Athletic Flow State

Rowers and runners describe a sense of euphoria; basketball players say the rim seemed wider; baseball players report perceiving time as moving in slow motion.

The ability to execute under pressure—to achieve an athletic flow state—is actually an amalgam of many mental processes. Just as the physical challenges for athletes are broken down into building blocks such as speed, power and agility, so too are the mental aspects of sports now being parsed into neural abilities that can be targeted. The next evolution of this field: neurohacking that delivers specific brain-body states optimized for individual sports and individual athletes. Dozens of new companies are springing up, offering a buffet of the latest neurocoaching methods.