Martin Bretzin #6

Flow is sooo cool! Flow is by far the coolest concept I got to learn about this semester. Just this past... January(?), I spoke with my ex girlfriend's step dad, Robert about his brother's black belt in Karate exam. Supposedly, the man had been learning Karate for a really long time. Interestingly, the gym that he trained at used a more traditional method for administering belt progression. According to Robert, the only way a student could receive a black belt at that gym was to maintain a state of perfect reflexive defenses to a skilled opponent's attacks. This is only achieved through a great deal of practice, and an eventual conscious state of heightened situational awareness. This state must be maintained for minimum period of time, during which a superior opponent is administering attacks. Robert labeled this state as being "in the zone." I recognized his description of state of consciousness immediately, as with my travel soccer team in high school, I had, on several occasions, experienced this feeling of heightened awareness coupled with a sense of euphoria. Ever since that conversation, I've thought often about trying to rediscover that sense of being "in the zone."