Peak Experiences & Flow: Maslow’s Formula for Human Potential

When the world fades into quiet focus and effort feels like art, you’ve entered what psychologist Abraham Maslow called a peak experience—a state of pure performance and heightened being.

These rare yet trainable moments dissolve resistance, merge action with awareness, and reveal who we truly are when we operate without inner friction.

This in‑depth guide from the Creativity and Flow State Hub explores the anatomy, psychology, and practice of peak experience—how to access flow consistently and evolve toward your highest potential.

Let’s dive in …

What is a Peak Experience?

Peak experience is a term humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow used to describe a higher state of consciousness when humans perform at their best.

A common term for a peak experience is flow or a flow state.

Maslow believed that when having a peak experience, we are closest to our authentic selves—our true identities.

The concept of flow and peak experiences is a kind of bridge between psychology and mysticism.

In his research, Maslow found that although anyone (including children) can have a peak experience, self-actualizing individuals have these heightened experiences more frequently.

That is, peak experiences are a sign of positive mental health and a part of everyone’s birthright.

The 16 Qualities of Peak Experience

In Toward a Psychology of Being, Maslow highlights 16 qualities he observed in those who realize a peak experience:

1. Integrated
2. Oneness
3. Powerful
4. Effortlessness
5. Self-determined
6. Free of inhibitions
7. Spontaneous
8. Creative
9. Uniqueness
10. Present
11. Merging of self and other
12. Nonstriving
13. Poetic expression
14. Completeness
15. Playfulness
16. Surprise

He points out the interrelatedness and overlapping nature of these qualities of a peak experience.

So it’s not that these qualities are separate; they just represent various identifiable attributes of a peak experience.

Patterns Behind the Peak Experience

But just listing out these attributes doesn’t help us too much, so let’s go deeper and explore each dimension in more detail.

Oneness and Integration

A person in a peak experience feels more unified and whole. That is, they feel less fragmented and dissociated. With fewer internal splits and tensions, they feel more autonomous and at peace within themselves.

Naturally, in this state, we feel more like our true selves. In Eastern traditions, this is often referred to as “Holding to the Center.”

Maslow writes, “As he gets to be more purely and singly himself he is more able to fuse with the world, with what was formerly not-self.”

In this state:

• The creator becomes one with his work being created.
• The appreciator of the music becomes the music.
• The astronomer merges with the stars “out there.”

So even though we feel more ourselves in a peak state, we simultaneously transcend ourselves—going beyond our selfhood to an egoless state.

Powerful and Self-Determined

In a peak experience, we often feel that we’re at the peak of our internal power. We can use our capacities at their best and fullest. This is a quintessential idea behind self-actualization: realizing our fullest potential.

It’s as if all of our highest capacities get activated during a peak experience. We become “fully functioning” with greater intelligence, perceptiveness, strength, and grace.

Self-determination is an important quality of mature adulthood. Psychiatrist Carl Jung considered it an essential component of individuation.

Maslow examples, “The person in peak experiences feels himself, more than at other times, to be the responsible, active, creating center of his activities and of his perceptions. He feels more like a prime mover, more self-determined.”

In this state, you feel fully responsible—the CEO of your own life (“CEOsage”). The locus of control is fully within yourself.

Now, you are the master of your fate. You are decisive, strong, confident, and single-minded, ready to overcome opposition.

Freedom from Inhibition and Inner Critic

In a peak experience, individuals are not ruled by feelings of lack and deficiency.

Mental blocks, fears, doubts, reservations, outside controls, the inner critic … they all simply fall away.

Basically, without internal splits and tensions—when we’re no longer at war within ourselves—all of these self-imposed limitations evaporate.

Spontaneity and Creativity

Maslow often described spontaneity as a key attribute of creativity and self-actualizing individuals.

Rigidness is a quality of neurosis (mental illness). Spontaneity and creativeness are qualities of positive mental health.

In a peak experience, we’re more spontaneous, expressive, natural, and free-flowing. When we’re free of inhibitions, spontaneity arises naturally.

With greater spontaneity, we are naturally more creative. Studies on divergent thinking illustrate how young children (age 5) are virtually all geniuses (98%). Yet, after a decade of “education,” that number drops to 10 percent.

By adulthood, the number of individuals who score at the genius level is a paltry 2 percent.

The Taoists call this the result of “mundane conditioning.” It’s the conditioning of the external world that inhibits our natural potential (and makes us mentally ill). But in a peak experience, innate qualities like creativeness shine through.

Uniqueness and Poetic Expression

Maslow used the terms “acme of uniqueness, individuality, or idiosyncrasy.”

In a peak experience, all of our roles and personas (social masks) drop away so we can access our “unique selves.”

Maslow notes that when we are having a peak experience, our communication and expressions are often poetic and mythical. It’s as if we are expressing what’s deeply embedded within our psyches.

This attribute, once again, points to the importance of creativity in self-actualization.

Presence and Awareness in the Now

Maslow observes that in a peak state, individuals are “more here-now, most free of the past and of the future in various senses, most ‘all there’ in the experience.”

Those in the mindfulness movement will appreciate this description. Maslow describes the goal of mindfulness meditation: to be fully present in the here and now.

In this state, we can listen better to others without prior conditioning, including judgments, biases, emotional triggers, and projections.

This sense of present-moment awareness is the result of greater selflessness.

Merging of Self and Other – Letting Go

Here, there’s a “letting be of the self and of the other.”

That is, in a peak experience, one can respect and love oneself and respect and love another simultaneously.

Here, we grasp the non-self by “letting it be itself, by letting it go, by permitting it to live by its own laws rather than by mine.”

Nonstriving and Effortless Action

Another key characteristic of a flow state is effortlessness. When we’re in a peak experience, there’s no friction; only a naturalness and ease to whatever we are doing.

This quality relates to the Buddhist concept of the Middle Way, or what the Taoists call Wu Wui (nongoverning).

There are no doubts or hesitation—just “right action” emerging as a function of being natural.

As such, we enter a state of non-striving. Non-striving is another way of defining Wu Wei:

• Non-striving
• Non-action
• Non-governing
• Non-doing

In this higher state, we just are.

Our conscious minds can have trouble understanding this important concept because the ego is driven by doingness and action. The ego deploys will and effort with specific purposes.

But in the peak experience, all of this falls away. The ego/mind takes a back seat, which is what enables the qualities highlighted above to manifest.

With non-striving comes a complete absence of wants and desires. (This is the goal of many of the Eastern traditions.)

Playfulness and Surprise

Maslow said he had difficulty in describing this particular playfulness due to limits in the English language, but it came down to a cosmic, good-humored quality that transcends hostility of any kind. It’s a kind of exuberant delight.

During and after a peak experience, individuals report feeling lucky, fortunate, and graced.

Maslow notes that these peak experiences aren’t planned; they just happen.

We might get the feeling, “I don’t deserve this.” In this state, there’s a profound feeling of humility. With a peak experience often comes profound feelings of gratitude and joy.

This feeling of gratitude and joy can lead to an all-embracing love for humanity and/or existence itself.

Wholeness and Completeness

A sense of inner completeness defines the peak experience.

Maslow explains that the authentic person is “complete or final in some sense; he certainly experiences subjective finality, completion or perfection at times; and he certainly perceives it in the world.”

Jung referred to this attribute as wholeness. Arriving at psychic wholeness is the goal of Jungian alchemy—of bringing one’s unconscious into harmony with one’s consciousness.

But in a temporary peak experience, we can all get a glimpse of this state of wholeness.

Maslow’s Definitions for Self-Actualization

Self‑Actualization and the Science of Flow

Maslow found that self-actualizing individuals have peak experiences with far greater frequency.

He defined self-actualization as the need to become what one has the potential to be.

This need for growth leads us to:

• An ongoing actualization of our capacities and talents,
• The fulfillment of our mission (calling)
• Self-knowledge and a full acceptance of nature,
• An unceasing trend toward integration.

So the more we invest in our own natural development, the more chances we have of having a peak experience.

Decades of comparative research confirm that peak experience, peak performance, and flow are overlapping expressions of the same optimal consciousness.

A landmark study by psychologist Gayle Privette documented shared traits such as absorption, spontaneity, and joy—yet showed that “flow” is the most learnable and repeatable of these transcendent states.

Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow State

You’ve heard the term “being in the zone.” Building on Maslow’s work, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has studied the science of flow throughout his career.

Flow is a mental state where an individual is absorbed in their performance with an energized focus, engagement, and enjoyment in the activity.

In Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Csikszentmihalyi outlines seven elements or conditions for flow:

1 – A challenging activity that requires skill

Too little challenge leads to boredom. Too much challenge brings anxiety. Enjoyment occurs in the sweet spot between the two.

2 – The merging of action and awareness

When all of our internal resources are engaged, there’s no psychic energy left for Self 1 to engage in counter-productive dialogue. Instead, a person becomes absorbed with full awareness of the activity itself.

3 – Clear goals and feedback

The more awareness we bring to an activity, the more feedback we receive both internally and externally. Goals or a clear vision give us a personal sense of what optimal performance looks like in advance.

4 – Concentration on the task at hand

All distraction falls away. Immersed in an enjoyable activity, the mind (Self 1) has no space for irrelevant information (like rumination).

5 – The paradox of control

Self 1 clings to wanting control, which creates tension. When we’re in a flow state, we experience a sense of being in control while not clinging to it. The desire or worry about control falls away.

6 – The loss of self-consciousness

The more we cling to our self-concepts and self-identity, the more we inhibit flow. Without interference from Self 1, we merge with the activity itself. We find our “authentic swing.”

7 – The transformation of time

One common theme in flow states and other altered states of consciousness is that one’s perception of time changes. Freedom from the “tyranny of time” adds to the enjoyment of our activities.

The Key to Cultivating Talent

Interestingly, available research on talent and learning suggests we’re not born with talent.

Instead, we cultivate talent through deliberate, deep practice.

Let’s say you want to improve your skills in tennis. You have a strong forehand, but a weak backhand. Your overall performance will increase by strengthening your backhand.

To accomplish this, you need to embrace the discomfort, focusing attention and effort on your backhand. It’s awkward at first.

But by staying conscious of your movements as you strike the ball with your backhand, you get feedback.

You notice:

1. How you feel when you swing the racket and contact the ball, and
2. Where the ball lands on the court.

And perhaps you get additional feedback and suggestions from a coach.

If you pay attention to this feedback—adjusting your performance and behavior through continuous repetition—over time, you improve your skills in tennis.

The Art of Deep Practice

In The Talent Code, Daniel Coyle explains:

Deep practice feels a bit like exploring a dark and unfamiliar room. You start slowly, you bump into furniture, stop, think, and start again. Slowly, and a little painfully, you explore the space over and over, attending to errors, extending your reach into the room a bit farther each time, building a mental map until you can move through it quickly and intuitively.

The key to improving your talent is knowing where you want to grow and then breaking the technique down into smaller chunks.

That’s why top performers have master coaches, as Coyle’s research on talent illustrates.

A peak performance coach knows where to direct your attention at that particular moment of your development.

For example, before you learn to transition between chords on a guitar, you must first practice strumming and hitting your chords cleanly. Learning these skills takes deep practice.

At first, the tips of your fingers are soft, the muscles in your fingers are weak, and your fingers lack the dexterity to maintain the proper positions on the guitar’s frets.

As Coyle wrote, you start in a dark, unfamiliar room.

But through conscious repetition, the darkness begins to subside, and the light enters the room.

Deep Practice Strengthens the Brain

Through deep practice, our brain grows myelin, a kind of insulation between neurons that reinforces neural connections.

The more myelin you have, the more automatic your response becomes. With practice, your strong neuron connections brighten the room.

Learning anything takes us through four stages of competence:

1. Unconscious incompetence
2. Conscious incompetence
3. Conscious competence
4. Unconscious competence

Myelin gets stronger between the third and fourth stages.

For mastery, our goal is to realize unconscious competence. Unconscious competence is another way of describing a flow state.

Here, we can perform a task well without effort or concentration.

Realizing Unconscious Competence

In Beyond Boredom and Anxiety, Csikszentmihalyi writes:

In the flow state, action follows upon action according to an internal logic that seems to need no conscious intervention by the actor. He experiences it as a unified flowing from one moment to the next, in which he is in control of his actions, and in which there is little distinction between self and environment, between stimulus and response, or between past, present, and future.

This is a critical distinction: in a flow state, there’s no conscious intervention by the actor.

New studies show that flow connects directly to how our brains manage focus and energy. Researchers discovered that a small brain area called the locus coeruleus helps control flow by releasing the chemical norepinephrine.

When this system is balanced—neither too tense nor too relaxed—the brain switches from worrying about itself to being fully locked into the task.

That is the biological key behind the “effortless focus” Maslow and Csikszentmihalyi described.

 

Overcoming the Inner Saboteur

So if we’re open to the idea that we have an inborn, authentic swing in whatever field that interests us—why do most of us rarely experience it?

Why are peak experiences the exception, not the rule?

The answer is that we get hijacked by an aspect of the mind sometimes called the inner critic or inner saboteur.

If we observe our minds, there’s a constant internal dialogue between multiple voices or parts.

In his Inner Game series, Timothy Gallwey distinguishes two selves: Self 1 and Self 2.

Self 1 is the voice that commands and criticizes. It represents the brain (prefrontal cortex), and it likes to instruct.

Self 2 stays quiet and does the actions. It represents the subconscious mind or bod,y and it likes to act.

When we watch this inner dialogue between Self 1 and Self 2, we observe several things:

1. Self 1 is very bossy, critical, and often unfriendly.
2. The conversation is one-sided; Self 2 doesn’t say much.
3. There’s little trust between these two selves.

Even though Self 2 does the work, Self 1 often intervenes and tries to take control.

The Inner Critic and Self‑Interference

Put simply, when Self 1 tries to dominate Self 2, we tense up and make mistakes.

Self 2 is more akin to our natural Center. It’s intuitive; it knows what to do. Self 1 only knows about what to do.

Self 1 is essentially our personality, or what the Taoists call the acquired mind. This acquired mind is conditioned by our environment, which includes anyone who has ever judged us.

First, someone judges us (usually our parents, teachers, and peers), and then an inner judge or inner critic is born in us.

And so Self 1, when in control, hijacks our performance in anything we do. When Self 1 is at the wheel, we can not have a peak experience.

Imagine having someone stand next to you as you write, play music, or compete in sports that continuously tells you why you’ll fail, what you’re doing wrong, and why you can’t improve.

It’s like being a comedian with a heckler sitting in the front row.

Well, that’s what happens most of the time internally for the majority of us.

When Self 1 doesn’t trust Self 2, we get tripped up by a myriad of interferences.

Performance = Potential – Interference

Gallwey offers a simple formula:

Performance = Potential – Interference

When Self 1 doesn’t intervene, we can enter a state of flow and become immersed in whatever we are doing.

That is, the absence of interference gives way to peak experiences.

Said another way: a peak experience can arise when we’re in Self 2, not Self 1.

In Self 2, we “get out of our own way and let our swing find us.”

Three Elements of Focus

The key to optimal performance is to maintain attention and focus on whatever we’re doing. Attention is critical for learning and proficiency in anything.

Distraction inhibits attention. While some distractions are external (like noises, other people, etc.), most of what disrupts our attention is internal, or what Gallwey calls self-interference.

Gallwey highlights three factors that enable us to focus (stay in Self 2):

1  Awareness

Focus of attention on a particular task.

2  Choice

Our desires determine where we place our focus. Desire drives focus.

Choice determines which desires we invest energy in and nourish, and which ones we starve and let die.

Nourishing the desires of Self 2, Gallwey explains, builds stability and leads to inner fulfillment.

Feeding Self 1 desires reinforces self-interference and creates inner tension and distraction.

3  Trust

We can focus when we let go of mental control. When Self 1 is in command, it provides instructions on what to do or poses questions that lead to doubt.

Doubt, Gallway clarifies, leads to confusion and paralysis.

When focused, you’re aware of your purpose and engaged in the present moment. Under these conditions, Self 1 is not heard.

Again, notice how these desired attributes for higher performance are in alignment with peak experiences.

Silencing the Inner Critic = Shifting to Self 2

How do you usually try to focus on or improve your performance?

If you’re like me, you may at first try to force your inner critic into submission or just try harder.

In a sense, we try to fight with Self 1. It doesn’t work. What we resist grows stronger.

Resisting the impulses of Self 1 only makes the voice of Self 1 stronger and louder.

So what’s the alternative?

Gallwey suggests choosing Self 2—acknowledge its desire and allow it to express itself. He observes:¹Ibid.

Once I can acknowledge Self 2, I can reach for it and give it whatever attention I have at my disposal. By that conscious choice, I am ignoring the voices of self-interference. A little attention is withdrawn from Self 1, diminishing its influence, and I simultaneously gain greater access to the resources of Self 2.

That makes sense, right? But how do we choose Self 2?

Training for Flow and Effortless Mastery

The first step is always to increase self-awareness.

We learn to feel the difference between the compulsive forces of Self 1 and Self 2’s natural drives.

Self 1’s drives are tight and restrictive. In contrast, Self 2 is relaxed and joyous (“flow-like”). Self 1 has something to prove; Self 2 acts for its own sake.

Sound familiar? Non-striving, effortlessness, joyfulness—the inherent qualities of a peak experience.

Setting the Foundation for Flow

A recent article in Nature offers a new guide for studying flow in the lab.

It explains that flow depends on more than matching challenge and skill—it also requires personal freedom, clear goals, and real interest in the activity.

By setting these conditions, people are much more likely to enter a state where control feels easy and time seems to disappear.

The Power of Attention

If you’ve read many of my guides on the Knowledge Center, perhaps you’ve noticed a common theme: self-awareness and the skill of attention.

Whether it’s owning your shadow, strengthening self-leadership, changing your mindset, or integrating your body and mind, the skill of directing attention inward is vital.

Directing attention inward also helps promote peak experiences and optimal performance.

With greater attention and focus, you strengthen the muscles of conscious choice.

You choose the body’s instinctual drives (Self 2) while weakening the tendencies of your mental chatter (Self 1).

How to Develop Stronger Body Awareness

Peak experiences require immersion.

Integrative practices that enable you to sink awareness into the body help you access Self 2 and silence the Inner Critic.

1 Breathwork

Somatic breathing regulates the bridge between body and mind through conscious respiration.

Slow, diaphragmatic breathing activates the parasympathetic response, quieting mental noise and anchoring you in the effortless flow necessary for peak performance.

2 Centering

Centering draws your attention inward to the body’s midpoint—usually the abdomen or “lower dantien”—so awareness rests in stability instead of scattered thought.

It dissolves emotional turbulence and prepares the nervous system for calm, focused action.

3 Grounding

Grounding reconnects the mind to sensory reality and the Earth’s steady rhythm.

Whether you stand barefoot, visualize roots, or use tactile awareness, it rebalances overstimulated energy and restores psychological presence.

4 Standing

Zhan Zhuang—meaning “standing like a tree”—is a classical Taoist posture practice that cultivates internal energy and structural alignment.

Though motionless, it builds deep strength, steadiness, and the relaxed awareness vital for entering sustained flow states.

These types of foundational skills help put us on the road to self-actualization and to more peak experiences.

Use them frequently. Master them. Make them a part of you.

Learn to center yourself before you train, practice, or engage in any activity that requires your focus and attention.

A peak experience is only a moment away …

Integrating Peak Experiences into Daily Life

In Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences, Maslow writes, “Man has a higher and transcendent nature, and this is part of his essence, i.e., his biological nature as a member of a species which has evolved.”

Instead of seeing peak experiences as something relegated to a gifted few, Maslow understood that these experiences are part of our biological destiny.

There are things you can do to quiet Self 1’s interference of peak states.

Remember Self 1 is the mind/brain; Self 2 is the body.

Self 1 lowers our performance because it’s usually in the driver’s seat.

In essence, our minds impede optimal performance. The conscious mind must be stilled for a peak experience to manifest.

Removing internal resistance is a key to achieving optimal performance in virtually any activity—and experiencing more frequent peak experiences.

So, to silence Self 1, get rooted in your body first.

Make this your daily practice.

Books Related to the Peak Experience

Toward a Psychology of Being
by Abraham Maslow

Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences
by Abraham Maslow

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

The Talent Code
by Daniel Coyle

The Inner Game of Tennis
by W. Timothy Gallwey

What do you think?

Now it’s your turn.

Share your thoughts, comments, and questions below.

Read Next

The Science and Practice of Self‑Transcendence

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Scholarly References

• Privette, G. (1983). Peak experience, peak performance, and flow: A comparative analysis of positive human experiences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(6), 1361–1368.
• van der Linden D, Tops M, Bakker AB. Go with the flow: A neuroscientific view on being fully engaged. Eur J Neurosci. 2021 Feb;53(4):947-963. doi: 10.1111/ejn.15014. Epub 2020 Nov 9. PMID: 33084102; PMCID: PMC7983950.
• Durcan, O., Holland, P. & Bhattacharya, J. A framework for neurophysiological experiments on flow states. Commun Psychol 2, 66 (2024).