Ludwig Wittgenstein, an Austrian Philosopher, once said: " A new word is like a fresh seed sewn on the ground of discussion." I agree. SUPERFLUIDITY is one of these words. I hope that adopting this word from physics to the realm of psychology and performance begins a new discussion about various stages of "Flow." The concept of Flow was coined by professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1975 and expanded on in his seminal book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. The word Flow is synonymous with ‘being in the zone' or in the ‘Flow channel' or in a state ‘fluid performance'. Superfluidity is the supreme Flow experience. It is an ego-less state of "Super Flow" marked by zero friction (rubbing/slowing), zero viscosity (resistance to flowing) and Superconductivity (zero loss of energy).
All of us know the feeling of having your skill level completely match the challenge at hand to the point that you lose yourself in what you are doing. It is a relaxed state of complete concentration and absorption where you become ‘one' with the task at hand — your sense of time becomes warped, anxiety diminishes and your day-to-day worries evaporate. Any regular form of aerobic exercise can induce a state of Flow in most people, as long as you keep the level of challenge matched to your skill level so that you neither become bored nor filled with anxiety.
The concept of Flow has been an invaluable tool for me, but I always felt that my real athletic breakthroughs happened in a state one step above the daily Flow that I experienced in workouts. There were moments in sport when I felt like I had pierced through to another dimension where I felt like I practically had elemental superpowers that you might read about in a comic book. Whenever I have achieved something as an athlete that seemed ‘Superhuman', the experience seemed as much like science fiction or something out of a Marvel movie to me as it did to onlookers. I didn't have words to describe how my body metamorphasized -- much like Spiderman might feel, I imagine. It wasn't until I learned about Superfluidity in a BBC documentary that I finally had a word to describe the upper-tier of Fluid performance.
It is important that you watch this short video clip before proceeding so that we have a similar reference point to why a word from the world of physics so aptly applies to human peak performance:
As you can see, Superfluidity not only feels like it sounds, it also looks like it feels! I define Superfluidity as the episodic upper-tier of the Flow experience. Creating a state of Flow is the springboard for piercing through to a state of Superfluidity. It is a state of performing with zero friction, zero viscosity, and superconductivity — it is a state of absolute harmony and endless energy. Superfluid performance in sports or the arts are moments that you want to replay in slow motion so that you can deconstruct the play-by-play details of how someone did something that seemed almost humanly impossible.
SUPERFLUIDITY IS AN EGO-LESS & ECSTATIC PROCESS
Superfluidity is to Fluid performance as orgasm is to coitus — it is an episodic and ecstatic climax that strikes you like a lightning bolt when you are in a state of Flow. Having language to tag an experience is helpful because once you identify something it's easier to make it a tangible reality. This is why breaking "Flow" into two tiers of regular "Fluid" performance and "Superfluid" performance is helpful for continuing to maximize your potential and breaking through plateaus. At a certain point of mastery, becoming Superfluid should become a goal because regular Flow becomes de rigueur for every master. Seeking Superfluidity will make you stand out and accel in a hyper competitive world.
Superfluidity is a state of perfect harmony. When you are so immersed in what you are doing that you completely become one with the task at hand to the point that your ego dissolves you are in a state of Superfluidity. This may sound like a familiar definition of Flow -- however, this tier needs to be re-categorized as something supreme inside the flow experience. Abraham Maslow ran into a similar problem of differentiation when defining ‘Peak Experiences.' There was a misconception that a Peak Experience had to be isolated to things like being on top of Mt. Everest. The definition was too ambiguous and lofty. To avoid this, Flow should be looked at as having various levels. Regular Flow is accessible daily, Super Flow is more episodic but still readily available.
There is a feeling of spontaneous joy when you are in a state of of Flow--but regular Flow is not necessarily ecstatic. Csikszentmihalyi describes an "ecstatic state" or a feeling that artists and musicians have of being outside of what they were creating with their hands under the category of Flow, but I differentiate this by calling the ‘ecstatic state' as entering a state of Super Flow or Superfluidity. You can be in a state of Flow without feeling ‘egoless' or ecstatic. When you experience the sensation of feeling that your actions are being guided by an invisible hand and that your energy is no longer coming from within, but from without, you can't help believing in some higher power. Superfluidity is a mystical and Supernatural experience.
The word ‘Ecstasy' comes from the Latin root "to stand outside oneself." Superfluidity is an ecstatic process because you are truly standing outside yourself when it occurs. When you are inside the ecstatic channel of superfluid performance it is feels like an out-of-body experience and it feels as though a mysterious outside force is actually running the show. To achieve this state it is necessary that you ‘let go' and get out of the way of your ego stored in the prefrontal cortex. It won't happen otherwise. Having faith that there is a Source outside of yourself that will deliver you to a higher plane is a fundamental part of the mindset necessary for Superfluid performance.
MY DISCOVERY OF SUPERFLUIDITY
My ability to do ‘superhuman' things with my body was ultimately about my ability to open up a channel inside myself that could plug into a universal Source of energy we all have access to. In many ways the only ‘skill' that separated me from other elite athletes and enabled me to break a Guinness World Record was my ability to tap that energy source. I learned how to use this infinite energy as my prime moving force. Much like the frictionless fountain in the BBC video. I could keep going and going and going without getting tired because my energy was coming from outside of my physical body.
One of the reasons that answering the simple question from strangers of: "How did you run 154 miles on a treadmill in 24 hours or win the Triple Ironman three times?" is *so* difficult is that ultimately "I" (Christopher Bergland) don't feel like I actually did it. I credit some cosmic energy with pulling me through those races more than my own flesh and bones. Sure, I worked really hard in training and there was a lot of grit and determination to keep digging and pushing myself in competitions, but I couldn't have done it without some divine intervention.
In order to ‘go where no man had gone before' as an athlete, I trained methodically to condition my body and mind to be able to withstand the surreal, and terrifying places you go when your psyche and body are pushed to the absolute outer limits of what seems humanly possible. Being mentally prepared—and not afraid—to pass through to the ‘other side' was key to keeping it together when 'the wheels came off the bus.' In many ways the ultrarunning I've done was like a near death experience. My peak record breaking athletic achievements have all been out-of-body Supernatural experiences with a very strong spiritual component.
Part of my winning formula on race day was to make those ‘peak experiences' sacred and almost religious. From well before sunrise on race day I would begin a ritual that put me in a state of synchronicity. I would bow to the spirit of athleticism and invited the spirit of athleticism to bow back to me. Usually it did.
