Have you ever concentrated on a task so much that it seemed like time had disappeared while you were performing the task effortlessly? If you have, you were in what is commonly termed as a flow state. Reaching flow state is a key to excelling at a job, or doing anything else that requires your clear focus and undivided attention. It helps you boost productivity, creativity, and even your overall well-being.

Flow State Is Basically the Famed “Zone”

Perhaps you haven’t heard about flow state before, but everyone's heard about being “in the zone.” Fundamentally that's what flow state is. It’s a mental state in which you’re completely absorbed in a (usually challenging) task, immersed so much in it that your perception of time changes while you’re doing it. American author Cal Newport also refers to it as “Deep Work”. We’ve all experienced that feeling of time flying when we’re doing something we love? How do you completely lose track of time while doing something challenging but still feel energised and happy? That’s all flow state. But it’s more than merely being immersed in something that makes you happy. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, a Hungarian-American psychologist who recognised and named the psychological concept of flow, perfectly described this state in his book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.” He said: “The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”

What Are the Characteristics of Flow State?

According to Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, there are eight characteristics of flow state:

Full concentration on a task
The feeling of control over the task – control without controlling
Clarity of goals, with immediate feedback and reward in mind
A perfect balance between challenge and skills
Effortlessness – spontaneous actions without deliberate reflection
Merging of awareness and action and loss of self-consciousness
An altered perception of time
Intrinsically rewarding or autotelic experience

You don’t have to experience all these elements to be in a flow state, as most of them are entirely subjective. However, the real flow experience happens when you combine them.

What Can I Do to Reach Flow State?

Reaching flow state may seem like something only the greatest gurus can do. The truth is anyone can easily get “in the zone” and enjoy the flow experience. It may take a bit of practice, but with the following tips, it can quickly become second nature to you.

Eliminating Internal and External Distractions

Distractions are all around us these days. Social media notifications, email alerts, the phone that won’t stop ringing – the list goes on. If you don’t eliminate those productivity killers, you’ll continuously tackle the challenge of attention residue. That’s when you can multitask instead of focusing attention on one task at hand, so you’re never fully concentrated. So, when doing something important, put your phone on “silent,” “airplane,” or “Do Not Disturb” mode, so that you’re entirely free from external distractions. It is much about the environment you create. But what about their internal counterparts, often caused by stress or anything else preventing you from silencing your thoughts and focusing? You can try eliminating them through meditation.

Biological Peak Time (BPT)

Biological peak time, or biological prime time, is the time of day when you have the most energy, which is what you need to enter a flow state. Mornings may be ideal for a state of flow, but you might feel more energised in the afternoon. You can keep an eye on your energy levels for a few weeks to see exactly when your BPT occurs. That’s when you’re most productive, with a sharp and laser-focused mind. There are influencing factors to this time.

The Right Challenge

You can’t get “in the zone” if you immerse yourself in a task that’s excessively challenging. You can try, but it’s likely that you’ll only get frustrated. If a task is too overwhelming, it might simply stress you out. The same goes for tasks that are too simple. They can quickly become boring, causing your mind to wander. It takes just the right amount of challenge to reach flow state – something doable yet challenging enough to get you excited and engaged. It’s all about that ‘sweet spot’, challenging and satisfying.

Biological and Metabolic Factors

There are plenty of things that can influence your biological and metabolic factors. Good routines, management of light exposure, solid hydration can all boost focus, alertness, and productivity. Your body will produce more energy, your mind will be sharper, you’ll think faster, and you won’t deal with physical and mental fatigue.

Supplements

Supplements are a great way to enhance your cognitive function and summon your creative muse. There are many supplements for boosting cognitive and physical function, which often come with lots of other benefits to health. This is why we created RISE and the aptly named FLOW, to tick many of those boxes and prime your productivity and output.

Things That Help to Find the “Zone”

Some of the best things for finding the “zone” are music, nature, casual walks, and exercise, but it can really be anything else. It depends on what personally relaxes you, clears your mind, and helps you focus. Music might truly be the best flow state trigger, especially when it’s repetitive. Think instrumental music, such as classical, techno, or trance. It can help you eliminate internal distractions and keep your mind from wandering.

Conclusion

It all sounds much simpler now, doesn’t it? It’s going to take regular practice for you to get into a flow state, but, once you’ve fully mastered it, it will really become second nature. And you’ll realise it’s one of the most fulfilling experiences you could ever have.

The HMN24 Team

Tags: Cognition Flow Inspiration Productivity

Older Post Back to Articles Newer Post

Blog posts

The First 7 Minutes After Waking: Why They Matter More Than You Think

Modern neuroscience confirms what ancient traditions have practised for millennia: the first few minutes after you wake up are biologically powerful.

Your brain doesn’t flick on like a light switch. It transitions, slowly and delicately, through a cascade of brainwave states:

Delta → Theta → Alpha → Beta

These transitions reflect the shift from deep sleep (delta), through drowsiness and subconscious processing (theta), into relaxed awareness (alpha), and eventually into full alertness (beta).

Gamma, the fastest and most subtle of the brainwave frequencies, is typically associated with heightened cognitive processing, insight, and peak states of consciousness. While not dominant in the first few minutes of waking, gamma activity can emerge later in the morning, or more rapidly in trained meditators, when the brain begins to integrate thought, emotion, and sensory input into a coherent experience.

This means that during the first 5 to 10 minutes of wakefulness, you’re not fully asleep, but you’re not fully awake either. You’re in a unique, mouldable neurobiological state that scientists call a neuroplastic window, where your brain is most open to new programming.

This is your most influential moment of the day.

What’s Happening in Your Brain

During this waking transition:

The Default Mode Network (DMN), the brain’s internal narrator, begins to light up. It controls self-talk, emotional tone, and how we perceive ourselves and the world (Smallwood et al., 2021; Edlow et al., 2024).
The Reticular Activating System (RAS) switches on. It decides what’s important by scanning your environment through the lens of your current emotional state (Negelspach et al., 2025).
Your brain hemispheres synchronise, promoting coherence, clarity, and creative thinking (Wang et al., 2025).

Stressful first thoughts?

The RAS filters your day through threat detection.

Grateful first thoughts?

It scans for opportunity, healing, and connection.

Your first thoughts are not neutral. They set your emotional and cognitive trajectory for the entire day (Yadav & Purushotham, 2025; Devaney et al., 2021).

You’re Not Just a Mind in a Body

You are an electromagnetic system living in a connected field of energy. Research now supports what mystics, monks, and performance experts have known for decades:

Your thoughts become biology. Your biology becomes behaviour. Your behaviour becomes your future.

When your intention (mental clarity) aligns with an elevated emotion (like awe, gratitude, or joy), you begin to create physiological coherence, a synchronised state between your brain, heart, and nervous system (Ahn et al., 2021; Bukkieva et al., 2022).

In this state:

Synaptic pathways rewire
Your immune system balances
Emotional resilience strengthens
Gene expression can shift
Your nervous system "memorises" a new baseline (Valenta et al., 2025; Titone et al., 2023)

Your 7-Minute Morning Protocol

You don’t need technology. You don’t need a perfect routine.
You just need awareness and intention.

Here is a practical protocol, backed by neuroscience, to help you rewire your mind and body from the moment you wake up:

Step-by-Step 7-Minute Morning Protocol

You don’t need technology. You don’t need a perfect routine.
You need awareness and intention.

The first few minutes after waking are a powerful biological window—a period of heightened neuroplasticity and emotional influence. What you do in this time shapes how your nervous system responds to the world for the rest of the day.

Here’s a practical step-by-step protocol to guide those first moments with intention:

1. Wake Gently

Let your body come to naturally. Avoid harsh alarms that jolt your system into a stress response. Give yourself permission to rise slowly, without urgency.

2. Avoid Your Phone

Reaching for your phone immediately forces your brain into beta waves (high-alert mode), disrupting the slower, more programmable states of theta and alpha. Stay in the softness of waking. Let your internal world settle before external stimuli intrude.

3. Place Your Hand on Your Heart

This simple act grounds you. It activates the vagus nerve, supporting emotional regulation and heart-brain coherence. Let your attention settle into your body.

4. Breathe Slowly and Deeply

Inhale through the nose for 4 seconds, exhale through the mouth for 6. Repeat for 3 to 4 minutes. This breathing pattern supports parasympathetic activation—bringing calm, focus, and internal alignment.

5. Cultivate an Elevated Emotional State

Bring to mind someone or something you deeply love. Recall a moment of awe, joy, or deep gratitude. Smile gently. Let your body feel calm, safe, and expansive. This is not about performance—it’s about coherence.

6. Speak Like Your Future Self

Now that your system is receptive, introduce affirmations—spoken internally or aloud—as your future self would speak them. Use intentional, emotionally resonant language.

Here are some modern, grounded affirmations to guide you:

Personal Leadership & Direction

Affirmations that reinforce clarity, self-trust, and inner authority:

“I lead my life with clarity and calm direction.”
“I respond with purpose, not pressure.”
“I honour progress over perfection today.”
“I am becoming the version of me I respect.”
“I trust my process. I’m already aligned.”
“I am exactly where I need to be to take the next step.”

Resilience & Adaptability

Affirmations that support emotional flexibility and grounded strength:

“Whatever arises, I meet it with presence and capacity.”
“I am wired for change and built for resilience.”
“Challenge sharpens me. I stay grounded in motion.”
“I move from centre, not from stress.”
“My nervous system is calm, and my mind is clear.”

Focus & Intentional Action

Affirmations that support mental clarity, focus, and productive intention:

“Today I move with direction, not distraction.”
“I choose energy that matches my intention.”
“I prioritise what matters. The rest can wait.”
“Peace is my default. Focus is my return point.”

Gratitude & Emotional Coherence

Affirmations that promote emotional alignment and heart-brain synchrony:

“This day is a gift. I meet it with quiet strength.”
“I feel supported, resourced, and ready.”
“My heart leads. My body follows. My mind aligns.”

Each of these is a message to your nervous system, spoken as if the future is already embodied. Use them in stillness. Speak them with emotion. Let your physiology anchor the future you’re rehearsing.

7. Visualise Your Desired Reality

Now, visualise your ideal day, state, or outcome, not as a hope, but as if it has already occurred. Let it play in your mind’s eye with detail and emotional texture. This isn’t wishing. It’s rehearsing coherence.

Why It Works

This process works because it aligns with your biology:

Neuroplasticity is at its peak during transitional states, especially when paired with strong emotions and repetition (Chen et al., 2025).
The Reticular Activating System (RAS) filters your environment through the emotional lens you set at waking (Devaney et al., 2021).
Coherence between heart and brain enhances clarity, memory, and immune response (Mueller et al., 2021; Jespersen et al., 2024).
Repeating these patterns daily helps your nervous system establish them as a new baseline (Dennison, 2024; Ma et al., 2023).

Final Thoughts

The first seven minutes of your day are not a luxury. They are leverage.

Coherence is the signal.
Intention is the vector.
Emotion is the charge.

So tomorrow morning, don’t scroll. Don’t rehearse stress.

Instead, tune your frequency.

Let your thoughts direct your biology. Let your body believe before your mind begins to doubt.

Your brain is listening.
Your cells are listening.
The field is listening.

Train it. Shape it. Repeat it.

References

Aggarwal, A. (2025). Brain connectivity using EEG data. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.26.634935

Ahn, J., Lee, D., Namkoong, K., & Jung, Y. (2021). Altered functional connectivity of the salience network in problematic smartphone users. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.636730

Bukkieva, T., Pospelova, M., Efimtsev, A., Fionik, O., Alekseeva, T., Samochernych, K., & Shevtsov, M. (2022). Functional network connectivity reveals the brain functional alterations in breast cancer survivors. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 11(3), 617. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11030617

Chen, J., Lewis, L., Coursey, S., Catana, C., Polimeni, J., Fan, J., & Rosen, B. (2025). Simultaneous EEG-PET-MRI identifies temporally coupled, spatially structured hemodynamic and metabolic dynamics across wakefulness and NREM sleep. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.17.633689

Devaney, K., Levin, E., Tripathi, V., Higgins, J., Lazar, S., & Somers, D. (2021). Attention and default mode network assessments of meditation experience during active cognition and rest. Brain Sciences, 11(5), 566. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11050566

Dennison, P. (2024). The enigma of jhāna and implications for neuroscience, consciousness studies and research methodology. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/ncp25

Edlow, B., Olchanyi, M., Freeman, H., Li, J., Maffei, C., Snider, S., & Kinney, H. (2024). Multimodal MRI reveals brainstem connections that sustain wakefulness in human consciousness. Science Translational Medicine, 16(745). https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.adj4303

Hardikar, S., McKeown, B., Schaare, H., Wallace, R., Xu, T., Lauckner, M., & Smallwood, J. (2024). Macro-scale patterns in functional connectivity associated with ongoing thought patterns and dispositional traits. eLife, 13. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.93689

Jespersen, K., Stevner, A., Kringelbach, M., Someren, E., Vidaurre, D., & Vuust, P. (2024). Modelling of brain dynamics reveals reduced switching between brain states in insomnia disorder – a resting-state fMRI study. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.11.27.625644

Ma, M., Li, Y., Shao, Y., & Weng, X. (2023). Effect of total sleep deprivation on effective EEG connectivity for young males in resting-state networks in different eye states. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 17. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.1204457

Mueller, J., Pritschet, L., Santander, T., Taylor, C., Grafton, S., Jacobs, E., & Carlson, J. (2021). Dynamic community detection reveals transient reorganization of functional brain networks across a female menstrual cycle. Network Neuroscience, 5(1), 125–144. https://doi.org/10.1162/netn_a_00169

Negelspach, D., Kennedy, K., Huskey, A., Cha, J., Alkozei, A., & Killgore, W. (2025). Mapping the neural basis of wake onset regularity and its effects on sleep quality and positive affect. Clocks & Sleep, 7(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.3390/clockssleep7010015

Smallwood, J., Bernhardt, B., Leech, R., Bzdok, D., Jefferies, E., & Margulies, D. (2021). The default mode network in cognition: A topographical perspective. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 22(8), 503–513. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-021-00474-4

Titone, S., Samogin, J., Peigneux, P., Swinnen, S., Mantini, D., & Albouy, G. (2023). Frequency-dependent connectivity in large-scale resting-state brain networks during sleep. European Journal of Neuroscience, 59(4), 686–702. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.16080

Valenta, S., Ventura, S., Benuzzi, F., Rizzello, F., Gionchetti, P., Ronchi, D., & Filippini, N. (2025). A heavy feeling in the stomach: Neural correlates of anxiety in Crohn’s disease. Neurogastroenterology & Motility, 37(7). https://doi.org/10.1111/nmo.70029

Wang, X., Peters, E., Strelen, J., Lockhart, N., Franklin, M., LaBerge, S., & Erlacher, D. (2025). EEG microstates reveal distinct network dynamics in lucid and non-lucid REM sleep. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.02.12.637792

Yadav, A., & Purushotham, A. (2025). Cortical structure in nodes of the default mode network estimates general intelligence. Brain and Behavior, 15(5). https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.70531

Yang, M. (2025). Study on large-scale brain network abnormalities in patients with beta-thalassemia. Brain and Behavior, 15(6). https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.70614

Performance Hospitality: What Is Still Being Overlooked

The hospitality industry is in the midst of a significant evolution. Wellness is no longer a niche feature or optional add-on. It is becoming a central pillar of the guest experience.

Understanding Fasting as a Biological Rhythm

Fasting is not simply a wellness trend; it is a deeply conserved biological behaviour observed across mammalian species. Feeding and fasting cycles in mammals are governed by circadian rhythms, the internal timekeeping systems that align physiological functions with the 24-hour light-dark cycle.

What Is Flow State and How Do I Reach This Elevated Mind State?