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Acupuncture & Flow State: Your Brain Is a Ferrari You Drive Like a Dodge Caravan

  • Writer: Paul Rooney
    Paul Rooney
  • Oct 12
  • 5 min read

Updated: Oct 14

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The neuroscience behind how acupuncture facilitates and lengthens Flow State, using my 4 Neuro Pathways outlined in my upcoming book, Acupuncture Decoded.



Part 1 – Accessible Entry: A Moment You’ve Felt


There’s a moment—maybe while running, maybe mid-sentence in a discussion, or deep inside your creative work—when distractions vanish. Your focus locks in. Decisions flow before you even know you’ve made them. You are sure and solid. Time stretches and compresses like a trick of light. You’re not trying to perform. You simply are.


This is Flow State.


Athletes call it “the zone.” Artists call it immersion. Neuroscientists call it transient hypofrontality and network switching.


Whatever name you give it, it’s the same rare state of relaxed focus, deep clarity, and cognitive ease.


The question is:

How do you train your nervous system to enter that state on demand—and stay there longer?


That’s where acupuncture comes in. Not as magic. Not as metaphor. But as a precision tool for modulating the neural networks, neurotransmitters, and physiological gateways that make flow possible.


Let’s walk through exactly how it works—grounded in human studies, mapped to real brain systems, and structured around my framework, the 4 neurological pathways and 8 neurotransmitters most affected by acupuncture.


Part 2 – Scientific Core: What Flow Really Is


Flow Requires Network Switching

Your brain cycles between different control networks depending on the task:

  • DMN (Default Mode Network) handles self-reflection, time tracking, and internal monologue.

  • TPN (Task-Positive Network) drives external focus, working memory, and goal pursuit.

  • SN (Salience Network) acts as the switchboard—detecting relevance and deciding which system should be in charge.

To enter flow, the SN must suppress the DMN and sustain TPN dominance. This locks attention onto the task while quieting self-awareness and time perception



Time Dilation Isn’t Magic—It’s Neuroscience

Flow feels timeless because brain areas that track time—like the insula, PFC, and DMN—are dialed down, while task-related regions are dialed up:

  • ↓ DMN = less self-monitoring

  • ↓ Insula = less awareness of heart rate, breath, hunger

  • ↓ Prefrontal Cortex = less time-checking and self-editing

  • ↑ TPN = more attention to what’s in front of you, right now

This mechanism is known as transient hypofrontality, and it allows cognition to decouple from internal loops


Sensory Shift: Interoception ↓, Exteroception ↑

Flow feels immersive because internal body awareness (interoception) fades into the background, while external awareness (exteroception) becomes vivid.

This is a direct consequence of SN-driven prioritization: it amplifies external, task-relevant cues while muting noise from inside your body


So how does acupuncture affect these mechanisms?

Let’s walk through each pathway.


Part 2 – Dense Core: How the 4 Pathways Enable Flow


Pathway 1: Vagal Afferent Activation

Master switch of autonomic tone, interoception, and SN engagement

Acupuncture at vagally innervated points (e.g., ST36, auricular concha) stimulates vagal afferent fibers, which activate the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) in the brainstem. This signal then fans out to the parabrachial nucleus, insula, hypothalamus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex


Net result:

  • ↑ SN salience detection

  • ↓ interoceptive load

  • ↑ readiness for DMN→TPN switching

  • ↑ acetylcholine, serotonin, norepinephrine

These are the very neurotransmitters that promote calm engagement and cognitive precision.

Tier 1–2 Support:



Pathway 2: Spinal & Brainstem Modulation

The gatekeeper of time perception and attentional load

Needling sends fast-conducting signals to the dorsal horn and up to the periaqueductal gray (PAG) and locus coeruleus (LC). These areas control pain gating, dopaminergic tone, and norepinephrine bursts that heighten arousal and sharpen focus.

In flow, this pathway helps tune out distractions, gate irrelevant inputs, and maintain a task-locked sensory field.

It also contributes to endorphin release, reducing physical discomfort that might otherwise block flow.

Tier 1–2 Support:



Pathway 3: Neuroimmune Modulation

Clears inflammatory “noise” that blocks cognitive fluidity

Chronic low-grade inflammation disrupts neurotransmitter metabolism and impairs SN and TPN function. Acupuncture reduces cytokines like IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α, which are known to interfere with dopamine, serotonin, and GABA balance.

This clears the way for smoother network switching, improved PFC efficiency, and enhanced resilience to internal distractions.

Tier 1–2 Support:



Pathway 4: Monoaminergic & GABAergic Modulation

Regulates excitatory-inhibitory balance for sustained flow

Acupuncture has been shown to:

  • ↑ cortical GABA (relaxation + sensory tuning)

  • ↑ dopamine (motivation, reward, agency)

  • ↑ norepinephrine (focus, signal-to-noise ratio)

  • ↓ glutamate (excitotoxicity, sensory overload)

Together, these neurotransmitter shifts create a low-friction cognitive environment where attention moves fluidly and the brain enters high-resolution mode.

Tier 1–2 Support:

The 4 Pathways & 8 Neurotransmi…



Condition Mapping Table – Where This Applies Clinically

Clinical Scenario

Block to Flow

Pathways Involved

How Acupuncture Helps

Brain Fog

Excess interoceptive noise; poor SN switching

Pathway 1, 3, 4

Vagal afferent + cytokine modulation + GABA ↑

Migraine

LC hyperactivity; sensory overload

Pathway 2, 4

PAG/LC modulation; glutamate ↓

Anxiety

Overactive DMN; low GABA

Pathway 1, 4

Interoceptive suppression; GABA ↑; NE tuning

PTSD

Rigid DMN dominance; impaired SN switching

Pathway 1, 3

Vagal activation; inflammation ↓; 5-HT ↑

Athletes seeking flow

Time perception + body awareness interference

All 4

Combined sensory gating, dopaminergic arousal, interoceptive quieting


Simile Box – What Flow Feels Like, Mechanistically

Flow is like standing in a quiet forest during a snowfall.

The wind stops.

Your breath vanishes from awareness.

You hear the smallest branch snap—clear and clean.

Your body moves before you know what it’s doing.

Time dilates—not because anything slows down, but because you stop measuring it.


That’s not poetry. That’s network switching in action.


Synthesis

Flow state isn’t mystical—it’s mechanical.

It arises when your salience network dials in, your default network quiets down, and your task network locks on. But for that to happen, the system must be well-tuned, inflammation-free, and neurochemically responsive.

Acupuncture provides exactly that:

  • It signals the vagus nerve to restore autonomic readiness.

  • It activates the spinal-brainstem pain and attention gates.

  • It reduces inflammatory interference via cytokine modulation.

  • And it shifts the balance between GABA, dopamine, serotonin, and other flow-critical neurotransmitters.


For those looking to train access to flow—whether in sport, decision making, art, or life—acupuncture offers a science-backed way to make that doorway easier to find and easier to walk through.


I’m currently co-leading Flow Access classes with Dr. Annika Michaels of EvolvePT - combining targeted acupuncture and elite sports physiotherapy to help participants train their nervous systems for deeper, more reliable Flow State.


Have questions?

Would you like a free consultation to see if acupuncture is a good fit for you?

Contact me at:

Cell: Call or Text, (603) 630-9430





 
 
 

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