Image and Pilgrimage - Peter Ikeda

In Turner's book Image and Pilgrimage, he discusses the idea of flow and how flow is the "holistic sensation present when we act with total involvement, a state in which action follows action..." (254). Flow "is experienced in play and sport, in artistic performance and religious ritual" because they incorporate the person's full being in order to fulfill the action. Turner uses the example of an actor for flow to describe this complete immersion in an action. He states that "while an actor may be aware of what he is doing, he cannot be aware that he is aware, or the flow will be interrupted," (254). Flow is only fulfilled when the person is absolutely immersed in what they are doing which is why performing or high energy sports are events in which flow is exemplified. This idea reminds me of whenever I perform. I've been singing for as long as I can remember and performing on a stage since kindergarten. Choir has always been a part of my life and it's come naturally to me. Whenever I get on stage, especially during my show choir years of high school, my 'normal self' would melt away into the character of each song, dancing and singing across the stage, soaking up the spotlight. It's super cheesy but I definitely believe that I experience flow whenever I go onstage to perform. I literally stop worrying about what notes to sing, what dance move is coming up next and simply do it. Once the lights come on and the curtain goes up I lose myself in the action of performing and it isn't until the thunder of applause ripples in the audience that I become aware of what had happened before.