Movement, focus and flow - how they accidentally came together in our autism program
A couple of weeks ago something really powerful happened totally by accident in one of our autism program sessions. I am very excited to write about it. Not because I think I know everything about what happened, but because I think it hints at some pretty exciting possibilities.
I was finishing up a session with an 8 year old boy Troy (for privacy reasons, not his real name) and we were taking it in turns to set movement challenges for each other. Most of our autism and youth program sessions end with a 'movement challenge'. Normally I set the challenge, but on this occasion we had spontaneously started setting challenges for each other. Troy picked a challenge that involved both of us working together and as soon as we started, it immediately put him into a state of deep, but relatively effortless, concentration. That is to say, it put him into flow.
The reason why this is powerful, and the reason why I'm so excited to write about it, is because the ability to focus is a really important life skill, but it's really hard to learn and to teach. So often our attempts to teach it end up going in the complete opposite direction to where they need to. I think that it might just be possible to draw bigger picture lessons about focus from this experience, as well as how to achieve it and how to teach it.
However that's not all. I believe that this experience is even more important in the context of our autism program because some of the children in the program have difficulty concentrating at times. Some of the children have ADHD. Some don't. But for many, concentration can be a challenge. And let's be honest there truth in that for many children without autism as well.
I see the possibility that if we can use movement to regularly elicit deep concentration, then we might just have a chance of using this movement related concentration as a guide to achieving concentration in other aspects of these kid's lives. We might just be able to give them a little helping hand towards easier concentration. It's a big if, but it's so important that I'm excited to explore it.
Oh, and there's one other thing that you should know before we dive in. In the past two weeks I've shared this same challenge with four other children in our autism program and for three of those children it delivered a very similar level of focus as it did for Troy (sometimes even more so). And in the case of the one remaining child they did manage to focus on the task although not quite as deeply (but I think that I know why).
Ok, let's dig in deeper.
What is flow and what does it have to do with concentration
A few paragraphs ago I described this deep, but relatively effortless concentration and then called it flow. Flow can be described as...
““the mental state in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by the complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting transformation in one’s sense of time.””
But you might know flow better by some of these other names:
The Zone - You've probably heard people say that they were 'in the zone'. It's just another way of saying they were in flow.
Runner's High - Runner's high is a "a feeling of euphoria that is experienced by some individuals engaged in strenuous running and that is held to be associated with a release of endorphins by the brain." - Mirrian Webster. It is considered to be a low grade flow state (i.e. it doesn't have all the characteristics of some flow states but it is fundamentally the same process) and can be found in any physical activity with sufficient exertion
What's important about flow is that it is considered to be an optimal state of human performance. You do things best in flow.
If you've ever been writing a report at work and lost track of time only to emerge with pages of well written report, that was flow.
If you've ever been learning a piece of music and suddenly had it 'click' such that you're able to play it in its entirety and really well, then that was flow.
If you've ever got carried away dancing and forgotten where you were, that was flow.
According to author Steven Kotler, who has researched and written a lot on the topic, flow is characterised by the following 10 traits, but it's number 7 that is most relevant to this discussion of concentration and focus. Flow delivers complete concentration, right here and right now.
Action and Awareness Merge. The doer and the doing become one. From the perspective of consciousness, we become the action. In other words, actions feel automatic and require little or no additional resources.
Selflessness. Our sense of self disappears. Our sense of self-consciousness as well. The inner critic is silenced.
Timelessness. We experience an altered perception of time. Past and future disappear and we are plunged into an eternal present, a deep now.
Effortlessness. Our sense of struggle and strife vanishes. The experience becomes intrinsically-rewarding or—in technical parlance—“autotelic.”
Paradox of Control. We have a powerful sense of control over the situation. We are captain of our own ship; master of this small slice of destiny.
Intrinsic Motivation. The experience is intrinsically motivating. We do it for love not money. We do it because the activity itself is so incredibly enthralling that it’s its own reward.
Intense Concentration. More specifically, intense concentration on a limited field of information. Total focus on the right here, right now. Complete absorption in the present moment.
Challenge/Skills Balance. The challenge of the task at hand slightly exceeds our skill set so we have to push ourselves outside our comfort zone. But not too far outside. We have to stretch, not snap.
Clear Goals. These are not big goals (like winning the Olympics in downhill skiing), rather they are much smaller chunks (like getting out of the starting gate fast). What’s critical is we know what we’re doing now and we know what we’re doing next so attention can stay focused in the present.
Immediate Feedback. The gap between cause and effect is tiny—so we can always course-correct mid-flight.
Am I sure the kids were in flow and not just concentrating well?
The honest answer is no. We can't be sure, but it seems likely because from my observation the children ticked more than just the 'concentration' box on that list of ten characteristics of flow. They also ticked:
# 1 Actions and Awareness Merge - I can't be sure, but my observation was that they were mentally right there in the challenge and nowhere else.
# 4 Effortlessness. While the whole task wasn't effortless, I saw extended moments where each of the children suddenly made the task look very easy.
# 5 Paradox of Control. They all ultimately had control over how well they did at the challenge and therefore were masters of their own destiny.
# 8 Challenge/Skills Balance. The task allowed the child to set the level of difficulty. Based on how they had to work at it I could see that they hadn't set it too easy, but based on their performance I could see that it wasn't too hard. They must have got the challenge/ skill balance right.
# 9 Clear Goals. The goals were simple. Move a certain distance. Move further. Get the whole way round.
# 10 Immediate Feedback. Feedback was immediate. Make a mistake and they had to start again. Get things right and they could continue.
How would we use this to teach children how to find concentration?
To understand how we could use movement challenges like this one to teach children how to find concentration, we need to know a little bit more about where flow (and hence optimal concentration) arise from.
I mentioned earlier that often we make mistakes when trying to encourage and teach concentration. You've probably all heard a teacher or a parent (or a friend, relative, whatever) tell a child to "CONCENTRATE" as if concentration is something that we can force ourselves into. It isn't, at least not in the long term, and not for optimal performance. You know from personal experience that this is true. You can probably force yourself to concentrate on something for a minute or two, maybe even half an hour, but the effort required eventually leads to loss of concentration and profound exhaustion. The flow based path to concentration is very different.
A lot is now known about how flow states arise. One of the things that is known is that flow arises in cycles. Typically this cycle is described in four stages.
Before we go there, let's finally describe exactly what this movement challenge that Troy invented is.
Put simply, we had a 2.4m long and 10cm wide wooden beam. One end sat on the ground. I lifted the other off the ground to hip height. Troy walked up the beam to roughly the middle (just back a little for those keeping COVID-19 social distancing measures in mind). He balanced there and I began stepping sideways, walking my end of the beam around in a circle. The challenge was for us both to stay collectively in control and to try and walk the complete circle without Troy falling off. And it drove in him a deep focus.
Ok, back to those four stages of flow (image from C Wilson Meloncelli).
The first stage is struggle. Imagine Troy stepping onto the beam. It wobbles in my hand. He fights to stay balanced. I then start stepping sideways. He works hard not to lose balance as the beam moves underneath him. That's the struggle phase.
The second phase of the flow cycle is release. The struggle phase builds up tension, but to enter flow, where effort (and concentration) are easy, that tension must be released. We'll come back to this.
After the release comes flow. Optimum performance and, for our discussion, great concentration.
Finally comes recovery. Troy jumps off (or loses his balance) and we take a moment to celebrate how far we got and to recovery before giving the challenge another go.
What I think is most important to consider here is the 'release' phase (that's phase 2). Consider how the concept of 'release' to enter concentration is different to what you've seen before when someone tells a child to 'concentrate'. Telling a child to 'concentrate' doesn't release pressure, it adds it. Whenever we tell a child to 'concentrate' we take them further and further away from the effortless concentration that we actually want, because we prevent them from releasing themselves into it.
And that makes sense, because have you ever met a child that can't concentrate? Of course not. All children can all concentrate on the things that they enjoy. That is, all children can concrentate on the things that they can relax into. And heck, if you're honest with yourself, it's probably the same for you too.
What I'm hypothesising is this. To concentrate on a difficult task we need to relax into it after a period of struggle. Children can already relax into the things that they enjoy, but movement presents an opportunity to help to teach them to relax into something that's new and challenging. If we can regularly put children into flow with movement challenges, then we can start to draw their attention to the four stages of flow. We can start to encourage them to work hard to begin with, but also to try and relax into the challenge. Importantly, because they will have experienced the state regularly, they will have a reference point from which to understand what we are talking about. If I currently tell a child to work hard then relax they won't get what I mean, but if I can put them in that state and then draw their attention to it, we'll have a shared perspective to work on it more later on.
Based on that, the important question is, how do we put children into flow regularly with movement challenges. And there I currently have a slight problem.
We probably need multiple movement challenges
I'm not certain, but I have a gut feeling that while the movement challenge described above put all these children into flow the first time around, I don't think it will do it continually. That is, I think the challenge described will become less effective. Think about how much you loved doing something the first time, but then over time the sensation faded. To understand why this happens, we need to understand exactly why this challenge seems to be such a potent flow trigger.
Earlier on I listed 10 traits of flow that researchers have identified. That's not the only thing they know about flow. They have also identified a number of flow triggers; things that make you more likely to enter flow. As it happens, our little movement challenge ticks a lot of them.
There are both individual and group flow triggers. Let's take a look at them, and whether or not our challenge likely applied to each.
This list, like the last one, comes from author Steven Kotler.
Individual flow triggers:
Complete Concentration in the Present Moment - Yes, Troy's balance challenge is sufficiently difficult to only be possible if both people are concentrating on what they are doing.
Immediate Feedback - Yes, if you lose your balance you fall off and have to start again immediately.
Clear Goals - Yes, the goal is to get around a full circle. There are also part way goals (e.g. 1/4 of a circle).
The Challenge-Skills Ratio (that is, the challenge of the task at hand stretches our skills a bit but not too much) - Yes, Troy's challenge can be made harder or easier depending on where you stand on the beam. So long as we get the right spot, we get the correct challenge-skill ratio. And this is where I went wrong for one of the child I gave it to. That child is still developing his balance, and even the easiest version of this balance challenge was too hard for him at the moment. But in the future we'll try again.
Individual flow triggers identified researching action and adventure athletes
High consequences (that is, some kind of risk: physical, mental, social, emotional, etc.) - Not necessarily relevant to Troy's challenge, although it could be made so in a more advanced version. Having said that, for a child with a fixed mindset, perceived failure presents a very real social and emotional risk, so in some cases, yes.
Deep Embodiment (the engagement of multiple sensory streams at once, learning through doing) - Yes to some degree. The beam is moving underfoot (touch). You body is moving in space (proprioception and vestibular awareness). The direction you are facing changes and hence your field of vision moves automatically (sight).
Rich Environment (lots of novelty, complexity, and unpredictability in the environment) - Yes the first time you do it, the multiple sensory streams make for a rich environment, although this effect will wear off over time.
Creativity (specifically, pattern recognition, or the linking together of new ideas) - Originally when Troy invented it, absolutely yes, because we were setting each other creative challenges. When given to someone else, less so, but still yes because they have the opportunity to figure out how best to stand on the beam, and that ends up being creative for kids.
Flow triggers pertaining to flow in groups or with another person
Remember that in Troy's challenge both he and I were involved as I moved the beam)
Shared Goals (everyone in the group is working towards the same end) - Absolutely, I am partnered in the exercise and want the child to succeed. I am working hard to be as stable as possible to give them the best chance possible.
Close Listening (you’re paying complete attention to what is being said) - Yes, it's not verbal, but we are paying close attention to what each other does. Troy watched for signs of me about to move. I watched for signs of him losing his balance so that I could stope moving and give him a chance to recover.
Yes And (conversations are additive, not combative) - Yes, I let kids try whatever technique they want for their balance.
Complete Concentration (total focus in the right here, right now) - Yes, if either of us loses concentration the balance task becomes harder and we run the risk of failing.
A sense of control (each member of the group feels in control, but still flexible) - Yes, the balancer controls all their own reactions to the beam's movement. The person holding the beam controls how stable it is.
Blending Egos (each person can submerge their ego needs into the group’s) - Perhaps this could happen, but given that I currently describe the challenge as a challenge for the child, I suspect I'm not priming them to consider it a group task even though it actually is.
Equal Participation (skills levels are roughly equal everyone is involved) - Yes, if the child balancing is finding it easy, I don't have to work as hard. If they are finding it difficult, I have to work harder to keep the beam as stable as possible. There is a direct and positive relationship between how hard the task is for each of us.
Familiarity (people know one another and understand their tics and tendencies) - No, I've played this with several children that I only met 20 minutes earlier.
Constant Communication (a group version of immediate feedback) - It's non-verbal, but yes (see #2, close listening)
Shared, Group Risk (everyone has some skin in the game) - Perhaps. From my point of view, yes. If the child fail to find flow through the task then I have failed to give them the desired experience, so I have skin in the game. However, given that the child doesn't know initially that I'm trying to put them into flow then they can't know that I am so closely emotionally tied to their experience and probably don't perceive me to have any risk in the task.
Look at that. of 18 potential flow triggers, this challenge hits at least 13, and possibly more depending on how it is set up and introduced. But many will go away if played over and over again.
So how do we go about designing other challenges to elicit a similar focus and flow experience? We need to design those challenges to hit as many of the triggers as possible.
Have I designed those challenges yet? No, but that's my next task. In the future when I create movement challenges I'll refer to this list of 18 flow triggers and try to tweak the challenges to hit as many of the triggers as possible. I'll then try them out with kids and see what the result is.
And after that? Well then it might be time to start drawing their attention to the flow and focus experience, as well as how struggle followed by relaxation leads to it. But first we need a bunch of challenges that consistently deliver the experience.
Wow, what a journey. I can't wait to get started!
Cheers
Coach Jack
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