Parallel Interface, Flow and the Present

Players who are learning the PMP are getting more enjoyment out of tennis than ever before. Not because they are playing better, although that’s a big part of it, but rather because they are also experiencing this higher-order conscious state that is tagged the “flow state.”

Whatever its name, this higher order state is the conscious state you create when your VCM interface combines the past and future dimensions into the unified dimension of the present. So a flow state is the conscious state that you create when you are in the present. Being in the flow state and being in the present are the same. You could say that flow is created when you create the temporal dimension of the present.

Present = Flow
Flow = Present

This theory of present lies beneath the PMP and is the core of the parallel mode performance model.

The peak performance state called the zone must have a temporal dimension to it, and by all accounts and personal interviews, athletes who experience the zone all agree on the same answer if given a multiple choice question:When you were in the zone were you in the:
A. Past
B. Present
C. Future
D. All of the above

Every athlete who has been in the zone would answer B – the Present. The philosopher/athlete might answer D – all of the above – because when you are in the present, you are combining the past and future dimensions of the contact sequence to create the present, so you are actually in a unified temporal dimension that includes all three dimensions simultaneously. Trick question.

Sport psychologists who work with the concept of flow in sports would agree that the temporal dimension underlying flow is the present, but they almost all would agree that you cannot create the flow state on purpose. So, my question would be: what if you could purposely create the temporal dimension of the present underlying the flow state? What then? Would the creation of the temporal dimension underlying the flow state not also create the flow state?

You cannot be in a flow state without being in the present, so would it not also be true that you cannot be in the present without being in a flow state?

Traditional sport psychology attempts to get you to create a flow state by synthesizing all of the component parts of flow into a unified state which, by the way, includes, as one of its component parts, the dimension of the present.

The PMP gets you into a flow state by creating the underlying temporal dimension of the present which includes, as one of its by products, the flow state.

Different approach, quicker results.

Players who use the PMP get into the zone without having to go through the complications of learning how to synthesize all of these individual flow components into a unified state. All you have to do is switch your operating system from a serial interface to a parallel interface and you will create not only the temporal dimension of the present but you will also create the flow state that goes along with it. And as long as you can maintain this parallel interface, you will also maintain the flow state.

Here’s a syllogism for you. If being in the present creates flow, and your parallel interface creates the present, then your parallel interface also creates flow.

Present = Flow
PI = Present
Flow = PI

Somehow, your footwork doesn’t really matter as much when you talk about being in the present.