Focus on Your Breath: Can Mindfulness Facilitate the Experience of Flow?

• Published in: Psychology of consciousness (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2023-09, Vol.10 (3), p.254-280
• Main Authors: Marty-Dugas, Jeremy, Smith, Alyssa C., Smilek, Daniel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Concentration; Experimental Methods; Female; Flow (Consciousness State); Human; Male; Meditation; Mindfulness
• ISSN: 2326-5523; 2326-5531
• DOI: 10.1037/cns0000251

Using both correlational and experimental methods, we investigated the relation between mindfulness and flow (i.e., deep, effortless concentration; DEC). In Study 1, we observed in two large (n > 1,600) independent samples that individuals who were more mindful tended to experience flow more often. In Studies 2 (n = 206) and 3 (n = 268) we found no overall evidence that relative to active controls, a brief mindfulness intervention (i.e., breath counting; Levinson et al., 2014) facilitates flow (i.e., probe-caught state DEC) and/or performance in a subsequent task. Interestingly, however, when DEC was examined as a function of probes at different time points in the task, there was a significant interaction between type of intervention and the probe time in both Studies 2 and 3. Post hoc tests suggested a small, brief benefit of mindfulness, such that those in the mindfulness conditions experienced significantly more flow early in the experimental task. Results also showed that individuals who are more mindful tend to be more likely to experience flow during the laboratory task. Together, these studies suggest the potential of mindfulness mediation to serve as a strategy to facilitate flow.