Another recent New York Times article piqued my interest. “Yes, Running Can Make You High,” by Gina Kolata begins: “THE runner’s high: Every athlete has heard of it, most seem to believe in it and many say they have experienced it. But for years scientists have reserved judgment because no rigorous test confirmed its existence.”

I've experienced runner's high, but found it a rather mild experience compared to the more intense Flow State I virtually always enter when practicing TI swimming. The distinction is that the runner’s high – at least as presented in the article – seems to be largely chemical in origin while my experience with swimming Flow States seems at least as much psychological.

I can’t comment on the physiological differences - i.e. what a neuroscientist might find when comparing the two – but I've found the Swimming Flow State is more enduring (at times I’ve felt a distinct glow of well-being for hours after a practice or race) and leaves me with an understanding of how I can reproduce it with almost complete dependability. The habits I’ve formed while swimming have even led me to enjoy flow in yoga, cross-country skiing, rowing and other activities.

The psychologist Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi has written several books about Flow (for a more complete description read this article in Psychology Today, which he defines as a state of complete absorption with an activity. Flow states are characterized by feelings of profound freedom, enjoyment, fulfillment, and skill. One’s sense of the passage time often falls away as well. His research initially focused on the heightened states experienced by artists, musicians, and dancers when in a zone of heightened creativity and intense focus, but he later expanded that study to other fields, including athletics.

One requirement for a flow state is to find a balance between the difficulty of the task and the skill of the performer. If the task is too easy you get bored; if too challenging, you become frustrated. Rather than “following the black line,” Kaizen Swimmers immerse themselves in an ongoing quest for solutions to lack of support, instability, drag and lack of traction for which our land-based instincts are all wrong. Running is not quite as useful for exercising mindfulness because it’s a more natural activity for humans.

Swimming, however, offers the unique opportunity for mindful practice during which a workout “happens.” Czikszentmihalyi found that such practice, when done in meditation, yoga, and martial arts, seems to improve a person's capacity for flow and that practicing such activities regularly improves a person’s capacity for attention as well as the neuromuscular and aerobic pathways that we use to move our muscles.

How many of you have experienced a runner’s high and/or a swimmer’s flow state? How could you compare them? What have they taught you? Comment here on our Discussion Forum.