Flow-zone is about finding that sweet spot between aggression and relaxation. Learning to enter that part of your mind (implicit mind) where the training takes over and you're not really thinking anymore, everything just flows.
I like to coin it as ‘relaxed aggression’, you’re pushing at maximum but it looks effortless; movement without thinking.
To learn to activate this at will and achieve consistent performance it is useful to cultivate the habit of mental monitoring and reflections. By reviewing your good and bad days to understand the conditions required for entering into your flowzone.
Developing your psychological skills is also key to flowzone activation:
1. Self-talk: simply the chat going on in your head; learning to become your No.1 cheerleader.
2. Visualisation: images of success, learning to control this image and make it as real as possible using the senses (touch/feel, smell, sound).
3. Relaxation: Tuning into the breath and using it as tool to calm down or psych up as required.
4. Goal setting: creating performance/training targets to motivate you.
5. Mindfulness: accepting your thoughts and emotions and learning to divert your attention gently back to your execution.