| Abstract: |
This exploratory study investigated the implications of a process termed Flow as a Transformative Practice. Thirty four participants, 19 women and 15 men, from 18 to 66 years old, participated in 1 of 2 groups each meeting twice. Participants varied in ethnicity, occupation, education, and spiritual identification. Participants completed a battery of pre- and post-assessments, and a 30 day journaling process. The assessments consisted of the Attention Questionnaire, Myers-Briggs, Self-Description Inventory (Tao), InSpirit, POI, TCI, Mysticism, OFRS, BHS, PSS, SPS, Lifetime Stressors, Omega Life Changes Inventory, CATA, and narrative flow questionnaires. The data were collected and analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were entered and analyzed with SPSS 12.0 software using general linear models of multivariate analyses exploring similarities and differences within and between the two groups examining covariates: demographics, previous experience/skill, stress (OFRS, BHS, PSS), and post-assessment evaluation of the process. A Chi Square, t test, and analyses of variance (ANOVA) were administered to the Omega Life Changes Inventory and to the CATA as well as to the covariates. The quantitative analyses revealed significant transformation on the battery of pre- and post-assessments. Significant results were further expressed through the examination of the covariates. Demographic data demonstrated a powerful impact on the transformation of the participant's age, marital status, anger, and letting the process of flow happen. Qualitative data were collected in the pre- and post-assessment questionnaires and journaling processes. The qualitative data revealed themes that were consistent with transpersonal transformative practices (i.e., meditation and yoga), psychological process, relationship with self/others, general health, and well-being. A quantitative factor analysis component matrix of the qualitative data named 23 themes that significantly represented Flow as a Transformative Practice accounting, for 100% of the variance. The themes were further examined to discover which ones were written about the most, by the most participants, and across all 3 components of the process. Out of 129 themes, those that were most expressed were awareness, flow as practice, inquiry, consistency, practice, change, others, psychological, inhibitors, satisfied, autotelic, intensity, aesthetic qualities, well-being, concentration, and in/out of the body experience. The process of Flow as a Transformative Practice is a tool that works with the individual's own comfort and competency level, empowering his or her personal processes and abilities. The practice assists individual's personal growth, coping, general health, well-being, and relationship to those around him or her. This process could be applied to many areas within the field of transpersonal psychology and could be beneficial in more ways than have been explored in this research. This study not only contributes to the growing body of literature on flow, but also to the field of transpersonal psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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