/ soss_research/1077/ 

Limb & Braun, (2008). Neural Substrates of Spontaneous Musical Performance: An fMRI Study of Jazz Improvisation. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0001679 

Slepian & Ambady, (2012). Fluid Movement and Creativity. https://web.stanford.edu/group/ipc/ pubs/Slepian-Ambady_Fluid-Movement-and-Creativity_%20in-press_JEPG.pdf

presentation

Creating Community with Group Flow by Kiki Mason

Sacred Scholarship Paper & Video Presentation

Submitted by Kiki Mason

Dr. Jinju Dasalla 

NeuroSomatic™ Flow Teacher Training 

September 14, 2020

Creating Community with Group Flow

One of my missions in life is to create community. To offer a healing space for myself and for others to feel safe, accepted, seen and heard. A close friend, upon dis- cussing community building offered me this phrase, “to know and be known”. We all possess the desire to know and be known, by someone, by our peer group, by our community. Whether or not we have grown up in a close-knit family or community or have experienced life more on a solo path, there is a deep longing to “know and be known”, to be seen and heard and accepted just as we are.

I have had the pleasure of being a part of many types of groups and communities within my life. In my wanderings from my early twenties up until just a few years ago, I lived-in several different parts of the country and was always able to find a sense of community and connect with likeminded people. In exploring the concept of flow and the medicine of flow within this course and throughout my life, I have been privy to the medicine “group flow” as well. With our world in a pandemic where we are told we cannot gather in groups, we cannot safely hug or touch each other and we need to social distance in order to be responsible and safe, I feel it is essential for us as NeuroSomatic™ Flow teachers to be able to consciously and safely facilitate group connections and create safe space in order to offer the medicine of flow as a healing modality for our communities.

As we foster our own connection and relationship with how to use flow as a healing modality for individuals and groups, understanding “group flow” can be a useful path to study and then put into practice as we expand our teachings and our offerings to our local communities and the greater communities within the world. I propose the following: using NeuroSomatic™ Flow techniques within group settings has the potential to create stronger communities and more collaborative group experiences that lend itself well to a sense of belonging and a sense of overall connection, and offers potent medicine to those engaged in the group process. Understanding the components that make up group flow experience is beneficial to how we can co-create and facilitated healing within our families and community groups.

The man who coined the term “flow” while researching happiness, Mihaly Csikszentmihályi (1990) determined the following definition of flow: “the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it (Csikszentmihályi, 1990). Within his research findings, Csikszentmihályi (1990) came up with five conditions within activities that help flow to be more accessible. These are: 

1. clear task goals, 

2. intense concentration, 

3. a sense of control, 

4. a perceived balance of skills and challenge, and 

5. clear feedback.

Any of these conditions can rank higher in priority given the specific activity or task demands and can then be examined within a group experience. (Ghani and Deshpande, 1994). 

Taking the concepts and conditions of individual flow and how rewarding it can be to connect in with our own innate flow, when we enter into a social situation with others who are able to self-regulate and connect with their own flow state, we can experience social coherence aka group flow. According to HeartMath Institute’s research on the Science of the Heart: Exploring the Role of the Heart in Human Performance social coherence is seen as “a stable, harmonious alignment of relationships that allows for the efficient flow and utilization of energy and communication required for optimal collective cohesion and action.(Bradley 1987)

Diving into the concept of group flow and social coherence opened me up to the work of R. Keith Sawyer, Ph.D., a professor of psychology and education at Washing- ton University in St. Louis. He is considered one of the main experts researching creativity. In his book Group Genius, Sawyer discusses his ideas around group flow, the process and also the conditions that support group flow, which are in relation to the conditions outlined above in Csikszentmihályi’s original findings. Sawyer defines group flow as ““a unified flowing from one moment to the next, in which we feel in control of our actions, and in which there is little distinction between self and environment; be- tween stimulus and response; or between past, present, and future.” He stated 10 conditions that are essential for group flow. I will list them here: 

1. Common group goal or mission 

2. Close listening 

3. Keep it moving forward 

4. Complete concentration 

5. Being in control 

6. Blending Egos 

7. Equal Participation 

8. Familiarity 

9. Communication 

10. The Potential for failure

As it turns out, group flow can happen when the right balance and harmony is found within the group with the above conditions as guidelines. It is about creating the just- right amount of rules and structure to offer a safe container and providing enough space and trust for creativity and spontaneity to emerge. When we enter into a group cohesion experience with others, we open up to an entirely new awareness of who we are and what we are capable of and enter into a place of infinite possibilities. With deep listening, a common vision, clear communication and mitigating of egos, we can foster a sense of belonging within this space and feel a part of a bigger whole. This in turn opens us up to connection and collective spirit of oneness. Having others who are able to hold space, listen and offer support and encouragement is medicine for the soul. It opens us up to heart-centered connections that create deep trust and bonding among the group. Being witnessed and valued within a group experience is exponentially powerful and it taps into the desire “to know and be known”. 

In conclusion, as we, the inaugural class of NeuroSomatic™ Flow teachers, share the medicine of flow to our local community groups and thus spread the awareness of how flow can enhance lives, we will be a guiding light for collective cohesion within this new season of pandemic separation and division. The more we can come together and co-create with a common vision, we can help bring stability and harmony to our intimate circles and assist in fostering in a collective healing. With so much divisiveness in the world right now, let us entrain our hearts within our communities and be the leaders that can bring more connection and collaboration to any of the groups we belong to as well as the ones we have yet to create as leaders in the healing art of NeuroSomatic™ Flow. May our common vision be to spread the medicine of flow to the world, starting with ourselves and expanding out in infinite circles to connect the hearts and minds of all who are ready to experience fully embodied, present moment awareness living that is in flow with all of nature.

presentation video

References: 

Bradley, R.T., (1987). Charisma and Social Structure: A Study of Love and Power, Wholeness and 

Transformation. New York: Paragon House. 

Csikszentmihályi M (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York, NY: Harper 

Perennial. Ghani JA, Deshpande SP (1994). Task characteristics and the experience of optimal flow in hu- 

man-computer interaction. J. Psychol. 128(4):381-391. 

McCraty, Rollin. (2015). Science of the Heart: Exploring the Role of the Heart in Human Perfor- 

mance, Volume 2. ISBN 978-1-5136-0636-1 

Sawyer, R. Keith (2007) Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration. New York: Basic Books. 

Heart Coherence: Social and Global Implications by Leigh P. Nadel

September 11, 2020

Sacred Scholarship Paper and Video Presentation

2020 NeuroSomatic™ Flow Teacher Training Program

As knowledge and understanding of the human body advances, we have learned that there is more than one intelligent organ. Patients of heart transplants have been shown to inherit cellular memories from their donors, reporting changes in tastes, personalities, and even emotional memories. The heart is now considered a second brain, linking us to “a higher intelligence through an intuitive domain where spirit and humaneness merge” (Childre & Martin, 1999, p .xvii). Heart intelligence enables us to process information more intuitively and allows for feelings of love, compassion, and forgiveness, which often result in a state of peace and heightened awareness. When we are able to reach a state where the brain, heart, and emotions are in energetic alignment and cooperation, this is referred to as ​coherence​. Coherence is a harmonious state, where multiple systems act as one, and the individual is in a state of flow. “Practicing shifting to a more coherent state increases intuitive awareness and leads to shifts in perception and world views from which better informed and more intelligent decisions can be made” (McCraty, 2011, p. 91). Coherence has many benefits including reductions in stress, depression, and test anxiety, and improvements in immune function, overall well being, long-term memory, and cognitive function (McCarty, 2011, p. 94).

Coherence can be measured with heart rate variability (HRV) patterns or heart rhythms, which represent beat-to-beat changes in the heart rate. Positive emotional states such as appreciation and love produce a smooth HRV pattern, which correlates to cardiovascular efficiency, autonomic nervous system balance, and coherence. When one is angry or frustrated, the HRV pattern will be sporadic and jerky and result in incoherence, disharmony in the autonomic nervous system, wasted energy, and an overall negative effect on health. Interestingly, research has shown changes in HRV patterns are “independent of heart rate; that is, one can have a coherent or incoherent pattern at higher or lower heart rates” (McCraty, 2011, p. 88). This finding implies that coherence is possible with a range of activities, from sitting meditation to the physical movement mediation of flow arts. The HeartMath Institute has developed reliable and valid tools to tap into heart intelligence and facilitate coherence; these techniques are centered around bringing focus to the area of the heart and generating positive feelings such as appreciation or love.

Coherence can be achieved individually and in groups. An interesting study on collective coherence (Morris, 2010) examined whether a group of people trained in heart rate variability coherence (HRVC) can facilitate higher levels of HRVC in an untrained person in close proximity. A group of 15 school teachers and administrators were trained in HeartMath techniques over 8 weeks. During 10-minute trials, a group of 3 trained participants would facilitate HRVC of a non-trained receiver in close proximity. What they found was fascinating - there was no significant difference in HRVC levels between trained participants (senders) and untrained participants (receivers). As the heart’s electromagnetic field extends 8-10 feet beyond the body, it is very plausible that we are able to transmit heart rhythms to another person nearby, essentially entraining one heart with another. This study also revealed that receivers were able to achieve higher HRVC levels when the sender was someone they liked, indicating the importance of establishing a relationship of trust in preparation for this exercise. The authors found evidence of heart-to-heart synchronization across subjects, implying the possibility of heart-to-heart bio-communications. Considering these findings, the authors urge for regular practice of emotional empathy towards others.

A more recent study (Edwards, 2018) examined the efficacy of HeartMath for social coherence and work spirit. A group of 17 students and staff in an education unit completed an Ubuntu type HeartMath intervention, which included: social coherence instruction, HeartMath heart-focussed breathing, and group discussion of ways in which Ubuntu could promote social coherence. The African philosophy of ​ubuntu signifies “I am because we are”, that we are all connected in oneness, and what benefits another benefits ourselves. The results showed improvements post- intervention in social coherence, work spirit, and especially in psychophysiological coherence, where participants perceived enhanced skills in managing feelings and upgrading personal and therapeutic skills. This study was limited by a small sample size and the findings warrant further investigation but imply a benefit from pairing the philosophy of ubuntu with HeartMath principles. The author notes: “If this is directed towards Ubuntu in a coherent heartfelt way, as in awareness, dignity, respect, valuing of and focus on coherent communication, and beneficial human relationships, it seems reasonable to predict that these will probably continue to be associated with generally improved social consciousness and behaviour” (Edwards, 2018, p. 424).


Research has demonstrated the ability of social coherence as well as human sensitivity to electromagnetic and solar activity via HRV. In 2008 the HeartMath Institute launched the Global Coherence Initiative (GCI), using a global network of ultra-sensitive, magnetic field detectors (magnetometers) to measure fluctuations in the Earth’s fields. One of GCI’s hypotheses is that “the earth’s magnetic and geomagnetic fields created in the ionosphere in turn create a bidirectional feed- forward and feedback loops with the collective emotional energy of humanity” (McCarty, 2011, p. 98). “GCI was established to help facilitate the shift in global consciousness from instability and discord to balance, cooperation, and enduring peace. A primary goal of GCI is to test the hypothesis that large numbers of people when in a heart-coherent state and holding a shared intention can encode information on the earth’s energetic and geomagnetic fields” (McCraty et al., 2012, p. 64). One researcher (Edwards, 2019) performed a single case study to examine his own coherence in relation to a single coherence group, various magnetometers in different locations all over the world, as well as total global coherence. This study used two HeartMath tools- 1) Inner Balance trainer and 2) Global Coherence App over a period of 2 months with a total of 154 training sessions. The author found several significant correlations between his own coherence and some of the magnetometers, some positive and some negative. The author’s coherence and achievement scores were both significantly correlated with total global coherence (−0.206 *, 0.367 **, respectively), where achievement is the sum of individual coherence scores during the length of a session. These findings are perplexing yet intriguing and warrant additional research; this study was limited in it’s small sample size and design. Additional research may include a larger sample size longitudinally with more continuous HRV monitoring. Research on the Global Coherence Initiative is limited but promising.

As the research has shown, practicing personal coherence has significant benefits for self and others. Given current times, the exploration and development of social and global coherence is more important than ever. Though more research is needed, there are implications that we can transmit electromagnetic waves of heart coherence to others in close proximity and potentially on a larger scale. Humans have altered the Schumann resonance with mass global meditations and we know heart rhythms are sensitive to such planetary frequencies. Imagine the impact we can have exploring HeartMath inspired heart-focused meditations with ourselves and others. When teaching NeuroSomatic™ Flow arts classes, facilitating HeartMath techniques to develop coherence could have a great benefit in helping students to relax, reduce performance anxiety, cognitively absorb information, and form long-term memories. As teachers if we can develop a sense of trust and likeness with our students, these coherence exercises will be even more effective. By combining coherence techniques with NeuroSomatic™ Flow arts we can connect with heart intelligence and intuition, allow space for authentic soul expression, and create an opportunity for transformation into the state of flow.

PRESENTATION

References

Childre, D. & Martin, H. (1999).​ The HeartMath Solution. H​arperCollins Publishers. Edwards, S. D. (2019). Empirical and Heuristic Phenomenological Case Study of the

HeartMath Global Coherence Initiative. ​Int J Environ Res Public Health, 16(​ 7), 1245.

Edwards, S. D. (2018). Ubuntu HeartMath programme efficacy for social coherence and work spirit: Preliminary evidence. ​Journal of Psychology in Africa, 28(​ 5), 420-425.

McCraty, R. (2011). Coherence: bridging personal, social and global health. ​Act Nerv Super Rediviva, 53​(3), 85–102.

McCraty, R., Atkinson, M., Stolc, V., Alabdulgader, A., Vainoras, A., & Ragulskis, A. (2017). ​International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14​(7), 770.

McCraty, R., Deyhle, A., & Childre, D. (2012). The Global Coherence Initiative: Creating a Coherent Planetary Standing Wave. ​Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 1​(1), 64-77.

Morris, S. (2010). Achieving Collective Coherence: Group Effects on Heart Rate Variability Coherence and Heart Rhythm Synchronization. ​Alternative Therapies in Health Medicine, 16(​ 4), 62-72.