Disclaimer

The protocols inside The Heart of Flow can cause powerful cleansing reactions and can be
dangerous for pregnant women, people with organ transplants, GI problems or panic
attacks, as well as those who take medication for diabetes, hypertension, hypothyroidism
and other conditions.

Consult your healthcare provider before proceeding with any of the protocols inside this
book.

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Table Of Contents

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 Introduction: The Journey To The Heart Of Flow

Welcome to your journey towards The Heart of Flow. Your sweet spot for optimal health
and performance. Inside this book, I will align your mind towards focusing on your system’s
ability to recover and as a result, your health and ability to access your optimal state of mind
and performance will grow exponentially.

Your journey towards health and performance has a map which is called the heart rate
variability. This map is so specific to your own journey requirements that it appears to be
like a built-in compass, pulling you towards to your own true north. This compass tells you
when to go and when to rest along the road towards your destination, which is called flow.

As you know, all destinations worth the journey have uneven ground, hills, mountains, and
wild animals along the way, acting as obstacles. These obstacles can be thought of as
resistance, pressure – or are more commonly known as stress.

Sadly, most people are blindly navigating through these obstacles unconsciously, aligning
themselves with what I call a fear-based personality, which is the home of fear, anxiety,
pain, illness and discomfort. My intention for The Heart of Flow protocol is to give what is
needed, so you can break yourself free from this fear-based state.

What To Expect
This book can be thought of in three parts. Part 1 lays out the science behind The Heart of
Flow. Part 2 is about your destination, the flow state. Then Parts 3 and 4 cover the third
part, your protocol tools and techniques for reaching and mastering flow.

Just a heads up. Part 1 has a large portion of science, which I understand can be tricky to
digest for some of us. So here, I want to lay out six important points that you need to know
before reaching Part 2 covering the flow state. You can treat this either as a way to spark
your curiosity for the science chapter, or to trigger a jump past the science, straight to the
method itself.

Stress, pressure, and resistance, in a psychological sense, are the same thing. The only
difference is the name. Stress is something that HINDERS your health and performance.
Stress is also something that GROWS your health and performance.

You can’t hide from stress. Breathing, eating, talking, walking – everything you do has a
physiological response – i.e. a stress response. It can either be familiar stress or un-familiar
stress. Both are needed for health, however, and too much of either will stop health and
performance.

Heart rate variability (HRV) is the compass for stress. Its gives you feedback on your
autonomic nervous system’s functioning. There are two branches of your ANS, called the

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sympathetic (fight, flight or freeze) and the parasympathetic (rest, recover, digest). Basically,
by indicating your balance between the two, your HRV tells you how well your system is
dealing with stress.

Your vagus nerve is the master of your parasympathetic nervous system and connects to
every organ, gland and muscle in your body. It’s your optimal de-stressing device.

You are a bioelectrical being – meaning your system communicates electrically from cell to
cell. Your autonomic nervous system communicates this way too. All things electrical give
off an electrical magnetic field or frequency, called an EMF.

Brain waves produce frequencies measured in cycles per second (Hz). You’re familiar with
the term brain power, but your heart emits a frequency 60 times stronger than the brain.
Heart power is your true strength: physically, mentally and energetically. A coherent heart is
an intuitive heart. It appears that intuition comes from your heart.

Now, I would recommend reading through the science as it provides a solid foundational
understanding of how my system works in your body. However, if you’re impatient and
keen to get started, like me, then you might just want to jump into it.

So here it is, the aim/rules of The Heart of Flow protocol:

● Consciously work with your vagus nerve.

● Learn to adapt your day (exercise, task, business meetings, etc) according to your
HRV.
● Consistently (every day) do your protocol.

Now enjoy taking your next step towards optimal health and performance.

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Part 1: The Science Behind The Heart Of Flow

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 The Obstacle In The Way Of The Heart Of Flow

So what is the biggest obstacle you will face on your journey to this optimal state of life? It is
an obstacle that cannot and must not be avoided. This obstacle is the catalyst of the
disruption to your nervous system, it is the fog that is blinding you from reaching your
destination of the land of optimal performance.

This obstacles has many faces, but once the mask is off, it reveals itself to be both friend and
foe. It is called stress.

“Pressure or tension exerted on a material object.”

“State of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding

circumstances.”

”A reaction to a stimulus that disturbs our physical or mental equilibrium.”

– Oxford Dictionary

The Spanner In The Works

So the real spanner in the works is our perception of stress. Many of us strive to hide from
stressful situations, while others report thriving in stressful situations. Both sides are correct
and both sides are incorrect.

Think of stress as a nutrient for growth. A fuel that feeds our development in everything.
The problem most face is that some overeat stress and other undereat stress, resulting in
either not giving themselves enough time to digest or not giving themselves enough
nutrients to grow.

The same principle applies to the obstacle many face in entering the flow state. Either we
try too hard, creating an overabundance of stress expressed through tension. Or some hide
from the slight increase in stress that will eventually fire you into the 4% flow progression.
So we need to take a spanner to the works... but we must use it wisely, instead of just
throwing it in there and hoping something good will happen.

Over the last seven years, my reach in teaching the flow state has grown. Now, I speak and
coach people from all walks of life. And I can tell you this, that we are all facing the same
obstacle in the way. It’s this obstacle that makes you feel like a victim. Like you’re not living,
like you’re not reaching your potential, no matter how hard you try!

This thick masking cloud can be dissipated with the realisation that you’re simply
experiencing stress. This knowledge is taught through your own personal awareness of your
body and mind. But sometimes, we don’t listen to the signals that are subtle, or even other
signals screaming in your face. Heart rate variability – which is a subject we’ll return to later

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– is your biofeedback device that acts like a walkie talkie communicating the homeostasis of
your nervous system to you. It’s the reenvoicement you need to listen to your personal
signals. It’s your coach, who only communicates nonverbally through your heart.

Working With Stress

Most athletes are highly driven people, who, when they push themselves too hard will
eventually crack, where others hold back and unconsciously shield their unexpressed
potential. The trick is that like a pro athlete, you must embrace and work with your stress
instead of working against it.

So what does stress do, exactly? Stress disrupts your physiology. Physiology is a branch of
biology that deals with the normal functions of living organisms and their parts – the way in
which a living organism or your bodily parts function. Stress is unavoidable, as it happens
when you’re walking, breathing, eating, doing your daily tasks. Everything is stress-inducing.
Sure, some situations are more potent than others, like being late for a meeting while
you’re stuck in traffic, or losing your job when the electricity bill is overdue. The point is,
small or large, stress is everywhere, and it’s not just mental. You can have:

● Physical stress
● Structural stress
● Digestive stress
● Environmental stress
● Social stress
● Emotional stress
● Mental stress

When stress is out of balance and unmanageable, your body and mind struggle with
allostasis – the process of achieving balance and stability. This inability to find a stable
environment in the body is expressed through things like:

● Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep

● Brain fog
● Lack of motivation
● Carrying excess fat
● Anxiety
● Depression
● Poor performance
● Being unable to hack the flow state

…and the list goes on.

But You Must Not Look To Avoid Stress

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Stress at the correct, personally digestible level is needed for growth. Growth in your
physical, mental, emotional, structural, digestive, social, environmental and of course, your
personal ability to be in the flow state in your current and newly learnt tasks.

The Greek physician Hippocrates wrote that disease was pathos (suffering) and also ponus
(toil). The nearest Chinese character to signify stress means crisis. So with the awareness of
stress having been around in our understanding of the mind for so long, it seems crazy to
realise that the term “stress”, which is so ingrained into our social vocabulary, originated
only 70 years ago from Dr Hans Selye.

Finding The Yin And Yang Of Stress

Dr Hans Selye not only coined the term “stress” but also brought to light the knowledge of
good stress and bad stress. He used the following terms:

Eustress (good stress) – Moderate or normal psychological stress interpreted as being

beneficial for the experiencer.

Distress (bad stress) – Negative stress that occurs when an individual cannot adapt to the
stress.

Who decides if the physiological situation creates eustress or distress? Well, it all comes
down to how you respond to it. It’s your physiological interpretation that determines if
something is good or bad. So think of it like this: Every action or behaviour is potential
eustress to you, promoting growth in physical, mental, emotional, structural, digestive,
social and environmental ways. Every action, behaviour is potential distress to you,
promoting decay in physical, mental, emotional, structural, digestive, social and
environmental ways.

Homeostasis
When your body senses stress, it sends a signal to your brain and other organs. Your organs
then interpret the information as eustress (good) or distress (bad) and send instructions on
how to deal with this stressor, with the objective of maintaining internal stable processes.
Consistently seeking to maintain a harmonious equilibrium is called homeostasis.

Homeostasis is an essential part of life and happens in your organs and cells. In fact,
homeostasis is omnipresent. It’s like every cell in your body is part of a symphony orchestra,
where each musician is striving to play their instrument in perfect tune, allowing for unity in
the orchestra’s expression of the song. These instruments – or neurotransmitters,
hormones, and organs – all collaborate to maintain things like blood sugar, pH levels, body
temperature, heart rate and so on.

An easily digestible example of homeostasis is that your optimal body temperature is 37

Celsius (98.6 Fahrenheit). If your body interprets a very slight temperature change, it will
react by warming you up or cooling you down. “Slight temperature change” is important to

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underline, because homeostasis works to maintain a sweet spot of optimal performance. It’s
like a perfectionist constantly at work maintaining the perfect balance.

Furthermore, all these micro-changes use energy to do so, which means a slight change in
either direction has a impact on energy production. And remember, your body is super-
efficient and only uses energy when it needs to.

So this temperature disruption of the homeostasis is called a stressor. Anything that disrupts
the harmony of homeostasis is a stressor. Now we know that stressors are inevitable,
unavoidable and are needed for growth, it follows that your ability to maintain a
harmonious homeostasis is a big sign of health.

Allostasis
Allostasis is the process of achieving stability, or homeostasis, through physiological or
behavioral change. This can be carried out by means of alteration through allostasis
mediators. For example, your HPA axis hormones, the autonomic nervous system, or
cytokines (a broad and loose category of small proteins that are important in cell signaling,
with their release having an effect on the behavior of cells around them – it can be said that
cytokines are involved in autocrine signaling, paracrine signaling and endocrine signaling as
immunomodulating agents), catecholamines (hormones produced by the adrenal glands,
which sit on top of the kidneys, including dopamine, epinephrine (adrenaline), and
norepinephrine), or a number of other systems.

The allostasis mediators have two types of battles.

Unfamiliar (stress) – a greater stress response, where more and more resources are
required to participate to the allostasis. Larger resources also means a larger amount of
recovery is required.

Familiar (stress) – a learned stressor, where your body is familiar and ready to deal with the
stress. Because your body is familiar with this stressor, it is well prepared before the stress
begins.

So what you will find is that “unfamiliar” stress will eventually become familiar stress. Take,
for example, an amateur boxer stepping into the boxing ring for the first time. Sure, he or
she has sparred many times before today. But this time, the opponent wants to win. Added
to that, there is a crowd of familiar and unfamiliar faces, cheering and booing. Compare that
to three years down the line, when the same boxer is now very familiar with the process of
stepping into the ring. What kind of environment is waiting for him or her now?

The more information your brain has of the up-and-coming environmental shift, the more
prepared it is for dealing with the eventual stress. This is true whether you are preparing
yourself for a business meeting, a coaching call, preparing food for cooking, or training for
your marathon. The more routine the experience, the less stress you will be putting your
body under. It is all about taking yourself from the unfamiliar to the familiar.

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The Running Tap Of Stress Response
In a stress-interpreted situation, you experience an increase in the cortical, sympathetic
nervous system which kicks into action, and calcium ions enter your neurons, etc. The short
term effects of this process are awesome with a boost of brain function and easy coping
with stress. However, if you leave the tap running on the response, then the longer-term
effects are not very awesome at all! You open yourself up to excitotoxicity (the pathological
process by which neurons are damaged and killed by the overactivation of receptors for the
excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate, such as the NMDA receptor and AMPA receptor),
anxiety and premature aging, to name a few. So my suggestion is to turn off the tap.

So this allostatic load, when the tap is left on, has a determinate affect on your
performance, health and wellbeing. Without a relief from the stressor, you become
susceptible to what is called “allostatic overload”. Allostatic overload is the accumulation of
stress. Your total accumulation of stress – you’re late for a meeting, your bills are overdue,
your partner is angry with you – all that accumulation of consistent stress really plays havoc
on your performance.

This overload of stress not only dramatically affects your performance in your skill, sport or
profession, but will increase your recovery time, open you up to chronic diseases, and a
higher rate of injuries and illnesses .

So the bottom line here on allostasis awareness is critical for your performance in the flow
state. Remember, for allostasis to work effectively, all you gotta do is let it do its thing! Step
back, and let your mediators mediate. Increasing your activity will open you up to overload,
drawing you further and further away from entering the flow state. We will discuss other
activities that will help your allostasis in the coming chapters.

Hacking Into The Flow State

Stress is needed to flow – however, it must be manageable. And that means manageable for
you as you are today, not the manageable level of someone else, or someone you feel you
would like to be. Familiar stress will allow you to enter the flow state while doing your skill.
For this to happen, you must already have a good firm knowledge of your skill, sport or
profession to allow that “familiar stress” to trigger you into the flow state.

Unfamiliar stress is an important skill developer. But the wisdom of a flow state hacker
comes into play when he or she knows that they are in a unfamiliar stress state and works
with it. The flow hacker does not fight against the current of unfamiliar stress. Doing this
only increases the duration of overload – instead, the flow hacker breathes, maintains a
relaxed, focused, progressive state and learns what needs to be learnt.

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General Stress Response
So we have learnt so far that any kind of stress causes a disruption in your biology. But what
we will also clarify in this chapter is that your response to stress is predictable. This
predictable physiological response is the same in us all and was first brought to light by Dr
Hans Selye in 1936. The father of biological stress, Dr Selye’s called this the “general
adaptation syndrome” (GAS). His work concluded that stress was a “non-specific strain on
the body caused by irregularities in normal body function”.

Your system has one goal… your survival. So when your system perceives a stressor, your
physiological response kicks into gear to ensure its number one objective… your survival. It’s
not thinking, “Aha, this will improve my performance”. No, it’s just reacting like the robot in
the TV show Lost in Space: ”...protect Will Robinson…protect Will Robinson…” Obviously,
this is a very important protective response. However, this automatic response can also
keep you glued into your “comfort zone”. We will explore more shortly.

Selye's work underlined the relationship between stress and chronic disease, pointing out
that unmanaged stress will eventually lead towards chronic disease or death. Dr Selye
expanded on Walter Cannon’s “fight or flight” work. It was Cannon who first coined the
term “fight or flight”. This term is used to describe how animals respond to a threat of
danger… by fight or by flight. And then, in 1996, the Polyvagal theory was introduced. This
widely researched aspect of the stress response really makes sense – now we have “fight,
flight or freeze”. It explains why under severe stress, some people faint or freeze with fright.

The fight, flight or freeze response consists of the following steps:

● Stage 1 – Brain receives stimulus

● Stage 2 – Brain interprets the signal as a threat or not
● Stage 3 – Body is aroused until threat is gone
● Stage 4 – Body returns to normal when threat is removed

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Homeostasis
In the Homeostasis Phase, an allostasis of homeostasis is at work. You are dealing with day-
to-day familiar stressors… then BOOM! An unfamiliar stressor jumps out of the bushes!
Alarm!

Stage 1 (Alarm) – The initial Shock Phase is like a unexpected punch coming out of nowhere.
This immediate response to the stressor is where your UP regulators are switched on. The
Countershock Phase is the survival state kicking into action. Your sympathetic activation
fires up like the engine of Tesla roadster. It’s like your elite ninja assassins (allostasis
mediators) start somersaulting into action. Physiological and psychological chemical
messages are released.

Stage 2 (Resistance) – In the Resistance Phase, the stressor sticks around, demanding more
attention, so your system begins to adjust your structure in order to give more protection
and compensation of the homeostasis imbalance.

It’s in this state that a unfamiliar stressor can be studied. It’s here where we learn how the
“enemy” works, so you can learn valuable lessons for defence next time. In time, you will
slowly evolve this unfamiliar stressor into a familiar stressor, by training your system to
adapt and prepare for the next time it gets attacked. Your system will learn a compensation
pattern for the next time this stressor surfaces.

Moving into Stage 3 can go one of two ways.

Stage 3a (Recovery) – This is the state where the stressor is gone. Your digesting state. It’s
in this stage that you build on from the “stressor nutrients” you have just received. Learning,
digesting, building.

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So, for example, when your body goes through a specific flu, your body begins to build
antibodies for the next time this flu surfaces. It is preparing for future attacks.

Stage 3b (Recovery) – When you push past your allocated amount of resources for a healthy
allostasis towards homeostasis, then Boom, you’re in allostasis overload, where your gas
tank is in the red and your body is beginning to lower, causing fatigue, poor performance, a
depressed immune system, injury and eventually chronic illness. With a lacklustre energy
level, you open the door to your emotional imbalances, and thoughts of failure and just
giving up enter your mind.

Consistently working in Stage 3b goes in only one direction. Everything will eventually shut
down permanently.

This stage is the number one killer for 99% of performance hungry professions. A serious
flow state hacker must pay attention to and use this information wisely. A lot of the time,
this stage is entered through peer pressure. “You should train every day.” “You should work
every day.” “I work until I die.” (Tell yourself this, and it will certainly happen sooner than
you think.)

If you do not listen to this information, you will continue struggling to enter the flow state
and remain tied to all fear-based behaviours.

Work With, Not Against

“Your response to stress is predictable.”

This stress response happens to everyone. No matter if it’s a familiar or unfamiliar stressor,
your physiology will respond. What separates the “winners” from the “losers” is their
gradual movement from a unfamiliar stressor to a familiar stressor. This gradual movement
is ideally stepped towards with consistent, precise baby steps. With consistency, these baby
steps very quickly appear to be like the steps of a giant.

Pay attention to this information and your ability to do the following:

● Listen to your own personal signals telling you about the stressors. Pay attention to
what you are feeling/sensing and work with it. NOT against.
● Use your HRV (see a later chapter) to reinforce that listening.

Doing this will set you FREE. Free from recurring injuries, the stop-start approach, peer
pressure, illness, poor performance and the invisible shackles of mediocrity in your life.

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 The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)

Well done for getting through the obstacle in the way. That was a lot of information on
stress and how it affects you, right there. Now I’m going to cover the autonomic nervous
system which I mentioned previously. But I would to highlight one more thing about your
ANS. It’s your ANS that is your built-in volume control. Not like a mic from the movie Spinal
Tap, but rather the volume of your output – or stressput, if you like to think of it like that.

There is an area of your nervous system called the autonomic nervous system which, largely
unconsciously, regulates your body's functions such as digestion, respiratory rate, pupillary
response, urination, sexual arousal and your heart rate.

You have two branches in your autonomic nervous system (ANS): the sympathetic (fight,
flight or freeze) and parasympathetic (rest and digest). The sympathetic turns the volume up
on your organs and glands, while the parasympathetic lowers the volume. This is a brief
overview of what each system governs:

The Parasympathetic Nervous System

● Constricts the pupils
● Increases saliva production
● Reduces the heart rate
● Constricts the bronchial system
● Stimulates the activity of the digestion organs
● Stimulates the activity of the pancreas
● Stimulates the gallbladder
● Constricts the urinary bladder
● Stimulates erection of the genitals for both men and women

The Sympathetic Nervous System

● Dilates the pupils
● Inhibits saliva production
● Raises the heart rate
● Dilates the bronchial system
● Inhibits the activity of the digestive organs
● Inhibits the activity of the pancreas
● Inhibits the gallbladder
● Stimulates the adrenal medulla to release adrenaline and noradrenaline
● Relaxes the urinary bladder
● Stimulates orgasm in the genitals for both men and women

Using a method of measuring your sympathetic and parasympathetic responses, called

heart rate variability (HRV), scientists have discovered that when you’re in the peak

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performance state, there is a consistent push and pull between your sympathetic and
parasympathetic systems.

We will discuss the heart rate variability more in coming chapters. But until then, keep in
mind that this coherent push and pull between the two systems indicates not just a state of
flow, but an optimal state of health, performance and longevity.

Your work will be to train yourself with the teachings in The Heart of Flow program to align
yourself with this coherence. It’s your ANS that will be your guiding light in the dark, your
map towards an optimal state of health, performance and longevity.

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 Homeostasis Of Organs, Glands And Muscle Connection

I would like to take you a little further down the rabbit hole here, and show your ANS is a
different light.

In the 1960s, Dr George Goodheart began the development of a revolutionary approach to

health called applied kinesiology. The growth of AK comes from the understanding that all
organs in the body have a relationship with a specific muscle and therefore, according to
what you have just read, a relationship with your autonomic nervous system.

Below is a chart of that relationship.

If you feel you must dive deeper into applied kinesiology, find an applied kinesiology doctor.
There are a lot of adaptations of AK out there, so I recommend checking out: akdoc.com.

ORGAN MUSCLES AFFECTED IF JOINTS AFFECTED IF ORGAN

ORGAN IS DYSFUNCTIONAL IS DYSFUNCTIONAL

Stomach Brachioradialis, Levator Neck, Shoulder, Elbow, Wrist

Scapulae, Neck Flexors and (most neck problems are
Extensors, Pectoralis, Major from the stomach, as are
Clavicular most wrist problems)

Spleen Latissimus Dorsi, Triceps, Shoulder, Elbow, Thumb

Opponens Pollicis Longus,
Mid and Lower Trapezius

Heart Subscapularis Shoulder

Small Intestine Abdominals, Quadriceps Hip, Knee (manifests as

difficulty from deep knee
bends OR doing sit-ups)

Bladder Tibialis, Peroneus, Spine (compression), Ankles

Sacrospinalis

Kidney Psoas, Iliacus, Upper Neck, Hip

Trapezius

Gonads Glutes, Adductors, Piriformis Hip, Sacroiliac joint

Thyroid Teres minor Shoulder

Adrenals Sartorius, Gracilis, Hip, Knee, (calf cramps,

Gastrocnemius, Soleus plantar fasciitis)

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Gall Bladder Anterior Deltoid, Popliteus Shoulder, Knee

Liver Pectoralis, Major Sternal, Shoulder (the cause of pain

Rhomboids between the shoulder blades)

Lung Deltoids, Anterior serratus, Shoulder, Ribs

Coracobrachialis, Diaphragm

Large Intestine Hamstrings, Fascia Lata, Hip, Knee, Lower Back,

Quadratus Lumborum Sacroiliac Joint

Emotions And Homeostasis Of Glands And Organs

“Perhaps you being ‘quick tempered’ has a deep reason.”

The intention for this section is to

highlight the emotional connection
of your organs and glands. The
depth of Chinese medicine far
exceeds what we are discussing.
However, I would like to cover the
five elements and their relationship
with your organs and glands. The
five elements are deeply woven into
fabric of Chinese culture and can be
found in feng shui, martial arts and
the I Ching.

Chinese medicine believes that this

is like a master blueprint that
illustrates how nature interacts with
the body and how the different
dimensions of our being affect each
other.

“The five elements are a comprehensive template that organizes all natural phenomena
into five master groups or patterns in nature.”

● Wood

● Fire

● Earth

● Metal

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 ● Water

“Include categories such as season, direction, climate, state of growth and development,
internal organs, body tissue, emotions, aspects of the soul, taste, colour, sound…”

– Traditional Chinese Medicine World Foundation

So, to tie these into our focus. When you fight against your system’s natural allostasis
towards homeostasis, you will experience a heightened sensitivity towards certain
emotions. With a chronic consistency of fighting against your body’s warning signals to “rest
and digest” (your parasympathetic nervous system), certain emotions will appear more
prominent.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, certain organs are particularly tied to certain
emotions:

● Your liver is the organ that is most affected by excess stress or emotion. If you are
regularly short tempered, angry, or react to stress (like everything is “unfamiliar”
stress), this is a signal that your liver’s function is getting out of balance.
● Your heart is connected to happiness and love. It has a deep bond to your life and
destiny. Once again, stress (“unfamiliar” stress) or lack of self-expression can directly
impact your heart’s function.
● Your stomach and its good friend, the spleen are linked to digestive health and
metabolism. Chronic stress, worry and anxiety can damage your digestive function.
● Your lungs are affected by consistent sadness and grieving. Your lungs are also linked
to your large intestine. “Letting things go” and “getting rid of physical and emotional
baggage” are the way to stimulate your lungs into homeostasis.
● Your kidneys are the “reserve generator” of your energy in your body. Chinese
medicine says that your kidneys “supply extra Chi to all the organs when necessary”.
When your kidneys are fighting away from homeostasis, you will experience an
imbalance of fear, and will become more susceptible to be swept away into the red
of fear.

So why am I mention this? I want you to see as much of the big picture as you can.
Everything is connected and by incorporating the training inside The Heart of Flow, then

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those recurring illnesses and injuries may very well finally come to rest.

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 The Wanderer (The Vagus Nerve)

“It’s almost like yin and yang. The vagal response reduces stress. It reduces our heart rate
and blood pressure. It changes the function of certain parts of the brain, stimulates
digestion, all those things that happen when we are relaxed.”

– Dr. Mladen Golubic, MD, Medical Director of the Cleveland Clinic

Central to my teachings in The Heart of Flow is one vital part of the body. The vagus nerve.
Never heard of it? Well you’re not alone. But knowing about this important nerve is key to
mastering flow. What if I told you that by simply stimulating this one nerve, you could
change your whole life?

The main controller of your parasympathetic nervous system is your vagus nerve. Vagus
means “wandering” in Latin. The words “vagabond”, “vague” and “vagrant” are all threaded
from the same Latin root. Your “wandering nerve” has multiple branches that diverge from
two thick stems rooted in your cerebellum and brainstem that wander like a serpent to the
lowest viscera of your abdomen, curling around your heart and your major organs on its
way.

Your vagus is the 10th of 12 cranial nerves and as you can imagine, it is the longest reaching
nerve of the autonomic nervous
system. The main job of cranial nerves
is to bring information from the body to
the brain, aiding in processes and
requesting a specific response. These
nerves are connected to muscles,
organs and glands, and they feed you
with sensory information.

You can can see in this image why your

vagus is an important nerve – because it
is pretty much hardwired everywhere in
your body.

This connection runs through from your

skull, passes down the neck into the
thorax, stomach, digestion tract, lungs,
heart, spleen, intestines, liver, kidneys
and many other sensory nerves.

One of functions of the vagus is to

report data to your brain about the homeostasis of your organs. The brain listens carefully
to the vagus and then performs what is necessary for equilibrium.

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Vagal Tone
The vagus activity in the heart is called your vagal tone. This vagal tone is measured through
your HRV. What research has found is the greater your HRV, the greater your vagal tone,
and the greater opening you have to triggering the flow state on a consistent daily basis.
And as we discussed previously, the vagus is the main controller of the parasympathetic
nervous system, which is like your built-in pitstop.

(On that note, I want to point something out, something I see through the eyes of 25 years
of coaching, which is a HUGE obstacle for all performance-hungry professionals. Picture a
racing team like Formula 1’s Ferrari team performing a pit stop. When the car pulls into
position and ‘stops’, he engine is still running, and the driver is still active – the pit crew are
doing your job. What I intended to make clear is that even when your are resting, you are
still in the “race”. You are only changing your tyres, clearing your mask, taking stock of your
position… And then you’re off with a fresh, clean perspective.)

Your vagal tone is picked up by your friends, family and random people just passing by.
What you must be aware of is that the work you do on yourself will affect the hearts of
others. As I have mentioned in this book, environmental factors affect your HRV, and in
turn, this disrupts your vagal tone. But not only that – growing studies are showing that your
vagal tone affects others.

For example: the vagal tone of mother to child. Mothers who are depressed, anxious and
angry during pregnancy have lower vagal activity. Once the child is born, research shows
that the child also has a very low vagal tone along with low dopamine and serotonin levels.
In the brain, dopamine functions as a neurotransmitter. It has a major role in the
motivational component of reward-motivation behaviours. Serotonin is an important
chemical and neurotransmitter in the human body. It is believed to help regulate mood and
social behavior, appetite and digestion, sleep, memory, and sexual desire and function.

So in short, yes. Your vagal activity, emotions and behaviour are not only “picked up” but
they also greatly affect others. How do you stop this effect and protect yourself and your
family?

Improve your HRV score (your vagal tone).

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Vagus Summary
Moving on to the next section, you will see that your vagus nerve is in communication your
brain and body. Your gut and brain are in communication. Knowing that the wandering
vagus is connected throughout your whole body will help you with the following sections.

We are now going to discuss how your vagus communicates with your diaphragm and when
you breathe correctly, you will harmonise your vagal tone. You will learn that your vagal
tone will improve your recovery by decreasing inflammation. And you will learn how
emotions affect your vagal tone and, in turn, your HRV.

The Ace In Your Deck – Acetylcholine

Acetylcholine was discovered in 1913 by Arthur James Ewins and later written about in 1915
by Sir Henry Dales, who described that acetylcholine is the chief neurotransmitter for your
parasympathetic nervous system. Acetylcholine has a number of significant jobs it carries
out for you:

● In the cardiovascular system: It acts as a vasodilator (the relaxation of smooth

muscle cells within the blood vessel walls, and the widening of your blood vessels.
The opposite of vasoconstriction, which is the narrowing of blood vessels.) Decreases
heart rate, and decreases heart muscle contraction.
● In the gastrointestinal system: It acts to increase peristalsis (“the involuntary
constriction and relaxation of the muscles of the intestine or another canal, creating
wave-like movements which push the contents of the canal forward”).
● In the urinary system: decreases the capacity of the bladder and increases voluntary
voiding pressure (the mechanism by which voluntary urination is initiated remains
unsettled).
● In the respiratory system: Acetylcholine contracts the smooth muscle in the airways
to control tone and regulate patency of the conducting airways.
● In the glands: Acetylcholine stimulates secretion of all those that receive
parasympathetic nerve impulses.

The wanderer returns: in 1921, German physiologist Otto Loewi demonstrated that
acetylcholine was liberated when your vagus nerve is stimulated. Owing to Dales and
Loewi’s work on acetylcholine, it became the first neurotransmitter to be identified and
characterized. For their work, the two men shared the 1936 Nobel Prize for Physiology or
Medicine.

The Vagus Nerve And Inflammation

Inflammation occurs when you are injured by trauma, toxins, heat, bacteria or some other
means. Your immune system then steps up to the plate and releases chemicals from your
white blood cells into the blood or the affected tissues to protect your body from other
foreign substances. This process may result in redness and warmth.

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Inflammation in general is your body’s response to stress, so you’re fired into your fight,
flight or freeze mode (your sympathetic nervous system). This is an important response in
the development and persistence of many diseases. However, unmanaged inflammation can
lead to debilitating chronic pain.

Typically, your doctor will prescribe medication to manage this. However, a growing pool of
evidence is pointing towards engaging your vagus nerve and so running your vagal tone
does help as a powerful, natural alternative.

Why? Your vagus nerve is el capitano of the parasympathetic nervous system. And as we
spoke about previously... of the “rest and digest” and “feed and breed” system.

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 Feeling Electric

Whenever someone says to you, “You are electric!” you can reply simply with, “Yes, and so
are you!”

Straight off the bat, when I say to you electricity is everywhere, your initial thought is
probably of cell phones, laptops, the TV etc. And you would be correct, but electricity is
even closer to home than that.

Your nervous system uses electricity to send signals through your body and brain, making
you do stuff like… move, think and feel. So, I’m sure you will agree, it’s a pretty important
part of life.

However, there are layers to this onion, so hold on.

The elements in your body, chemicals like sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium, have
a specific electrical charge. Pretty much all your cells use these charged elements called ions
for generating electricity. Everything that is electrical produces an electric field called an
electromagnetic field – Also known as the EMF or EM field. These fields affect the behaviour
of charged objects in the vicinity of the field and extend indefinitely throughout space. They
are described as the electromagnetic interaction, which is one of the four fundamental
forces of nature (the others are gravitation, weak interaction and strong interaction).

● Electromagnetism is a branch of physics involving the study of the electromagnetic

force, a type of physical interaction that occurs between electrically charged
particles.
● Gravity (from the Latin gravitas, meaning “weight” or “gravitation”, is a natural
phenomenon by which all things with mass or energy – including planets, stars,
galaxies, and even light are brought toward (or gravitate toward) one another.
● Weak interaction (the weak force or weak nuclear force) is the mechanism of
interaction between subatomic particles that causes radioactive decay and thus
plays an essential role in nuclear fission.
● Strong interaction is the mechanism responsible for the strong nuclear force (also
called the strong force, nuclear strong force, or colour force).

Guess what else is electric… Ok, I will give you a clue: “You’re standing on it.”

That’s right, our planet is electric too. You’ve heard of the North and South Poles – well,
these are parts of the Earth’s magnetic field, which is also known as the geomagnetic field.
This magnetic field extends from the core of the Earth out into space, where it meets the
solar winds, which are a stream of charged particles emanating from the sun. This field is
like the Earth’s force field limiting the exposure from the sun.

The Earth has an area in its atmosphere where particles are electrically charged by the sun’s
radiation, called the ionosphere. Ionization “is the process by which an atom or a molecule

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acquires a negative or positive charge by gaining or losing electrons to form ions, often in
conjunction with other chemical changes”.

The electrical frequency resonating from the ionosphere was mathematically predicted in
1952 by physicist Winfried Otto Schumann. Schumann wrote that resonance occurs because
the space between the surface of the Earth and the conductive ionosphere acts as a closed
waveguide.

This pocket or cavity which is electrically excited by lightning has been calculated as having
an extremely low frequency (ELF) of around 7.83 Hz. However, from the 1980s onwards, the
Schumann frequency has changed, due to solar radiation, like sun spots. These solar
activities have a periodic 11-year cycle, known as the solar cycle or solar magnetic activity
cycle. This changes the levels of solar radiation, which has a knock-on effect with the Earth’s
magnetic field and… you guessed it, with us too. The Earth’s electrical activity goes straight
to the heart for you and me.

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 The Heart

Ok, so we’re getting to the heart of things now.

(Sorry, I’ve been waiting for a while to write that line.)

Your heart is made up of four compartments or “chambers” that work together to contract,
in order to pump blood. Your upper chambers are called the atria, and their function is to
receive the collected blood. The ventricles, the lower chambers, pump blood throughout the
body, delivering oxygen and nutrients.

So what starts this machine up, and where is the spark for the ignition? Well, this comes
from a cluster of cells (with electrical impulses) inside the sinus node, which is situated in
the upper area of the wall of your right atrium. And what controls the sinus node? Yes, your
autonomic nervous system.

The Electromagnetic Heart

“The heart generates the largest electromagnetic field in the body. The electrical field as
measured in an electrocardiogram (ECG) is about 60 times greater in amplitude than
the brain waves recorded in an electroencephalogram (EEG). The magnetic component
of the heart’s field, which is around 5000 times stronger than that produced by the
brain, is not impeded by tissues and can be measured several feet away from the body
with a superconducting quantum interference device.”

– The HeartMath Institute

By now, I’m sure you will see that the

purpose of this book so far is to underline
that you are a bioelectrical being, with
hidden potential that CAN be tuned in with
the consistent training of The Heart of Flow
program.

So far, the research is showing us that our

hearts are evolutionarily tuned to the
frequency of the Earth. We have also
learned that the Earth’s first recorded
measurement of this frequency was noted
by Winfried Otto Schumann – from here where the name “Schumann frequency” comes.
This measurement was 7.83 Hz (cycles per second). We also know that since the 1980s, with
the increase of solar activity, this measurement has altered.

Studies show that geomagnetic fields and solar activity affect the human autonomic nervous
system. “Long-Term Study of HRV Responses to Changes in Solar & Geomagnetic

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Environment” was published in the February 2018 edition of Scientific Reports, one of the
journals published by Nature magazine.

"These findings," the study states, "support the hypothesis that these energetic
environmental factors act as energy sources that outplay in different ways depending
on an individual’s health status and maturity level and capacity of self-regulation."

– The HeartMath Institute, Rollin McCraty and Mike Atkinson

“Human regulatory systems are designed to adapt to daily and seasonal climatic and
geomagnetic variations; however, sharp changes in solar and geomagnetic activity
and geomagnetic storms can stress these regulatory systems, resulting in alterations in
melatonin/serotonin balance, blood pressure, immune system, reproductive, cardiac,
and neurological processes.”

- The HeartMath Institute, Rollin McCraty and Mike Atkinson

So my point is that the autonomic nervous system is affected by more than just our
physiological responses, and can have an affect on your heart, which can limit your health
and performance. So learning to tune into your sweet spot of health will allow you to be
more adaptable to life's obstacles. You are going to learn how to do this through
understanding and working with your heart rate variability (HRV). We are going to go into
HRV in the next chapter, but before we move on, I would like to point out a few interesting
facts about your heart from recent scientific discoveries.

“The heart is a sensory organ and acts as a sophisticated information encoding and
processing center that enables it to learn, remember, and make independent functional
decisions.” This is what HeartMath Institute Director of Research Rollin McCraty wrote in his
paper “The Energetic Heart: Bioelectromagnetic Communication Within and Between
People”. Furthermore: “When people touch or are in proximity, a transference of the
electromagnetic energy produced by the heart occurs.”

In the HeartMath study “The Electricity of Touch: Detection and Measurement of Cardiac
Energy Exchange Between People”, practices such as therapeutic touch, holoenergetic
healing, healing touch, chi gong and reiki among others “are based upon the assumption
that an exchange of energy occurs to facilitate healing,” according to the findings. “While
there exists scientific evidence to substantiate the physiological and psychological effects of
many of these treatments, science has as yet not been able to describe a mechanism by
which this putative energy exchange between individuals takes place. This study, together
with the work of (other research) … represents one of the first successful attempts to
directly measure an exchange of energy between people.”

In the HeartMath study “The Electricity of Touch: Detection and Measurement of Cardiac
Energy Exchange Between People” he wrote: “Through the use of tools and technologies
that foster positive emotions and psychophysiological coherence, individuals can effectively
initiate a repatterning process, whereby habitual emotional patterns underlying stress are

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replaced with new, healthier patterns that establish increased emotional stability, mental
acuity, and physiological efficiency as a new familiar baseline or norm.”

“Emotional Stress, Positive Emotions, and Psychophysiological Coherence”. This paper,

written by HMI researchers McCraty and Dana Tomasino, comprised a chapter in the 2006
book, Stress in Health and Disease, published by Wiley-VCH.

“Explored the potential to measure energetic heart-brain interactions that may be

occurring between a mother and her infant.”

“This preliminary data elucidates the intriguing finding that the electromagnetic signals
generated by the heart have the capacity to affect others around us. It appears that
when the mother placed her attention on the baby that she became more sensitive to
the subtle electromagnetic signals generated by the infant’s heart. … These findings
have intriguing implications, suggesting that a mother in a psychophysiological
coherent state became more sensitive to the subtle electromagnetic information
encoded in the electromagnetic signals of her infant.”

– “Heart-Brain Synchronization between Mother and Baby”, The HeartMath Institute’s

most recent studies

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 Pulling All The Science Together

Forgive me for all that science. That is way more technical information than I normally give.
The reason is that I normally deliver this information to my elite flow coaching group either
one-to-one or over a group call. This allows me to answer any questions that come up at
that time. However, in this book I’ve kept it as simple as possible, though I still need to give
just enough to cover any potential blockages.

The reason for this, is that my approach to unlocking health and performance is not about
accumulating knowledge of what to do – rather, it’s about doing.

So what are the real essentials here for you to do, rather than to think?

The first thing is that stress is your friend and your potential foe. You need stress, but when
it’s out of balance, it becomes your foe. It’s like a friend who shares good times with you,
introducing you to new people, helping you grow as a person. But then, over time, this
friend begins to take liberties and before you know it, this friend has dominated your time,
energy and health.

To summarize what we’ve covered, stress is important. It feeds the fire of your sympathetic
nervous system, and your sympathetic nervous system is a critical part of you that you need
to have active. But once it gets out of balance, it will devour you. An overactive sympathetic
nervous system is the cause of countless health and performance problems, and is very
common.

Your secret weapon is the vagus nerve. Your vagus is your master of the parasympathetic
nervous system. It like water on your inner fire.

You are a bioelectrical being. Your entire system communicates electrically, and right at the
heart of it all is your heart. What you will find out shortly is that your heart, when in a
coherence, will unlock your health and performance to levels you really haven't even
dreamt of. And it is coherence that we are training, through The Heart of Flow protocol.

Now we’ve covered the science of what’s going on inside you, we are going to talk about
how we can use that knowledge regarding peak state called The Flow State.

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Part 2: The Flow State

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 The Flow State

What is your destination? It is called the flow state:

“Flow is being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time
flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one,
like playing jazz.”

– Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

“The state of being where you feel your best and perform your best.”

– Steven Kotler

“Flow state: you are not thinking ahead. You are just thinking about what is in front of
you each second.”

– Aron Ralston

“If you can keep playing tennis when somebody is shooting a gun down the street, that’s
concentration, and ultimately being in the flow.”

– Serena Williams

“Everybody who has spent any time in flow knows it’s a deeply creative place.”

– Chris Miller

The flow state is your destination for optimal performance, optimal health and well-being.
In this section of the book, my aim is of course for you to learn more about flow, but also
that my hungriest drive is for you to remember your
own experiences of being in the flow state.

Instead of pointing outwards in admiration of your

sporting hero, business mentor or coach, notice
instead that there is only one finger pointing
outwards while three point inwards.

All the treasures found in the flow state are in you

already. You have tasted it before. You already know.

You only need me to remind you and help strip away the usual obstacles blocking your
optimal potential.

Looking Under The Hood

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Thanks to the breakthroughs in science over the last couple of decades, you can now look
under the hood of this once-mystical state of being. This state where miracles are born,
where records are broken, where inventions are conceived and where health and happiness
are content. It’s in the deep now of flow that you can achieve what was previously un-
achievable and overcome anything that stands in your way.

The chain of events in flow:

1. The flow state begins with the release of norepinephrine and dopamine, which raises
your heart rate, tightens focus and improves your pattern recognition.
2. Your brain waves move from beta towards alpha, giving you the ability to link ideas
without internal obstructions and filters blocking your flow.
3. Your prefrontal cortex at this point begins to shut down giving you the sense of time
distorting, effortlessness and self-dissolving into the task.
4. You are in a transient hypofrontality, where your inner critic has also shut up,
opening you to your full potential. Your brain then releases endorphins and
anandamide, giving you the ability to dissolve away distress and pain.
5. Simultaneously, anandamide boosts your lateral thinking, allowing you to solve
problems in an indirect and creative way.
6. As you flow deeper in, theta brain waves enhancing relaxation and your intuition.
7. Concluding the experience, oxytocin and serotonin give you the “afterglow” feeling
of trust, peace, sociability and well-being, as you begin to digest the experience you
have just experienced.

Transient Hypofrontality
When you enter the flow state, you experience what is called a transient hypofrontality.

Transient, meaning temporary, hypo is the opposite of hyper, meaning to slow down, lessen.
And frontality refers to the the prefrontal cortex. The meaning is that you must deactivate
to fully activate.

These areas in the prefrontal cortex that are lessened are the seats of higher cognitive
processing, where you distinguish between self and other, your sense of time, your internal
dialogue.

This is why, when you are in flow, time seems to slow down, you merge with the
consciousness, you become one with what you are doing. It’s same brain patterns that
Tibetan monks experience during deep meditation, giving them the sense of begin at “one
with the universe”.

In flow, your brain waves are at the bridge between alpha (8-12 cycles per second) and
theta (4-8 cycles per second) opening the door to a transient hypofrontality. Your
brainwaves are in a PULSING at 7-8 cycles per second.

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There has not been concrete pinpoint accuracy to determine what exact frequency this
bridge is at. However, through my years of study, practise and coaching, I have found 7.83
Hz to be the sweet spot.

Flow Neurotransmitter And Hormones

These six neurotransmitters and hormones are expressed according to the intensity of the
task at hand. To much or too little will mean you are not in flow. The feeling of these six are
found in the appropriate progressive balance of the skill and challenge of the task. So the
intensity of the feeling will be with accordance to the task and your sensitivity or how
relaxed you are doing performing.

The six are:

● Norepinephrine – Speeds up heart rate, improves muscle tension, triggers the

release of glucose giving you more energy. When your neural efficiency is up, it
induces arousal and control of emotions.
● Dopamine – It gives the feeling of engagement in a task, excitement, adventure and
rewards you for it. Dramatically increases your attention, and improves pattern
recognition and muscle firing times.
● Endorphins – These pain relievers and neurotransmitters of the “euphoric” feeling
are pretty strong, to say the least. There are 20 different types of endorphins, one of
which is called beta-endorphins. These are reported as being 100 times more
powerful than medical morphine.
● Anandamide – The word is taken from the Sanskrit word ananda, which means
“bliss, delight”. Lifts moods, dilates blood vessels, bronchial tubes (adding in
breathing) inhibits ability to feel fear and improves lateral thinking.
● Oxytocin – The “love hormone”, derived from the Greek word “quick birth”. Its
functions were originally associated solely with maternal behaviors or between
sexual partners. However, recent findings point to a broader scope in human social
bonding, trust and emotional behaviors.
● Serotonin – Affects mood, social behavior, appetite, digestion, sleep, memory and
sexual desire. Studies have found that “when serotonin has arrived, the state has
already happened. It’s a signal thing are coming to an end, not the beginning,” says
performance psychologist Michael Gervis.

The Personality Of Flow

To deepen your understand and personal expression of flow, let’s say that in the flow state
you are in an optimal personality. But keep in mind that flow is formless. This explanation is
merely a teaching tool.

A personality is the “pattern of collective characteristics, behaviors and temperaments and

emotional traits of an individual”. Dissecting the personality of flow will allow for your
recollection of personal experiences of these traits. A flow state does not need to express all

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characteristics at once – or even at all. Perhaps one is enough for a state of flow. When you
read these characteristics listed below, try and remember times when you have had that
feeling, that sense, that state of having. For example, remember any time, as a kid or as an
adult when you had clear goals.

These characteristics stem from the work of Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the founder
of the term “flow state” and godfather of flow state research.

The Characteristics Of Flow

● Clear goals – You know exactly what you want to do in flow.
● Immediate feedback – You instinctively adjust/adapt on the road to your goal.
● Action merges with awareness – You blend into what you are doing, dissolved into
the task at hand.
● Progressive balance – Between your skill level and the challenge of the skill.
● Deep presence – You are in the deep now.
● Self-consciousness is gone – Loss of your inner critic, where fearlessness,
distractions and anxieties don’t surface.
● Altered perception of time – Time is distorted, either faster or slower.
● The sense of being at one – With the task at hand.
● Becoming emotional neutral – Oxytocin and serotonin dominate at the tail end of
flow. You are emotional neutral because you’re so involved in the task at hand, all
you want is to complete it.

These nine only act as signposts, for you will feel other characteristics expressed in flow. The
important thing is for you to strengthen your own feeling of flow.

The Autonomic Nervous System

Yes, we have spoken about the ANS already. However, I would like you to see how it applies
in the context of being in flow. So to
recap…

There is an area of your nervous system

called the autonomic nervous system,
which largely unconsciously regulates
your body's functions such as digestion,
respiratory rate, pupillary response,
urination, sexual arousal and your heart
rate.

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There are two branches of your ANS. The sympathetic (fight or flight) and the
parasympathetic (rest and digest).

The sympathetic turns the volume up on your organs and glands, while the parasympathetic
lowers the volume.

Using a method of measuring your sympathetic and parasympathetic called heart rate
variability (HRV), scientists have discovered that when you are in your peak performance
state, there is a consistent push and pull between your sympathetic and parasympathetic
systems.

In the flow state, your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are therefore in a
progressive coherence. They are the main control system for your autonomic nervous
system.

Less Is More
For you to get a sense of the feeling of being in flow, I need to explain two things. First,
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s flow graph for his 1990 book The Flow. And second, a “rule” of 4%
progression that I learned from the equation of flow data put together by the Flow Genome
Project.

In Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s flow graph, you can see that flow pulses between the
progressive balance of your own personal skill and the challenge level of the particular task
you are undertaking.

In flow, boredom is nulled and anxiety is barely touched. Or as I personally feel is the best
way to explain: flow has a feeling, and that feeling has a density to it. For this explanation,
let’s say that the feeling is heavy or light. Flow progressivity therefore sits coherently
between not too hard and not too soft. That progress is 4%.

So to recap the reported scientific studies on flow, Mckinsey and Co did a 10-year study on
flow and reported top executives to be five times more productive when working in flow. In
flow, US Navy Seals cut the learning time of their sniper training and reported a 490%
learning speed increase. The key is the steps. Small increments growing in flow at 4%.

I remember a Tony Robbins story from when he had has first major breakthrough at a crazily
young age. I’m sure he was in his early 20s. His mentor, who he was shadowing during his
apprenticeship was the co-founder of neuro-linguistic programming Dr John Grinder. Dr
Grinder got a project to work with the US Navy seals at their sniper training school. At the
time, this sniper training course was known as one of, if not the hardest training school to
pass. The stats were something like 1 out of 10 passing.

Eight hours before Grinder and Robbins were to go into the barracks to begin, Tony received
a call from Grinder. “Sorry, Tony, I can’t make it… You got this. Bye.” This was Tony really
getting thrown into the deep end. Sink, swim or get eaten by the sharks!

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So Tony went into the training facility as a tall, skinny 20-year-old kid who was there to
teach the trainers how to cut the training down and help boost their pass rate.

Tony decided to just observe the snipers and in doing this, he noticed a couple who stood
out as a good shot. Using specific neuro-linguistic questions, Tony found out what steps had
happened in the mind of those top snipers. Each time, he asked for more and more details
from the questions he jabbed with In time, he found that the top snipers would mentally
pull the target closer to themselves in their mind, so they were always shooting as if the
target was only a few feet away.

So, Tony got all new recruits to physically move their targets so they were only six feet
away. Once their confidence was high at hitting the mark, he moved the target 12 feet away
and so on, only moving the target away once the confidence of the sniper was peaking at
that distance.

Rate Of Percieved Exertion

Now, if you are already familiar with my work, you will be familiar with the content above
and the 4% rule. However, just like flow, my teaching of the art has evolved. I have flown
into a route of “measurement” (remember, in flow, in essence there is no measurement)
that I have found very helpful in explaining the progressive balance in flow.

In the fitness industry, there is a form of self measurement of output called the rate of
perceived exertion. RPE for short. It’s presented in a chart of 1-10 or 1-20. I would like you to
use 1-10. So when performing an exercise, 1 would mean super-easy, almost not doing
much at all, whereas 10 would be you being about to blow up with pressure and stress. For
you to tune into the progressive balance of flow, you want to find YOUR 7 of output.

The number 7 is your flow zone.

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Part 3: Flow State Techniques

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 The Swordsmith’s Tools

You are the blade, and you are the swordsmith.

In Part 3, I’m going to teach you the tools for sharpening the blade.

At this point, you are clear that stress, pressure, and resistance in a unmanaged consistency
are jeopardizing your health and performance. Entering a state of peak performance and
the foundation of your health is about being in the flow state, and that is your destination. It
is the flow state that is revealed through the work of the swordsmith.

In the coming pages, you are going to learn the seven tools for sharpening your blade.

Your map is your HRV, and I do strongly recommend you download an app, like this one
from HRV4. However, you can still use The Heart of Flow protocol without tracking your
HRV. All you need to do is follow The Heart of Flow protocol and keep track of how well you
feel. It’s that simple. You can make a diary, keep notes, or do whatever you like to keep
track. But I do hope that after reading this chapter, you will be enthusiastic enough to
download an app and begin adapting your lifestyle to your HRV.

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 Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

“Heart rate variability is the primary indicator for a successful increase in homeostatic
capacity.”

– Advisory team of the Palo Alto Longevity Prize (The Palo Alto Longevity Prize is a
competition for teams working towards improving human longevity. The winning prize
is $1million. The advisory team is is a group of experts from MIT, Harvard, Stanford,
and many other prestigious schools.)

The Adaptable Art

The legendary Bruce Lee created his own expression of martial arts and called it Jeet Kune
Do (the way of the intercepting fist or foot). It’s the art I have been practicing since I was 11
years old. And as I write this today, I’ve just turned 40! (Haha.) What sets this art out from
the rest is that true JKD is designed for you to express combat through your own body and
mind, and adapt to any and all situations. Let me explain a little more.

In martial arts you have various ranges within combat. Your kicking range, boxing range,
trapping range, (Wing Chun) standing grappling, grappling – not to mention various
weaponry ranges. Lee pushed an awareness of all ranges so that the practitioner could learn
to adapt to any combat situation with flexibility and ease. Along with the individual’s natural
posture, structure and mentality, he taught how to align to a family dominance in a certain
range, while still remaining adaptable to all ranges.

So adaptable is the real key in combat. Training with the unfamiliar to become familiar.

Well an adaptable, flexible and variable biology is a very positive sign of a healthy system.
This biological comfort with change stimulates growth and health – in other words, having
effective allostasis and homeostasis processes. Heart rate variability is your sign post, telling
you about your healthy allostasis and homeostasis processes, and pointing you towards
health and performance.

What Is Your Heart Rate Variability?

It is not the focus of your heart beat. Instead, it’s the variability between beats.

There are a few methods of monitoring your HRV but the most accessible method that I will
be discussing is called rMSSD (root mean square of the successive differences), which is
perfect for short-term HRV measurements. Please don’t sweat about learning this – when it
comes to the actual monitoring, all you need to do is point your finger over a camera phone
lens for one minute a day.

Your heart is wired to send electrical signals to the four chambers of your heart. The
orchestration of polarization and depolarization is what creates this beat. As your heart

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polarizes and depolarizes, it forms a specific wave that pulses through it, which is called the
QRS complex.

The QRS complex is a name for the combination of the three main graphical deflections
seen on a typical electrocardiogram. The Q, R, and S waves occur in
rapid succession. A Q wave is any downward deflection immediately
following the P wave. An R wave follows as an upward deflection, and
the S wave is any downward deflection after the R wave. The T wave
follows the S wave, and in some cases, an additional U wave follows
the T wave.

But for the explanation we are going to focus on the three main
waves, the Q, R and S. When we measure the HRV, it is the interval
between the Rs that is the measurement. This is called the R-R interval or inter-beat interval
(IBI). So unlike a metronome, the R-R interval varies in beat length. The gaps between each
beat are maybe around 1102 ms (milliseconds) which is typically the average in the range
953 ms - 1230 ms. It is these variables between each beat that we call the heart rate
variability .

Tracking Your HRV

So you use HRV as a means to monitor your autonomic nervous system system and in
particular your parasympathetic nervous system activation. You do this by measuring your
HRV as soon as you wake up in the morning or after the longest stretch of sleep, if you’re a
night worker. If in the morning your PNS is poor, this indicates that your system is not
recovering correctly. You see, it is a harmonised heart that will allow you to function at your
optimal state. You want to train to improve your recovery and in return, your performance
will grow exponentially.

You have two types of measurements. Short term and long term:

● Short term – 1-5 mins (use a smartphone, tablet or affordable heart rate chest strap)
● Long term – 5 mins - 24 hours ( you would need hospital-grade ECG machine)

As you can see, with long term measurements, you would need a hospital-grade ECG
(electrocardiogram) machine. Don’t know about you, but I don’t have one of them in my
home. Yes, the long-term reading does give you a strong detailed reading. However,
practicality is not there, so being consistent is right out of the window. Hey, with the speed
of new technology getting created, maybe in a couple of years, we will have something to
measure long term? BUT until then, let’s play the short game.

Your Inner HRV Monitor

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You are your best monitor, but I encourage you to use an HRV monitor, like an inner coach,
pointing out to you when you need to adapt your plans for the day. Devices are very
affordable and accessible today. And your reading does not need to have pinpoint accuracy
for you to capitalise on tracking your score.

Today, as I write this book, the simplest, most cost effective and efficient method is to use a
smartphone camera, with a PPG or heart rate bluetooth strap, linked to a smartphone app.
Take your reading upon waking up for one minute, while still lying down.

HRV Devices
To get an optimal HRV measurement, you would need a hospital-grade ECG/EKG, which is
pretty expensive to say the least. Given that you probably don’t have the opportunity to
regularly use one of those, let’s talk about the most practical, reliable, accessible and
affordable devices on the market.

Passive electric. This is typically done through a chest strap and

it passively receives electrical signals produced by each heart
contraction. The reading is then transferred to your HRV chest
strap. The EKG/ ECG (electrocardiogram) is the most accurate
measurement of HRV and can detect the full QRS complex
through 3-12 leads to get this measurement. The chest strap has
1-2 leads and can and does detect the RR interval, which is key
for a good reading. The strap must be fitted correctly and sensor
slight moist.

PPG (PhotoPlethysmoGraphy) sensor. The PPG measures the amount of blood flow through
tissue using a photoelectric transducer. This is done by shining infrared light, which is either
transmitted through or reflected on the tissue. The PPG uses the baroreceptor reflex
(baroreflex) for the measurement. baroreflex is the “homeostatic mechanism to maintain
blood pressure levels - influences heart rate.”

Out of these options, I still prefer using a PPG device like a smartphone camera or ring, for
the simple reason of ease. The number one rule when monitoring your HRV – and, come to
mention it, all the training inside The Heart of Flow program – is consistency. If you need to
strap on an HRV chest strap every morning, it’s only another obstacle for you. Sure, the
reading is more accurate – however, the chances of you doing this every day from now on
are very unlikely. So, find consistency in the easiest way you can.

Taking Your Reading

Before getting the general method of taking your HRV reading, I want to point out a few
things that might apply to you, resulting in you adapting the method below.

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Body Position During HRV Readings
In general, I recommend lying down when taking your reading. This position activates your
parasympathetic nervous system. It is pretty simple, as you should be in bed when it
happens.

However, If your resting heart rate is at or below 55 bpm, then this will cause a disruption
between your resting HR and HRV (this is called parasympathetic saturation), so then, it's
recommended to take your reading sitting down. This is common for elite athletes.

Artifacts
“False values of inter-beat intervals produced by different factors can affect calculated
HRV.”

Ectopic Beats – (or cardiac ectopy) is a disturbance of the cardiac rhythm frequently related
to the electrical conduction system of the heart, in which beats arise from fibers or groups
of fibers outside the region in the heart muscle ordinarily responsible for impulse formation.

Motion Artifacts – a patient-based artifact that occurs with voluntary or involuntary patient
movement during image acquisition. Involuntary motion, such as respiration or cardiac
motion, may cause artifacts that mimic pathology in surrounding structures.

How To Take Your HRV

● Do it as soon as you wake up.
● Ensure you are still lying down.
● Limit your movements.
● Take a one-minute reading
● If it’s not listed above. The answer will probably be don’t do it.

The Device I Recommend

Consistency is key, so making things easy for yourself is very important. This is one reason
why I recommend using a PPG device – i.e your smartphone. HRV4 training is an app I
personally use and it is the app I ask my elite flow chain members to use. The other reason
is that if you are a member of my elite flow chain coaching group, I can personally track and
monitor your HRV and help adapt your training and lifestyle accordingly.

How To Adapt Your Training/Day

Your HRV data should really act as an awareness tool and an internal coach. So, for example,
the days you think “I don’t need to train today”, while your HRV results are telling you:
“You’re good to go training” … then you go training, and vice versa.

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It’s generally the opposite when this is hard, i.e training light or having a pure recovery day.
If your HRV score is telling you to take it easy, then you have to take it easy. But remember,
a pure recovery day is tracking you to flow and improving your skills and health.

So here are a couple of examples of tailoring your day:

Business meeting with important client. If you can’t change the day, then rearrange the
time for late afternoon and spend your morning with your full attention on your Heart of
Flow protocol. But at the time the meeting comes around, your system will be fully
refreshed ready to “close the deal”.

Power-based training session to keep you on track for an up-and-coming competition.

Remember, your recovery and the activation of your vagus nerve is your secret weapon
when your HRV score is low. Here, you have a couple of options depending on your mental
focus (no brain fog). If you mentally feel good, but your HRV score is poor, then skill-based
flow trigger exercises are good. But if your HRV is poor and you have brain fog, then follow a
strong Heart of Flow protocol with a long ICE bath.

So, when you adapt your training and lifestyle, you are NOT stopping on your direction or
purpose. You are still moving forward but instead of being like a blind man walking around a
dark room, you are walking and moving with wisdom and purpose.

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 Breathing

If you're reading this book, you will be familiar with breathing being a very good method for
calming yourself down. You’ve heard the phase “deep breaths”, right? Well, the words
“deep breath” actually cause more problems than benefits for most people. If I were to say
you to take a deep breath, you would try and fill your lungs as much as you can, creating
tension in your body and not actually using the full capacity of your lungs. This poor
breathing habit actually causes you to overbreathe and leads to a CO2 deficiency, which,
thanks to the work carried out by Dr Butkego, we now know leads to a lot of chronic illness.
The good news is that I will teach you exactly how to breaths in a moment. But first, does
breathing stimulate your vagus?

RSA – Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia

RSA is the slowing down or speeding up of your heart rate through controlled, focused
breathing. RSA controls your vagal tone, meaning you can calm yourself down or you get
yourself psyched up with your breathing.

During inhalation, your vagal tone withdraws, as does your SNS, speeding up your heart. As
you exhale, your vagal tone is restored, allowing your heart to slow down (PNS).

It’s through breathing that allows you great control over your HRV.

Overbreathing
So in general, most people overbreathe. Within a 60-second window of time, a lot of people
breathe around 12-14 times or even higher amounts of breaths per minute. Breathing at a
high rate is a strong sign of poor heart rate variability. In a rested, relaxed state, your aim is
to breathe around 3-7 breaths per minute. This can be trained and developed. You can learn
more about this in my book Breathing in Flow.

How To Do Diaphragmatic Breathing

Look in a mirror so you can see your body from the waist up. Place one hand on your
stomach and take a breath WITHOUT your shoulders moving. Done? Ok, so if your shoulders
moved, you’re not breathing as well as you could. You are only utilizing around a third of
your lung capacity.

When you are breathing with your diaphragm, your stomach will stick out on your IN breath
and then flatten as you breathe OUT. Your chest and ribs will move slightly, but your
shoulders should not move at all.

TIP: If you find this tricky, lie on the floor with your hands on your stomach and begin to
retrain your body, allowing your stomach to stick out when you breathe in, and flatten when
you breathe out.

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Nasal Breathing
Nasal breathing has proven to be the secret weapon of calm breathing – not just in day-to-
day situations but also while under pressure. There are a large number of benefits, but I
would like to touch on two of them just now. Nitric oxide is a powerful molecule you
produce and is a strong vasodilator, meaning it helps open up your blood vessels. Nasal
nitric oxide is like the black belt level of dilation and also encourages the production of
testosterone. The second benefit of nasal breathing is the control you get from breathing
through your nose. In flow, there is a progressive balance between your autonomic nervous
system. Breathing in flow allows for the progressive balance during a task or at rest.

The Heart Of Flow breathing has three main requirements:

1. Diaphragmatic breathing.
2. Nasal breathing.
3. Breathing ratio of around 3-7 breaths per minute.

Breathing Exercise
This exercise will be turned into a meditation once you feel comfortable with it.

1. You need zinc oxide tape, which you can buy very cheaply at a pharmacist. Once you
have it, tape your mouth closed. Yep, you read that right. Tape your mouth closed.
2. Sit in a comfortable, relaxed position and place both hands lightly onto your
stomach. Then practise your diaphragmatic breathing. Your stomach sticks out on
the in-breath and draws in on the out-breath.
3. Once you have your nasal breathing and diaphragm flowing, then without creating
any tension, try to breathe long, slow, nasal breaths. Do this for 1-2 minutes until
you feel comfortable in this position. When you do feel comfortable, you can add the
exercise into your protocol.

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 Thor, God Of Thunder

Imagine you are a superhero who recharges your powers by simply touching the surface of
the Earth. There’s a spark, as an electrical current flows up from the Earth through your
body. This superhero power plant rebalances your energy supplies, calms your body,
feeding you with the fuel of energy like Thor, God of Thunder. And your only nemesis is the
evil Dr Synthetic, who blocks and blinds you from accessing this power…

Well, what if this story was more real than you thought? What if all you had to do, to
accelerate your performance, recovery and health, while eliminating chronic illness and
improving your heart rate variability was simply touch the Earth?

Our ancient ancestors believe in the healing power of the Earth. The Egyptians, Greeks,
Indigenous Australians, Indians and Native American Indians all utilized the Earth’s energy.

Feeling Electric?
Let’s peer a little deeper into this process called grounding, starting from what you have
learnt so far about your electrifying autonomic nervous system.

So electricity allows your nervous system to communicate with your brain. These signals are
actually electrical charges that are sent from cell to cell. Now, this form is pretty close to
instantaneous messaging… like a live chat online. These electrical signals are responsible for
controlling the rhythm of your heartbeat and the movement of your blood, right down to
your biological clock aligning your system to your circadian rhythm. You’re pretty much a
member of the T-birds… “You’re electrifying… Go, go, go, greased lighting!” (Name that
movie.)

To make it even more clear, if the electrical activity in your body stops… you’re simply dead.

So Where Does This Electricity Come From?

I’ve got to put my white lab coat on for this part. But please be assured, I will keep this a
short and simple explanation.

Everything we do is controlled and enabled by electrical signals running through our bodies.
All matter, living or not, is made up of atoms – everything, even the Scottish. Atoms are
made up of protons, neutrons and electrons.

● Protons have a positive charge.

● Neutrons have a neutral charge.
● Electrons have a negative charge.

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When these charges are out of balance, an atom becomes either positively or negatively
charged. The switch between one type of charge and another allows electrons to flow from
one atom to another.

This flow of electrons, or a negative charge, is what we call electricity. Since our bodies are
huge masses of atoms, we can generate electricity… hence, you’re electric, my friend!

The Gate
The electrical charge generated from your cells comes from electrolytes like sodium and
potassium. This process is called “the sodium-potassium gate” or the “the sodium-
potassium pump”.

"When your body needs to send a message from one point to another, it opens the gate.
When the membrane gate opens, sodium and potassium ions move freely into and out
of the cell.

Negatively charged potassium ions leave the cell, attracted to the positivity outside the
membrane, and positively charged sodium ions enter it, moving toward the negative
charge.

The result is a switch in the concentrations of the two types of ions – and rapid switch in
charge.

…this flip between positive and negative generates an electrical impulse. This impulse
triggers the gate on the next cell to open, creating another charge, and so on. In this
way, an electrical impulse moves from a nerve in your stubbed toe to the part of your
brain that senses pain."

– Discovery Health

Mother Earth
Negatively charged electrons are right at your feet, as Mother Earth feeds you an abundant
supply of them. The rich-electrons are like the most powerful antioxidant, ready to sort out
those free radicals. Your body is designed to be connected to Earth. It’s how it’s meant to
work. Earth is your consistent supply of free energy flowing from the Earth to you.

Your body absorbs large gulps of negatively charged electrons through the soles of your
feet. This effect tunes you into the Earth, and your body tunes to the same negatively
charged electrical potential as the Earth. You become at one with the Earth. It happens
within seconds, actually – studies are pointing towards it taking between 2 – 4 seconds for a
physiological change that can be measured once you have earthed.

This alignment with the Earth is called grounding or earthing.

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“Your only nemesis is the evil Dr Synthetic.”

Grounding has been shown to relieve pain, reduce inflammation, improve sleep, enhance
wellbeing, and much, much more. When you wear rubber – or plastic-soled shoes, however,
you are effectively shielding yourself from this beneficial influx of electrons from the Earth.

Your nemesis has really only surfaced over the last 50-60 years, with the introduction of
synthetic carpets and flooring into your home, and synthetic materials for your footwear.
It’s this similar, innocent material which is distancing you from the nutrients of our Earth.

Synthetic materials included in this are nylon, polyester, acetate, acrylic, spandex, orlon,
lastex and Kevlar.

The Antioxidant At Your Feet (Zeta Potential)

The root cause of most diseases is stress. Inflammation becomes a response to stress,
including in heart disease.

World renowned cardiologist Dr Stephen Sinatra (no relation to Frank, that I know of)
highlights that inflammation thrives in thick tomato ketchup-like blood when there are lots
of free radicals and positive charges in your body. The grounded Dr Sinatra points out that
simply by stepping on the ground, you will begin picking up Earth's negatively charged
electrons through the soles of your feet. And a side effect of this is thinning your blood. This
blood thinning happens by improving your zeta potential, which means it improves the
energy between your red blood cells. Research has demonstrated it takes about 80 minutes
for the free electrons from the Earth to reach your bloodstream and transform your blood.

Note: If you are on blood thinning medication, please consult your doctor before using any
of the grounding/earthing protocol. The natural effects of grounding will mean you can
potentially come off them. But please consult your doctor before proceeding.)

Positive Charge + Negative Charge = Neutral Charge

“Interestingly, grounding research has now discovered that if you place your feet on the
ground after an injury (or on a grounded sheet, or place grounding patches on the balls
of your feet), electrons will migrate into your body and spread through your tissues.
Any free radicals that leak into the healthy tissue will immediately be electrically
neutralized. This occurs because the electrons are negative, while the free radicals are
positive, so they cancel each other out.”

– Dr Mercola

"So really what is happening with grounding or earthing is that you're protecting your
body from – I call it, collateral damage… Damage that was not intended to take place
but does take place because we have disconnected ourselves from the Earth by putting
rubber and plastic on the bottoms of our shoes."

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– Dr. James Oschman, an expert in the field of energy medicine

Free Radicals And Unproductive Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs)

Free radicals are positively charged and unproductive EMFs are positively charged – both,
when un-neutralised, lead to an imbalance in health. Free radical stress is commonly picked
up from pollution, cigarettes, insecticides, pesticides and trans fats, just to mention a few.
Unproductive to your health, EMFs are the constant assault from radiation, cell phones,
computers and WIFI.

Just remember, too much positive charge will cause a feed imbalance in the health of your
body and mind. Simple solution: take your shoes off.

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 Meditation

“Meditation is a means of transforming the mind. Meditation practices are techniques

that encourage and develop concentration, clarity, emotional positivity, and a calm
seeing of the true nature of things. By engaging with a particular meditation practice,
you learn the patterns and habits of your mind, and the practice offers a means to
cultivate new, more positive ways of being. With regular work and patience, these
nourishing, focused states of mind can deepen into profoundly peaceful and energised
states of mind. Such experiences can have a transformative effect and can lead to a
new understanding of life.”

– The Buddhist Centre

I’m pretty sure that this will not come as a surprise to you, but meditation is the Jean Claude
Van Damme of vagus nerve stimulation, and incorporating the breathing that we just spoke
about takes it to a whole new level. By lowering your breathing rate, your vagus nerve
listens and all begins to calm, and the wandering nerve that send communications to every
organ and gland in your system responds with “hhhh yes”, and calms too.

If you’re familiar with my previous work, you will know my unique Instant Flow Meditation.
(Instant Flow Meditation). This meditation incorporates visualization and meditation to
induce the flow state into your subconscious mind, so you become like a magnet, drawing
flow into your life. The Heart of Flow is 100% focused on your recovery, which in turn will
produce the internal environment for externally getting triggered into flow.

The Heart Of Flow Meditations:

1. Breathing in Flow Meditation
2. The Breathing Heart of Flow
3. The Wanderers Flow Meditation
4. The Word of Flow Meditation
5. The Happy Buddha Meditation
6. The Perineum Meditation
7. Breathing From the Feet Meditation
8. Full Body Breathing Meditation

We will go into detail with each of these meditations below.

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(1) Breathing In Flow Meditation – 3 Minutes
● Tape your mouth closed with zinc oxide tape, so you must breathe only through your
nose.
● Sit in a comfortable relaxed position with your hands on your knees.
● Gently close your eyes.
● Do diaphragm breathing with long slow breaths, without creating any tension in your
body.
● After your 3 minutes, open your eyes.

(2) The Breathing Heart Of Flow – 3 Minutes

● Sit in a comfortable relaxed position with your hands on your knees.
● Gently close your eyes and mouth.
● Do diaphragm breathing with long slow breaths, without
creating any tension in your body.
● In your mind, draw your attention to your heart and
visualize your electromagnetic field that reaches out from
your body.
● As you breathe in and out, imagine you are breathing in
and out from your heart's electromagnetic field.
● After your 3 minutes, open your eyes.

(3) The Wanderers Flow Meditation – 1-3

Minutes
● Sit in a comfortable relaxed position with your
hands on your knees.
● Gently close your eyes and mouth.
● Do diaphragm breathing with long slow breaths,
without creating any tension in your body.
● In your mind’s eye, imagine you are wandering
down your vagus nerve with a bright warm light
guiding your way. Allow the light to guide you on
your journey down your vagus nerve.
● Once you reach the bottom of your vagus nerve,
open your eyes.

(4) The Word Of Flow Meditation – 3 Minutes

Your vagus nerve is connected around your larynx (voice box). Simply by talking positively,
you are communicating with every organ and gland in your body. This mediation is best
done with a set intention, so before beginning, just think of (picture) an experience you had
of flow in your mind.

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 ● Sit in a comfortable relaxed position with your hands on your knees.
● Gently close your eyes.
● Do diaphragm breathing with long slow breaths, without creating any tension in your
body.
● In your mind, remember a time you were in flow. Remember it for a few seconds,
then let go.
● Breathe in through your nose and on the out-breath, say the word FLOW. Each time
you say the word, feel it move down through your body.
● After 3 minutes, open your eyes.

(5) The Happy Buddha Meditation – 3 Minutes

Your vagus nerve is also around your face. So smiling sends messages to your whole body.

● Sit in a comfortable relaxed position with your hands on your knees.

● Gently close your eyes and mouth.
● Add a very slight smile over your face (not a big smile, just a slight subtle smile).
● Do diaphragm breathing with long slow breaths, without creating any tension in your
body.
● After 3 minutes, open your eyes.

In general, more of your day-to-day attention will be up around your head. Talking to
people, thinking, working… So by simply drawing your attention away from there will do the
trick to calm and trigger your vagus nerve. The next three meditations are “on the go”
meditations for you.

(6) The Perineum Meditation – 1-3 Minutes – Standing Or Walking

Your perineum is generally defined as the surface region in both males and females
between the pubic symphysis and the coccyx. In other words, it’s between your legs. Very
near to the end of your vagus nerve.

● Consciously relax your shoulders.

● Gently close your mouth.
● Draw your attention to your perineum and feel yourself slowly anchoring to the
Earth. Ground yourself.

(7) Breathing From The Feet Meditation – 1-3 Minutes – Standing Or Walking
● Consciously relax your shoulders.
● Gently close your mouth.
● Draw your attention to your feet and imagine you can only breathe in and out from
your feet.

(8) Full Body Breathing Meditation – 1-3 Minutes – Standing Or Walking

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 ● Consciously relax your shoulders.
● Gently close your mouth.
● Now, imagine that you can breathe through your full body (when I say “full body”, I
mean from the shoulders down).

In your daily protocol, you will be asked to practise at least one meditation a day. You have
have meditations for all situations so you can do them every day. The important thing is to
do at least one a day. They all stimulate your vagus nerve, but you will be naturally drawn to
one more than the others.

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 Cold Therapy Cryotherapy

The term cryotherapy comes from the Greek cryo (κρύο) meaning cold, and therapy
(θεραπεία) meaning cure.

Cold therapy has been shown to dramatically improve the stimulation of your vagus nerve
and of course, then, the stimulation of your parasympathetic system – although the
mechanisms of how this happens have not been fully discovered yet. We do know that cold
therapy has a dramatic influence on your nervous system.

To activate your Heart of Flow, the focus must be on your parasympathetic nervous system
(rest and digest) by consciously stimulating your vagus nerve. This all you need to know.
However, I would like to underline a few benefits of cold therapy for countering
inflammation.

Inflammation is one way the immune system fights infection. Sometimes the immune
system becomes overly reactive. The result is chronic inflammation, which is linked to
health problems like cancer, diabetes, depression, dementia and arthritis.

As such, reducing inflammation could also improve your overall health and reduce the risk
of numerous chronic ailments.

Ailments Which Respond To Cryotherapy

Muscle healing and pain relief: A 2017 study titled “Recovery From Exercise-Induced
Muscle Damage: Cold-Water Immersion Versus Whole-Body Cryotherapy” reported that
cold therapy sped up healing and relieved muscle pain, and that full body immersion was
found to be the best option. ICE is the acronymn for a common practice that I believe a lot
of people know to do when they sprain an ankle: Ice, compression, elevation.

Weight loss: Before you get super excited that all you need to do is jump in a cold bath four
times a week to lose weight… well, this isn’t the case. Sorry about that. But what it does do
is deal with inflammation. Chronic inflammation kicks your body into gear so it responds to
unwanted cells in the body, like excess fat cells.

As the name suggests, chronic inflammation doesn’t turn “on” and “off” like acute
inflammation. The body turns “on” and stays activated for long periods of time, making you
sick. As fat cells continue to accumulate in the belly area, your body responds by
continuously producing insulin – a hormone that “unlocks” your body’s muscle, liver and fat
cell doors to allow glucose inside to be stored. Over time, these muscle, fat and liver cells
stop responding as efficiently to the insulin. Once unlocked, the keys stop working, glucose
builds up in the blood, and your body shifts into overdrive to pump out more insulin. But no
matter how much insulin your body produces, not enough cells can “unlock” to absorb the
glucose. Simply put, you become one giant hormonal imbalance, which leads to a whole
slew of other problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and even cardiovascular

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disease. But it doesn’t stop there. This imbalance, or stress, causes your body’s natural
defense system – inflammation – to kick in and release even more chemicals to try and fight
it. In small doses, inflammation is a good thing. But over time, you end up with too much of
it. Our bodies aren’t designed to be on high alert all the time”. – Sidney Fry, MS,RD

Preventing dementia: From a study in 2012 titled: “Translating whole-body cryotherapy into
geriatric psychiatry – a proposed strategy for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease.” This
study pointed towards a reduction in inflammation also reducing the risk of developing
dementia. Cold therapy was reported as being able to reduce the inflammation and
oxidative stress associated with dementia, mild cognitive impairment, and other age-related
forms of cognitive decline.

Anxiety and depression reduction. A 2008 study titled: “Whole-body cryotherapy as adjunct
treatment of depressive and anxiety disorders” reported that a third of people suffering
from depression or anxiety could reduce their symptoms by 50 percent through
incorporating cold therapy.

Destroying cancer cells: As cold therapy does affect inflammation it is possible it could also
lower the risk of developing cancer. There is no evidence that cryotherapy can treat cancer
once the disease has developed. However, medical cryotherapy is a well-established
treatment for certain forms of cancer.

“Cryotherapy uses extreme cold to destroy cancer cells. It's also called cryosurgery or
cryoablation. During cryotherapy treatment, the doctor freezes the cancer cells to kill
them. Cryotherapy is called a local treatment, which means that it only treats the area
where you have treatment. It doesn’t treat any cancer cells in other parts of the body.
After the treatment the body’s immune system gets rid of the dead tissue over a few
weeks.”

– Cancer Research UK

Immune system and lymphatic boost: Your lymphatic system is like your drainage system,
flushing waste, bacteria and microbes out, cleaning your body. It’s your lymphatic system
that flushes all that buildup of inflammation we spoke about before. Cold therapy causes
your lymph vessels to contract, forcing your lymphatic system to pump lymph fluid
throughout your body. The flushing: this triggers the immune system’s white blood cells to
attack and destroy unproductive substances.

So just to summarise, cold therapy does play an important part in your health and
wellbeing, but I primarily want you to remember that cold therapy triggers your vagus
nerve. This is key to The Heart of Flow.

How To Practise Cold Therapy

If you have access to a whole body cryotherapy chamber, then give it a go. However, I would
suggest simply that cold water immersion will do the trick.

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A couple of cool options:

● If you’re close to a flowing river, then jump in it – This blends in the cold therapy
and the grounding that we are going to cover in the next chapter. Depending on how
cold the river is, you’re looking for a 10-20 minute window.
● Ice bath – You are looking to have the temperature around 50-59 degrees
Fahrenheit or between 12-15 degrees Celsius. I like to eyeball it, so I like to run a
cold bath then drop in a bag of ice. I like to do this because getting into a ICE bath
really does need some “Rocky Balboa” motivation for you to get in! (You will find out
very soon what I mean here.) I like to go for a 10-20 minute bath. (I say “like”, but,
well… you know what I mean.)
● Cold shower – This is easier, mainly in the preparation of it. All you need to do is
turn the nozzle to cold and stay in for 1-3 minutes. Its does the trick of stimulating
the vagus nerve. Sure, it’s not as intense as the river or bath.
● Cold water on your face – Might not sound as dramatic, but it still does the job of
stimulating the vagus a little.

So all these options are here for you to try out.

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 Intermittent Fasting

So, just before we get into this intermittent fasting section. I want to once again underline
our focus here, because simplicity is the name of the game. You are using tools to stimulate
your vagus nerve. Why? Because the vagus will trigger your parasympathetic nervous
system. This is our number one focus and a study in 2007 titled Short-term fasting-induced
autonomic activation and changes in catecholamine levels are not mediated by changes in
leptin levels healthy humans points this out.

Intermittent fasting is nothing new. Traditional medicine practices like Ayurveda and
Chinese medicine have used fasting for a very long time. It’s really only now that the
benefits are beginning to be revealed to the masses.

We are only going to focus on the types of fasting you will use inside The Heart of Flow
protocol. Just before we get to the types of fasting, we need to address the difference
between starvation, caloric restriction and fasting:

● Starvation is a severe deficiency in energy intake. We are not doing that.

● Caloric restriction is a reduction of calorie intake without causing malnutrition or
starvation. We are not doing that.
● Fasting is a state of metabolic suspension in which you’re not consuming any
calories. Jackpot, this is what we are doing.

Fasting is safe – you will not die. But like everything in The Heart of Flow protocol, if you’re
unsure, consult a local health professional and get a full checkout.

Types Of Fasting
● 16 hours fast, 8 hours feed.
● 18 hours fast, 6 hours feed.

As you can see, you are only eating for a specific window of time. In general, if someone is
doing the 18-hour fast, then they would stop eating at 10pm and eat nothing until 4pm the
next day. You can start the 18 hours whenever you like, as it doesn’t need to be between
any specific times. You could break your fast at 7am to eat breakfast (break-the-fast) with
your kids, and not eat from 1pm onwards. Whatever times work for you.

What To Eat During The Feeding Window

In the beginning, only focus on achieving the fast and simply observe what seems to be
attractive to you in your feeding stage. Although intermittent fasting is the best way to lose
weight (bar none), we are using it solely to stimulate the vagus. However, you do need a
little more direction to find your own personal requirements.

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Feeding Fundamentals
Eat what you like as long as you have:

● No processed food (whether you are on or off a fast)

● No soft drinks
● No alcohol

Very straightforward, right? And it is. However, on your Heart of Flow journey, you will
begin to refine your macronutrients with your awareness of your HRV tone.

Listen To Your HRV

If you eat a ratio of nutrients that you might THINK is correct but your HRV tone is poor,
then you are NOT eating the correct nutrient ratio. If you are eating a specific “diet” and
your vagal tone is poor, then you are not eating the correct diet.

The good news is that now, you have the number one tool for you to know whether a diet is
right or wrong for you. For example, a vegan diet might be perfect for one person, and
encourages a sweet tone from their heart. But the same diet may lower the tone and cause
way more problems in someone else.

What I Personally Do
I fast five days a week using a 18/6 or 16/8, according to my HRV score. On the days off, I
eat what I want and drink alcohol if I want (what can I say… I’m Scottish Italian).

During MY fast (you need to tune into your own system’s requirements) I observe the
following:

● No processed food (never on or off a fast)

● No soft drinks
● No alcohol
● No rice
● No bread
● No pasta
● No fruit (unless my system asks)
● Focus: Organic meats, high healthy fats, clean water.
● Plate ratio A: 45% protein, 45% fat, 10% carbs
● Plate ratio B: 40% protein, 40% fat, 20% carbs

Again, it’s all about listening to your own system’s requirements through your HRV.

My system works very well with these types of nutrients and in general, due to society’s
hyperactive sympathetic nervous system activation, I sense this will work well for most.
However, we are all not the same. Geographical location, heritage, hidden internal

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stressors, poor gut function etc, will result in your system needing different things. There is
a good free test to take, so you know where to start in your feeding window: Metabolic
Typing Questionnaire.

The Sodium-Potassium Gate/Pump

We spoke about the sodium-potassium gate in the grounding section, but we need to touch
base with this again now. Remember, you are a bioelectric being. Your cells communicate
electricity. The only thing that really is noticeable when coming to the final stages of your
fast is that you may feel a little slow in your actions.

Think of it like this. You’re playing a video game, like the retro Street Fighter II game. Your
energy bar is full throughout the day. As you get closer to the end of your fast, your energy
bar slowly lowers into the red and your actions become sluggish. Well, this drink will restore
your energy levels and stimulate the communication between your cells.

Your Sodium-Potassium Top-Up Drink

This drink needs to be tailored to your requirements. So add and subtract with common
sense until you intuitively know what’s right for you that day.

1. Take a small glass and layer the bottom of the glass with a thin layer of apple cider
vinegar.
2. Add a quarter of a teaspoon (more or less) of pink Himalayan salt (or sea salt).
3. Add a quarter of a teaspoon of cream of tartar (also known as potassium bitartrate).
4. Fill with still water.
5. Mix and drink.

Problem solved.

Intermittent Fasting Protocol Quick Look

So here is a snapshot example of an 18-hour fast, with a feeding window of 16:00-22:00:

● Drink water, tea, coffee (FYI in a strict fast you should have no tea or coffee, but I do,
as the caloric intake is minimal).
● Probably around 12:00-14:00, you will feel the need to take your sodium-potassium
top-up drink.
● At 16:00, eat.

If you have more questions, I recommend getting Brad Pilon’s fantastic book Eat Stop Eat.
Brad lays out all the science and gives you some very powerful tips for your success in
fasting.

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 Movement

Chinese medicine and ayurveda have prescribed movement-based exercises for many years,
purely for the stimulation of the vagus. And what is becoming more and more apparent is
that Western medicine is only catching up now.

“Regular aerobic training usually results in a significant improvement of overall as well as

instantaneous HRV. These changes, reflect an increase in autonomic efferent activity
and a shift in favor of enhanced vagal modulation of the cardiac rhythm. Regular
aerobic training of moderate volume and intensity over a minimum period of 3 months
seems to be necessary to ensure these effects, which might be associated with a
prognostic benefit regarding overall mortality.”

– 2008 study titled “Heart rate variability and physical exercise”

So without a long-winded introduction, let get straight to the meat of the issue. You know
now that your sympathetic nervous system is your arousal button, like an on switch or
better yet, your volume control turned up. In general, this is the go-to for 90% of the
population. Fight, flight or freeze. Stress – a lot of exercises promote this state, including the
likes of high-intensity interval training, and the crossfit style workouts. These have their
place, for sure. I personally train this way… but only when my HRV score asks. And that is it.
Those small words, “My HRV score” is what 99% of people miss or simply ignore. Intensive
training is a MUST for health. Health body, hormones, neurotransmitters etc. That kind of
training stimulates those things, BUT the very same training can also shoot you in the foot. If
you learn to listen and work with your HRV, you will take exponential steps forward in your
health and performance.

So let’s have an example: if your HRV score is too low (or too high) from your baseline, so
then you would want to do more recovery-based exercises. This could be skills-based
training, light jogging, bodyweight exercises, walking in a park, or pretty much anything that
is low impact for your own personal fitness and health level. On the flip side, if your HRV
score is in a good baseline area, then you can hit the gym hard. Really go for it, as your
system is ready for action. Primed for results. The good thing about this is that you can find
out if you’re just being lazy or not. If your HRV is in a harmonic state, and you don’t train,
then you’re just making excuses.

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Monitoring, tracking and working with your HRV is like having an inner coach, guiding you
on when to work hard and when to continue working, but being smart about it. You should
never stop working towards your goals, but you must learn that sharpening your weapon to
achieve your goal is still working towards your goal. So taking an ice bath is a step closer to
your destination. Training HIIT is working towards your destination. Practicing breathing in
flow exercises is taking a step towards your destination.

Being consistent with your Heart of Flow protocol is aligning you towards your success.
Move according to your HRV score and you will accelerate your health and performance.

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 The Map To Flow

After reading the seven tools for your protocol, I’m sure you can see how powerful each one
is individually, so just imagine the health and performance benefits from doing all seven!
Running throughout all the seven is one simple thing for you to remember. You’re
consciously stimulating your vagus nerve. And it is through this stimulation that your life will
dramatically change.

Coming up are four specifically designed protocols for you to choose from. Of course, I want
you to build to the fourth one, the Flow Protocol, as soon as you can. But you must allow for
yourself to slowly harmonise with each of these protocols in turn before advancing to the
next one. You will find that each protocol has logical steps, building you to the Flow
Protocol. However, if you are unsure, you can contact me and I can help with any specific
requirements you may have. Here is my email: wilson@cwilsonmeloncelli.com.

To close this book out and to solidify your intention, here is a simple three-step formula to
remember:

● What you are doing

● Why you are doing it
● Where you are going

The Map
You are working WITH your heart rate variability. Just like a healthy HRV, you are adapting
your training and your daily lifestyle, according to your progressive HRV health. In general,
you are flipping everything upside down.

For example:

● Focus on recovery instead of performance = your performance will improve.

● Focus on recovery instead of curing the injury = your injury will cure.
● Focus on recovery instead of trying to think creatively = your creative thinking will
improve.
● Focus on recovery instead of trying to get into flow = you will get into flow.

Monitoring and working with your HRV is your path to recovery. The common thread
running through your protocol is this: The stimulation of your vagus nerve. Your vagus nerve
runs the show for your whole parasympathetic nervous system.

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Your Obstacle
● Stress

Every action you make has a physiological response, providing either familiar or unfamiliar
stress. Stress is good and is needed for growth. But problems arise when you don’t listen or
work with your map (HRV), and the tap of stress is left unmanaged and overflows the
system.

The Destination
● Flow

Enjoy living life in flow.

Cheers,

Wilson

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Part 4: The Heart Of Flow Protocols

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 Protocol 1

Done every day:

● HRV reading and adapting your day according to your score.

● Cold shower 1-3 minutes.
● Grounding for 40-80 minutes (walk on grass, sand, soil etc).
● Nasal breathing meditation 3-5 minutes.
● Intermittent fasting. 2-3x a week. 16 hours fast, 8 hours feed. Apple cider vinegar,
sea salt, cream of tartar fill with water and drink three quarters of the way through
your fast.
● Move. Your regular workout routine, but intensity adapted if required.

Recommendation:

• Grounding bed sheet

• Heart rate variability application

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 Protocol 2

Done every day:

● HRV reading and adapting your day according to your score.

● Cold shower 1-3 minutes each morning.
● Sleep on grounding/earthing bed sheet. Grounding for 40-80 minutes
(walking/jogging/playing on grass, sand, soil etc).
● Nasal breathing meditation 3-5 minutes.
● Intermittent fasting. 3-4x a week. 16 hours fast, 8 hours feed (for 2 days). 18 hours
fast, 6 hours feed (for 1-2 days). Apple cider vinegar, sea salt, cream of tartar fill
with water and drink three quarters of the way through your fast.
● Move. Your regular workout routine, but intensity adapted if required.

2 days a week:

● Ice bath for 5-10 minutes. Slowly, totally submerge your full body.

Recommendation:

• Grounding bed sheet

• Heart rate variability application

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 Protocol 3

Done every day:

● HRV reading and adapting your day according to your score.

● Cold shower 1-3 minutes each morning.
● Sleep on grounding/earthing bed sheet. Grounding for 40-80 minutes
(walking/jogging/playing on grass, sand, soil etc).
● Nasal breathing meditation 3-5 minutes.
● Intermittent fasting. 4-5x a week. 18 hours fast, 6 hours feed (for 3 days). 16 hours
fast, 8 hours feed (for 1-2 days). Apple cider vinegar, sea salt, cream of tartar fill
with water and drink three quarters of the way through your fast.
● Move. Your regular workout routine, but intensity adapted if required.

3 days a week:

● Ice bath for 5-10 minutes. Slowly, totally submerge your full body.

Recommendation:

• Grounding bed sheet

• Heart rate variability application

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 Protocol 4 (Your Flow)

This flow protocol is when you feel very in tune with what your system needs. You adapt
your fasting, workouts and cold therapy according to your system’s requirements.

Done every day:

● HRV reading and adapting your day according to your score.

● Cold shower 1-3 minutes each morning.
● Sleep on grounding/earthing bed sheet. Grounding for 40-80 minutes
(walking/jogging/playing on grass, sand, soil etc).
● Nasal breathing meditation 3-5 minutes.
● Intermittent fasting. 6x a week. 18 hours fast, 6 hours feed (for 4 days). 16 hours
fast, 8 hours feed (for 2 days). Apple cider vinegar, sea salt, cream of tartar fill with
water and drink ¾ of the way through your fast.
● Move. Your regular workout routine, but intensity adapted if required.

Every day you're NOT exercising intensely:

● According to your on fitness level, ice bath for 5-10 minutes. Slowly, totally
submerge your full body.

Recommendation:

• Grounding bed sheet

• Heart rate variability application

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 References

1. https://muditalab.com/do-schumann-resonances-impact-our-perception-and-
health-926c253a3941
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electromagnetic-field/

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27. https://www.heartmath.org/articles-of-the-heart/science-of-the-heart/new-study-
further-supports-intuition/
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