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Surfing the Alpha Waves
Philip Guston, The Studio, 1969 Oil on canvas, 48 x 42" Metropolitan Museum of Art
“All profound distraction opens certain doors. You have to allow yourself to be distracted when you are unable to concentrate.”— Julio Cortázar
In The Work of Art author Adam Moss footnotes an intriguing query: is there a connection between the game mind and the “creation” mind? As a painter and an enthusiastic puzzle/game player, of course I had to investigate!
Digging into the topic, I quickly found myself traveling down a related path—what might be happening in the brain during problem solving activities, such as puzzle solving or painting.
Principally, what’s occurring in the brain during those inevitable moments of creative frustration (impasse/blocks), as well as during those always-mysterious “Eureka” moments?
Secondarily, I was hoping to find some practical actions that would aid my brain in working more effectively through those moments of impasse.
Lastly, how does the biological activity of the brain support the famous “flow” state, first coined by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi to describe sessions of activity during which one is totally immersed, focused, energized, and so engaged in the present moment that the outside world drops away?
THE PAINTING BRAIN
A first mark laid on an empty canvas immediately prompts the decision, what next? Thousands of decision-making moments follow along the route to a painting’s completion. Of course, there are also bouts of intuitive work that occur without consciousness (or perhaps more aptly without self-consciousness).
Inevitably, this cycle of work and review leads to dead ends and those hair-pulling moments of frustration and anxiety, in which no stroke, color, or compositional rearrangement seems sufficient to push the painting beyond its present logjam.
Oil on canvas, 18 x 21″
We can aptly describe mind states, but what about the brain?
A BIT OF BRAIN SCIENCE
The scientific reality is that all our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are the result of communicating neurons in our brains. When brain neurons fire in big groups, the collective activity creates waves that can be measured (through EEGs). The dominant frequency in which they communicate with each other determines the brainwave state.
The painting brain is no exception. If I am performing an analytical task with my eyes open—say painting—most likely it’s my brain’s beta oscillations that are diligently at work, keeping me alert, focused, and efficiently retrieving from the memory banks. My brain is working hard to solve perceived problems in my painting and, over time, if I am intensely involved in this activity, eventually the beta waves start to oscillate at the high end of the range.
If this processing activity continues at a high intensity level, the beta waves ramp up so fast that at some point they push my brain into overload, creating the “impasse” situation. (Unfortunately neural circuit activities and distinct cognitive states don’t work in a way that allows beta waves to just “flip over” into gamma waves, that peak mental concentration state.) From an information processing point of view, the system has reached a limiting point and any new possible options that might be retrieved are blocked from further processing within my working memory.
To get around the impasse my brain needs to kick back down into the alpha wave state. These waves oscillate at a lower frequency and produce an alert yet calm mind, not so relaxed I could go to sleep, but also not too burdened by circumstances or thoughts.
SURFING THE ALPHA WAVES
Intuitively all artists know that when faced with an impasse, it’s critical to TAKE A BREAK. But not all break activities contribute to kicking the artist back into alpha wave state.
I should—
Put on my favorite music or, if I am already listening, I can try changing the music.
Get up, get out, go for a 20 minute “forest bath” aka a walk in nature.
Try 10-20 minutes of deep breathing (8/4/8 beats in/hold/beats out) with a hand on the heart. Or 20 minutes meditation.
Oil on canvas, approx 37 x 30″
Take a catnap. Dali apparently trained himself to take 1 minute naps by holding a key. When the key dropped on the plate below, he woke up full of ideas. Truthfully, I don’t know that napping will be achieved.
I definitely should NOT
Scroll Social Media or news feeds during these breaks. This activity kicks me back into an anxious beta wave state.
POSTSCRIPT: CREATIVE NIRVANA
The alpha wave state is a fine aid for creative problem solving. But the ultimate creative state is Flow. Neurologists have discovered that in the Flow State both alpha and theta waves are oscillating simultaneously in a different parts of the brain. This combination produces hyperfocus, effortless action, reduced self-criticism, and making tasks feel fluid and automatic.
The most important characteristic of the state is to engage in a “stretch” task that is not too far beyond one’s capabilities. Studies have shown that elite athletes have been able to successfully control the Flow State for better performance. This paper provides an intriguing look at how athletes and musicians prepared to get into that state, including mental and physical warm-up exercises, visualization, goal setting, breathing exercises…
Often the reason for a creative impasse is a reach too far. In my case, I distract myself with a “mindless happy exercise” with a goal I know I can accomplish—mixing paint palettes in my Color notebook. It’s stimulating, stressfree, and ultimately useful somewhere along the creative road.
THE RABBIT HOLE
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This is great, Liz
Exactly what I needed to read as the new year approaches and I’m in my studio beginning a new painting series.