The philosophy behind the Flow Immersion is to create a sacred space for men to come together to push themselves through a shared adventurous activity while deploying peak performance protocols in order to facilitate an immersive and educational experience that can be taken home and repurposed into each member’s individual lifestyle. The adventurous activity can be anything from skiing/snowboarding to trail running - and this is used as both an educational tool and source of freedom and liberation from the confines of our daily lives.
Selecting a location for the Summer 21 Flow Immersion came easy. I wanted to draw a sharp contrast from the arid, harsh and majestic Mojave Desert environment showcased during the Spring 21 event. So tucked away in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, arguably the adventure capital of New England, is Oak Hill Farm - a budding retreat facility that has been hand crafted by the Ohlson family over three generations. For this event, Gabe Ohlson happened to be not only our yoga instructor and bike guide but host on the Farm.
Together with Gabe we built an itinerary around mountain biking - using both the private trails on tap at the farm and an adventurous ride that sees little to no traffic from the NH bike community. In addition to the riding there would be meditation, breathwork, yoga, nutrition rich meals, sauna, ice baths, a curated welcome package from our sponsors and guided instruction through flow state consciousness.
11 men gathered for the event and were welcomed on site like a reunion. All come with both curiosity and their own challenges they seek to confront in this sacred space. In the early glow of evening, I welcomed everyone and provided the initial Flow lesson, the Flow Cycle, prior to our evening ride. The concept of the Flow Cycle is critical to understanding how the state works and creating the awareness of what to do next to continue through the cycle. With water bottles full of Flume Flow pre-workout powder, REDD Bars in our bags, Sea & Summit Sunscreen on our noses and Yeti Bikes provided by Ski the Whites, we set out and quickly determined the skill level of the group - which was wide. On top of the climb and before the downhill I presented the number one flow trigger, the Challenge Skills Ratio, as a means to individualize each participant’s experience to their own skill set - not to be measured by those who are higher or lower skilled.
Returning to the farm we rallied down to the freshwater pond to clean the sweat off and practice cold water immersion - an active recovery tool and theme for the weekend. Back at the farm, our Chef had beautiful locally harvested appetizers on the tables and a huge jar of post work out electrolyte infused recovery juice. Dinner was a cornucopia of foods from the region and around the table everyone opened up about what they were doing at this Flow Immersion and what they hoped to gain from the weekend ahead. While educating men on flow concepts, holding space for men to open and share the struggles inside their own world offers a greater healing than anyone could imagine. The evening was cemented rotating from the 180 + degree sauna and the ice bath plunges just outside the door. The heat, the remote area, the shared vulnerability and novelty dropped everyone into a group flow state and eventually we moved into the most important peak performance tool - sleep.
The rest of the weekend unfolded just like the first day, just with deeper and deeper experiences for all who participated. The Flow Immersion is designed to challenge all that attend. It may show up physically on the ride - a bit too far out of the comfort zone. A meditation that challenges the monkey mind. Or some introspection that confronts the personas adopted to conform to societal norms. However it shows up, it’s meant to and the weekend is designed to also support attendees through their own process of awakening to their own untapped potential.
If you want to be the first to hear about the next Flow Immersion, please connect with me here.
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