The Flow: Tap Into The Muse

“Everything in life is vibration”

- Albert Einstein

To some, it is the muse. To some, genius. Some a wind. Some, divine inspiration – a gift, revelation or visitation from above.

In ancient Greece, it was furor poeticus – a poetic madness. To Freud, it was inspiration straight from the unconscious. To the Romantic poet Coleridge, it left a fragment, a vision in a dream – too quickly lost or scared away. 

However it is known, named or visualised, we all know of – and many of us will have experienced –  that soaring, elevated state where creativity comes and great works are made. 

Some of us wait years for it; for some, it strikes in the middle of the night or out in the middle of the ocean – so far from a pen. It is out of our control, and can be lost – for good, even – at the slightest interruption. 

But there are ways to harness our genius; to hack, tap into or call on our muses. The perfect conditions and practises to raise our vibrations and take us to that optimal creative space on demand. To find our flow, in other words, and hit the state where we can work with spectacular clarity and creativity, in a manner that feels like play and joy rather than work. 

The idea that certain practises can open up the right sides of our brains, take us physiologically to a better creative and inspirational space and from there even to rapture, awe and mystical experiences is not a new one. Many practices and art forms were on a way designed precisely to take souring to those states; meditation, mindfulness, ceremony... Even some of our architectural and musical traditions. It is ingrained in ancient wisdom all over the world – the starting point in everything from grand cathedrals to shamanistic ritual.

But vast advances in psychophysiology mean, now, we understand the mechanics of it – which means we can better access it when we need to. And why would we want to “hack our genius”? So we can all put that genius into service for a better world.

The work done by researchers at Heart Math for example, means we now recognise the dynamic neurological, biochemical, biophysical and energetic pathways of communication between our brains and our hearts, our “heart coherence”: a far more complex grasp of what’s going on within and without. 

Moreover, they’ve helped us understand how these can affect our performance – and how different experiences can affect them: “proof” of the universal truths our ancestors visualised in, for example, the chakra system. And “proof” of how certain emotional and spiritual behaviours translate into the body’s own behavioural patterns – in other words, the mechanisms by which we can achieve certain desirable states: sleep, calm, profound introspection OR, of course, creativity.

Similarly, an entire field of Flow theory has opened up, where philosophers, writers and theorists work with cognitive scientists to create systems and methods to take us to our peak performance and connect us with our muses – all using our heightened understanding of ourselves to transport us to our optimal states. (For some very interesting literature on the topic read authors like Steven Kotler or Mihaly Robert Csikszentmihalyi).

An “optimal” state is, naturally, different for everyone: just as we all have a different best self, and our best selves don’t all create the same best work, how we get there differs from self to self, artist to artist, genius to genius. But there are some universal truths – some overarching acts or environments to get our juices flowing:

One: nature

Specifically, being amongst, immersed in and awe-inspired by nature. Grounding your feet in the earth and lifting your head to the sky. Burrowing into the heart of the forest or scaling the heights of a rocky mountain range. Catching shooting stars or a perfect formation of geese cross a cloudless sky. Dolphins or flying fish skim an open sea. Breathing in the perfume of lavender fields or the humid, life-filled air of the jungle. 

From Japanese shinrin yoku or forest bathing to the daily “constitutional” walk of the British aristocracy, ecotherapy is an ancient, tried-and-tested technique: the age-old therapy of “go outside, go for a walk”. But it’s not just woodland walks or forest floors that have the power to fill us with awe in a way that can take us to our optimal creative space – the immense power of nature demonstrated in every ocean and lake, mountain or hill, elevates us. And now we understand the science behind the way humans have always been genetically drawn to seek out and feel more zen in nature – and why a lack of green space or natural connection can cause a depression-like condition: Nature Deficit Disorder.

A key reason is that our vibrational level is, basically, “contagious”: the level we’re operating on has an osmotic nature; and the more natural life there is around us, the more life vibrating at this positive level, the more chance we have of raising our own vibrational level. And the higher our vibrational level, the higher the chance we have of finding creativity, positivity and love: the flow state. 

Two: perspective

And it isn’t only the energy we take in from nature, or getting the natural daylight we know we need for rest and recovery, that makes the natural world so conducive to our creativity, but also the visual activity of stretching our eyes on the horizon. 

Finding open space, training our eyes on the line where the ocean meets the sea, or letting them loose across an open mountainscape, is a powerful tool because it causes our brains to engage in a “back and forth” motion, a constant shift between convergent and divergent focus. This takes us to an almost trance-like state: a meditative practice that alters our vibration state and elevates our thinking power. 

This much is also true for gaining perspective of our own place in the universe, moving from a focus on ourselves vs. nature’s scale and grandeur. Whether looking up from our hiking feet to the mountain peak or our little boat to the vast ocean, perspective is a potent tool. 

Three: architecture 

Manmade beauty also has great elevating power: we know that beauty feeds the soul, and that we work better in beautiful spaces – it’s one of the basic tenets of aesthetics. But great sound architecture ensures more than inspiring aesthetics: it engineers acoustics that literally raise our vibrational level to that desired, optimal state – that’s a key architectural aim of cathedral and sound dome design: from Pisa’s Baptistery of San Giovanni to Malta’s Hypogeum. This is why in every culture ceremony is associated with sound (often held in one of these masterpieces of acoustic/vibrational architecture), why certain types of music are known to accompany different desired moods or states, why classical music is often associated with genius, and why sound healing is so effective in getting us into the flow.

Four: collective creation

What’s more, these spaces are associated with the gathering of people and this powerful music is usually created by the harmonising of sound: multiple instruments or people combining vibrations: choirs, congregations, bands, orchestras. The power of the collective, and of diverse but in-tune “instruments”, for optimal effect. 

These can be taken as a metaphor for system thinking – combining elements playing at different vibrations to create the perfect whole. And it’s exactly why co-creation and think tanks are so incredibly effective at creating great ideas: combining the best gifts of like-minded people vibrating at an incredible frequency. Just like humans and nature, humans and humans can also raise each other’s vibrations by “osmosis” – they bounce ideas off each other, take each other’s genius further, add more fun, more inspiration: the power of the collective, even if (or even especially if) they’re coming from different disciplines. After all, the greatest ideas often come from great conversation. 

It works, too, with group meditation or yoga. With dance. And it is why shamanistic ceremony – combined with altagenic medicine (commonly known as psychedelic or hallucinogenic drugs)  – is so often conducted in groups.

And, of course, this idea takes us to our next point:

Five: fun

Sure, because psychedelics can be fun but, more specifically, because they can take you into an altered state: this sense of getting out of your way is crucial for tapping into creative power – of using something other than the “task” at hand to set your mind free and unleash your best ideas. And that’s where fun comes in. This is about parking your mind with something other than “work” – it’s why so many of our best ideas come whilst walking, surfing, swimming or horse-riding, say: when you’re “getting out of your way”.

And, of course, this is about having fun while you work: creation is a euphoric state, so whatever helps you reach joy or happiness will help you get there. And remember, “the flow” is as important for children as it is for adults – it’s all about reaching the optimum state of play, creativity, clarity and kindness, and combining it with a powerful focus – not just creating your finest works. 

So when you don’t know what helps get you in the flow, it can be helpful to think of what you have fun with.

Because, while there are universal truths, we are also individuals, and self-knowledge – knowing thyself, the journey to understanding who we are and finding our purpose – is, at least in part, an act of understanding all the different things that could connect us to that flow state, then figuring out which combination of those things works for each of us. (Like skincare, say.)

All these are, essentially, ways of engineering the right state to help you access your muse. “Hacking” it with nature, architecture, open spaces and different practices – specifically by connecting to nature, music, other minds and souls, and sublime natural or manmade environments. When you combine a connection to more than one vibration-raising element (think meditation in the forest), you can reach that state faster. And if you really integrate them into your lifestyle, you can maintain that state. You can build the muscle to be more creative – to think clearly, think bigger, think spectacularly.

And as that muscle builds, it becomes easier to revisit genius again and again, until how we achieve that flow, how we catch that wave, how we become the best versions of ourselves, becomes second nature. And there, we think, lies our greatest works.