WINTER /SPRING2016
MOUNTAINLIFE
63
“I thinkwhatwe are talking about here is
flow
,”
saysTimEmmett, a professional rock and ice
climber and formerwingsuit BASE jumper. “I
find that it happenswhen you are absolutely
encapsulated, not onlyby your surroundings, but
alsoby the challenge of the situation. You can’t
even think aboutwhat you are doingbecause you
are just reacting andworking from the unconscious
mind. Stuff happens because your bodymakes it
happen, not yourmind.”
The concept of “flow” beganpoppingup in
modernpsychologyback in the 1970swith
theworkofHungarianpsychologist,Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi.Discussinghis 1990book
Flow:The Psychology ofOptimal Experience,
Csikszentmihalyi argues that humanhappiness
found in flow is not obtainedpassively, but rather
through focusedmotivation and single-minded
immersion in tasks suited toour abilities.
“Flow is a state inwhichpeople are so involved
in an activity that nothing else seems tomatter,”
he says. “The bestmoments usuallyoccurwhen a
person’s bodyormind is stretched to its limits in a
voluntary effort to accomplish somethingdifficult
andworthwhile…Flow is being completely
involved in an activity for its own sake.The ego
falls away.Time flies. Every action,movement, and
thought follows inevitably from the previous one,
like playing jazz. Yourwhole being is involved, and
you’re using your skills to the utmost.Optimal
experience is thus somethingwemake happen.”
ForTimEmmett, the first thing that springs to
mindwhenhe talks about flow is solo climbing,
ascendingwithout a ropewhere falling is not an
option. “All you think about is right now and the
next hold,” he says. “Andwhat todowith each
finger and limb and toe inorder tomake that
nextmove.There is the influence of consequence
and theneed tobe themost efficient. It ismore
of a state ofmeditation… you get tunnel vision,
because youneed to.”
GregMcDonnell is a 19-yearWhistler local, a
RegisteredClinicalCounsellor and aMental
PerformanceConsultantwith theCanadianSport
PsychologyAssociation. After twodecades of
workingwithbothprofessional athletes and regular
mountain sports enthusiasts,Greghas developed a
more local explanationof the flow state as a sort of
movingmeditation.
“I define it as the spiritual aspect of sport,” he says.
“That placewhere things seem effortless, where
the ‘monkeymind’ is not troubledby the constant
small and large traumas of everyday life.”
If escaping life’s problems by launching rollers in
the bike parkor crankinghigh-speed turns down
RidgeRunner seems like anaturally good idea,
Greg suggests it’s because humans have evolved
to seekout, and thrive, inmoments of high-
consequence physicalmovement.
ABOVE
TimEmmett at Brandywine Falls. JIMMYMARTINELLO.
BOTTOM LEFT
TimEmmett. MORGAN LEEALAIN .
