hi my name is Josh and I’m hadn’t even
vais Florida’s
and also the head of the Dunedin
Florence program the flow arts are a
series of disciplines that draw on
cultural and martial traditions from
around the world like mo Li Po and Tai
aha
yoga hacky sack breakdancing Shaolin
staff and rope dot all of these can be
encompassed under the flow arts term and
this is because of the propensity that
those disciplines have to induce a state
of meditative and creative flow defined
by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his dental
as a state of energized focus where one
is fully immersed in the current
activity that one is engaged in to the
point where you can lose track of space
of time and of yourself it’s an
extremely empowering state to be in it
feels awesome when you just let go of
everything go with the flow and you’re
in the zone you know it’s in our
language and it’s when you achieve a
certain level of proficiency to the
point where you can just let go and
creatively kind of flow it’s often
common for people that really connect
with the flow arts to quickly integrate
them into their lives as a central
practice I’m certain people seem to be
particularly conducive to working up the
practice but the most powerful aspect
that I encountered was the community or
the culture is built around shared
growth and learning I came to university
at all of 18 years old and I’d rather
rough upbringing so vitae
kind of trade um a whole host of
negative traits addictions anxiety
depression apathy lethargy was rather
antisocial way too addicted to my games
my screens and I spend most of my time
in my room or in class I remember
distinctly walking through campus one
night just walking around and bumping
into members of the Dunedin fire and
circus club on the Union lon spinning
fire right there in front of everyone
and it was fantastic you know to see a
group of people it was standing up a New
Zealand culture you know tall poppy
syndrome just endemic here
to see a bunch of people standing up in
front of everyone performing and sharing
their passion for their talent and their
craft and encouraging each other you
know people were experimenting and
playing and failing and I was encouraged
and people were supporting that behavior
you know there’s a there’s a tradition
in Flora’s culture when someone drops
everyone claps because it means they
tried something new it means that they
tried to challenge themselves
so I rapidly was became really involved
in the society and mediately I was like
these are the guys I want to hang out
with the people that are happy and
empowered and sharing with each other
you know it’s a first year and uni there
aren’t heaps of cultural options so when
I discovered this one it was just this
is the one for me yeah so I started
going to the weekly practice it was
anywhere from 60 to 80 people gathered
in this massive hall on campus and they
don’t just be playing you know we call
them the toys and people would be
sharing and learning with each other and
trying new things and it’s fascinating
when you get a large group of
individuals that are participating in
flow State together this really
wonderful field effect comes about or
each of those individuals as driven to
push themselves to contribute to the
community and you see this like creative
exploration just kind of exploding out
of people it’s a really really powerful
thing to observe and the disciplines
themselves are really accessible you
know the stuff you just literally just
pick up the stuff and you can start
waving it around or a pair of POI
it’s as simple as wanting to be involved
taking that first step and then you find
out quickly that there’s really kind of
clearly discernible learning pathway
there’s different paths you can take
within even just one prop those
different techniques and styles and
attributes and as you’ve become more
skilled and unlocks further moves that
then cross over and then you can start
doing combos and really getting into a
state of really complex movement in the
middle of this flow flow State and then
we come to fire fire is a really
powerful experience for humans it’s the
the force that brought us out of the
caves they gave us the capability to
alter the environment around us and
because of this power and
you know the capability to destroy it is
often reacted to with quite a lot of
fear people often quite scared a fire
and even you know the whole wrist of the
other kingdom of animals that we are
also part of just terrified of fire you
know animals just run away but um as
humans we have the capacity to challenge
that and to really engage with that as a
process so yeah so when the flow artist
reaches a certain level of proficiency
in their art and when they’re ready we
facilitate their first fire-spinning
experience and it’s quite magical to see
this person who is maybe only dip their
toes and recently has been coming along
take the responsibility and the trust
onto themselves to engage in this
potentially dangerous activity and it’s
it’s a rite of passage
you know the whole community comes
together and we watch this person and we
support them and this trust and respect
going both ways from the community to
the individual and from the individual
back out to the community it’s a real
celebration growth celebration it’s not
much of it today’s society and yeah so
when you have these this combination of
powerful transformative experiences
where you get to really face this
ingrained evolutionary fear and you’re
engaged in these learning pathways we
break down these really complex
movements into you know simple
increments that are achievable it gives
you a really powerful toolkit then you
can take to the risk of your life and
like I quickly noticed at least the
overspill of these new modes of view and
reality into the other areas of my life
like I mentioned I was not particularly
socially apt in my first years at uni I
hadn’t had the same opportunity used to
grow and develop and learn those lessons
everyone else had and so I started
looking at it like I looked at learning
stuff through the flow arts breaking it
down into the individual interactions
and the individual skills and talents
that people were using to engage with
each other and through spinning fire you
know after you’ve spun fire for a while
nothing is scary I tell you what once
you’ve mastered that fear so like you
know holding eye contact or entering
into new social situations became really
easy for me after you know really
kind of mastering just primeval kind of
instinct that we’re all we’re all stuck
with until we BT and the most exciting
thing is I’ve seen this effect again and
again and again people come into our
community and now show up and you could
see them at Club the practice we have
every week you know they’re kind of
looking around they’re not too short and
then because our community is full of
loving wonderful teachers somewhere will
come up and offer them a toy give them
to give them a gateway into the
community and you know bring them along
do you want to learn something would you
like to get involved and you see people
rapidly progress through this pathway
and when you combine those factors of
mastering fear learning how to learn
with a really nurturing and warm
community you get a culture that pumps
out leaders and teaches healers and
innovators and is one of this very room
who bored us not lovely food tonight and
it’s a really powerful force I have a
vision for the future of the culture in
this country and it’s no one that’s
built around violence or alcoholism it’s
not one that like locks people out or
shows people how they should be
it’s one of openness and sharing in
collaboration that’s open to any who
wish to take it up this year we’ve seen
a rapid expansion in the Florence in
Dunedin I was fortunate enough to find
funding through the Ministry of Social
Development the government thought it
was a great idea
to teach kids how to spin fire and I’ll
tell you what there’s nothing more
powerful with than watching an
eight-year-old spinning fire like a boss
like that those kids have gone through
some awesome pathways already I wish I
had that let’s go yeah so we’re teaching
in three schools were performed at over
30 major community events in Dunedin the
most prestigious of which would be the
midwinter carnival and we’re quickly
planning for expansion next year we’re
looking to take what we’ve done in turn
even as a model to take it to schools to
take it to the Ministry of Education as
an example of what can be achieved of
how to engage people they’ve otherwise
fallen off the tracks or maybe haven’t
even had a reason or an opportunity to
engage before so we’re looking for too
much expansion thank you for listening
to my story the fire has been lit in the
flames and now spreading
vais Florida’s
and also the head of the Dunedin
Florence program the flow arts are a
series of disciplines that draw on
cultural and martial traditions from
around the world like mo Li Po and Tai
aha
yoga hacky sack breakdancing Shaolin
staff and rope dot all of these can be
encompassed under the flow arts term and
this is because of the propensity that
those disciplines have to induce a state
of meditative and creative flow defined
by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his dental
as a state of energized focus where one
is fully immersed in the current
activity that one is engaged in to the
point where you can lose track of space
of time and of yourself it’s an
extremely empowering state to be in it
feels awesome when you just let go of
everything go with the flow and you’re
in the zone you know it’s in our
language and it’s when you achieve a
certain level of proficiency to the
point where you can just let go and
creatively kind of flow it’s often
common for people that really connect
with the flow arts to quickly integrate
them into their lives as a central
practice I’m certain people seem to be
particularly conducive to working up the
practice but the most powerful aspect
that I encountered was the community or
the culture is built around shared
growth and learning I came to university
at all of 18 years old and I’d rather
rough upbringing so vitae
kind of trade um a whole host of
negative traits addictions anxiety
depression apathy lethargy was rather
antisocial way too addicted to my games
my screens and I spend most of my time
in my room or in class I remember
distinctly walking through campus one
night just walking around and bumping
into members of the Dunedin fire and
circus club on the Union lon spinning
fire right there in front of everyone
and it was fantastic you know to see a
group of people it was standing up a New
Zealand culture you know tall poppy
syndrome just endemic here
to see a bunch of people standing up in
front of everyone performing and sharing
their passion for their talent and their
craft and encouraging each other you
know people were experimenting and
playing and failing and I was encouraged
and people were supporting that behavior
you know there’s a there’s a tradition
in Flora’s culture when someone drops
everyone claps because it means they
tried something new it means that they
tried to challenge themselves
so I rapidly was became really involved
in the society and mediately I was like
these are the guys I want to hang out
with the people that are happy and
empowered and sharing with each other
you know it’s a first year and uni there
aren’t heaps of cultural options so when
I discovered this one it was just this
is the one for me yeah so I started
going to the weekly practice it was
anywhere from 60 to 80 people gathered
in this massive hall on campus and they
don’t just be playing you know we call
them the toys and people would be
sharing and learning with each other and
trying new things and it’s fascinating
when you get a large group of
individuals that are participating in
flow State together this really
wonderful field effect comes about or
each of those individuals as driven to
push themselves to contribute to the
community and you see this like creative
exploration just kind of exploding out
of people it’s a really really powerful
thing to observe and the disciplines
themselves are really accessible you
know the stuff you just literally just
pick up the stuff and you can start
waving it around or a pair of POI
it’s as simple as wanting to be involved
taking that first step and then you find
out quickly that there’s really kind of
clearly discernible learning pathway
there’s different paths you can take
within even just one prop those
different techniques and styles and
attributes and as you’ve become more
skilled and unlocks further moves that
then cross over and then you can start
doing combos and really getting into a
state of really complex movement in the
middle of this flow flow State and then
we come to fire fire is a really
powerful experience for humans it’s the
the force that brought us out of the
caves they gave us the capability to
alter the environment around us and
because of this power and
you know the capability to destroy it is
often reacted to with quite a lot of
fear people often quite scared a fire
and even you know the whole wrist of the
other kingdom of animals that we are
also part of just terrified of fire you
know animals just run away but um as
humans we have the capacity to challenge
that and to really engage with that as a
process so yeah so when the flow artist
reaches a certain level of proficiency
in their art and when they’re ready we
facilitate their first fire-spinning
experience and it’s quite magical to see
this person who is maybe only dip their
toes and recently has been coming along
take the responsibility and the trust
onto themselves to engage in this
potentially dangerous activity and it’s
it’s a rite of passage
you know the whole community comes
together and we watch this person and we
support them and this trust and respect
going both ways from the community to
the individual and from the individual
back out to the community it’s a real
celebration growth celebration it’s not
much of it today’s society and yeah so
when you have these this combination of
powerful transformative experiences
where you get to really face this
ingrained evolutionary fear and you’re
engaged in these learning pathways we
break down these really complex
movements into you know simple
increments that are achievable it gives
you a really powerful toolkit then you
can take to the risk of your life and
like I quickly noticed at least the
overspill of these new modes of view and
reality into the other areas of my life
like I mentioned I was not particularly
socially apt in my first years at uni I
hadn’t had the same opportunity used to
grow and develop and learn those lessons
everyone else had and so I started
looking at it like I looked at learning
stuff through the flow arts breaking it
down into the individual interactions
and the individual skills and talents
that people were using to engage with
each other and through spinning fire you
know after you’ve spun fire for a while
nothing is scary I tell you what once
you’ve mastered that fear so like you
know holding eye contact or entering
into new social situations became really
easy for me after you know really
kind of mastering just primeval kind of
instinct that we’re all we’re all stuck
with until we BT and the most exciting
thing is I’ve seen this effect again and
again and again people come into our
community and now show up and you could
see them at Club the practice we have
every week you know they’re kind of
looking around they’re not too short and
then because our community is full of
loving wonderful teachers somewhere will
come up and offer them a toy give them
to give them a gateway into the
community and you know bring them along
do you want to learn something would you
like to get involved and you see people
rapidly progress through this pathway
and when you combine those factors of
mastering fear learning how to learn
with a really nurturing and warm
community you get a culture that pumps
out leaders and teaches healers and
innovators and is one of this very room
who bored us not lovely food tonight and
it’s a really powerful force I have a
vision for the future of the culture in
this country and it’s no one that’s
built around violence or alcoholism it’s
not one that like locks people out or
shows people how they should be
it’s one of openness and sharing in
collaboration that’s open to any who
wish to take it up this year we’ve seen
a rapid expansion in the Florence in
Dunedin I was fortunate enough to find
funding through the Ministry of Social
Development the government thought it
was a great idea
to teach kids how to spin fire and I’ll
tell you what there’s nothing more
powerful with than watching an
eight-year-old spinning fire like a boss
like that those kids have gone through
some awesome pathways already I wish I
had that let’s go yeah so we’re teaching
in three schools were performed at over
30 major community events in Dunedin the
most prestigious of which would be the
midwinter carnival and we’re quickly
planning for expansion next year we’re
looking to take what we’ve done in turn
even as a model to take it to schools to
take it to the Ministry of Education as
an example of what can be achieved of
how to engage people they’ve otherwise
fallen off the tracks or maybe haven’t
even had a reason or an opportunity to
engage before so we’re looking for too
much expansion thank you for listening
to my story the fire has been lit in the
flames and now spreading
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