Being In The Zone

When You're In a Parasympathetic State Within an Excited Environment

At my son’s baseball game the other night, my job was Official Score Keeper. I sat at the entrance to our dugout, where I could best see the field. I counted balls and strikes. I recorded hits, base runners and outs. I chatted with the umpire. I heard the kids cheering for each other and the dad’s coaching. I felt the spikes of adrenaline and the ignitions of sympathetic nervous systems as the desire to win grew stronger and the game remained close.

As we transitioned to the bottom of the fifth inning, our shortstop put on his glove next to me and said, “We just need a perfect inning. They can’t score any runs.”

I thought that was a lot of pressure for an eight year old to put on himself, but I liked his determination. I crouched down; I looked past the black Sunblocker under his eyes and directly into his look; I relaxed my shoulders and said, “then do your best with every play that comes to you, and have fun.”

He made two of the outs in that perfect inning.

From behind home plate I chanted quietly, “have fun, have fun, have fun.”

I felt the ease and relative calm of my own parasympathetic nervous system pulsing, and I felt the excitement of our team. I’ve been impressed all year at the ways the coaches bring our kids’ skills and confidence up, and how they’ve taught the boys to believe in themselves.

In this particular game we had kids at the bottom of the order—who had previously only struck out—hitting singles and doubles. With all the added excitement, I felt the mounting pressure, I felt it around me, but I didn’t feel it inside me. I had never been in such a heightened environment and remained calm and easy-going myself. It wasn’t that I wasn’t invested in the game. It was that I was somehow at peace within the excitement and joy. Even as we finished the game with a home run and went up 13-11—my breathing remained slow and focused; my attention flowed in a steady stream. I felt like I was in the zone, but as a spectator.

Has this ever happened for you? I would love to hear your experiences with being in a state of flow. What were the circumstances that led up to feeling like you were in the zone?

Next week, for paid subscribers, I’ll share a breathing practice that’s been helping me sleep better and find this flow state more readily.