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Flow Radio

Flow Radio

Flow Research Collective 135 Episodes Aug 5, 2026

Flow Research Collective Radio is a podcast focused on helping listeners unlock their full potential. Hosted by New York Times bestselling author Steven Kotler and Flow Research Collective co-founder Rian Doris, it explores the science of peak performance and flow. Episodes feature conversations with world-leading experts on these topics, offering practical insights for achieving a flow state.

Episodes

The Body Does Not Keep the Score
The Body Does Not Keep the Score Aug 5, 2026 01:17:01 In this episode of Flow Research, host Steven Kotler sits down with fellow neuroscientists Dr. Michael Mannino and Glenn Fox to unpack their viral opinion paper, "The Body Does Not Keep the Score."Taking direct aim at popular trauma psychology, the team exposes why Bessel van der Kolk’s belief that trauma is stored in the body gets neuroscience completely wrong. They unpack how the moder
The Science of Team Synchrony: Why Most Teams Are Delusional About Performance
The Science of Team Synchrony: Why Most Teams Are Delusional About Performance Jan 19, 2026 00:47:18 High-performing teams are said to have chemistry. What's happening is synchrony—measurable patterns in brains, bodies, and behavior. In this episode, Steven Kotler speaks with Dr. Michael Mannino and Erwin Valencia about team synchrony—the biological alignment that underpins trust, psychological safety, and team flow. They explore why teams routinely overestimate their effectiveness, how synch
When Learning Becomes Procrastination: How Brilliant Minds Delay the Work That Matters
When Learning Becomes Procrastination: How Brilliant Minds Delay the Work That Matters Nov 29, 2025 00:50:50 Why do the smartest people get stuck the fastest?Recorded live in New York at the closing panel of our Alliance mastermind, this conversation brings together three of the sharpest minds in human performance—Steven Kotler, Dr. Sarah Sarkis, and Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman—to dissect the moment when learning quietly becomes procrastination.They break down why high performers regress to old habits, how e
Scaling Flow: What Google and Summit Know About High-Speed Teams
Scaling Flow: What Google and Summit Know About High-Speed Teams Sep 30, 2025 00:57:14 When I think about the fastest, most creative teams I’ve ever seen, they all share the same blueprint: trust creates safety, safety fuels risk, risk sparks creativity, and flow binds it all together.That’s why I brought two of my favorite creative leaders into this conversation—Ivy Ross, VP of Design at Google, who has reshaped the look and feel of fifty-plus products and won hundreds of awards, a
How Your Brain Predicts Reality | Flow, Intuition & Mental Flexibility
How Your Brain Predicts Reality | Flow, Intuition & Mental Flexibility Aug 29, 2025 01:23:36 Karl Friston is one of the most influential neuroscientists alive. He pioneered the methods that underpin modern brain imaging and developed the Free Energy Principle—considered by many neuroscientists to be the closest thing we have to a general theory of intelligence.In this conversation with Dr. Michael Mannino and me, Friston explains why your brain doesn’t just record reality—it invents it. P
Flow in the AI Age: Your Last Human Advantage
Flow in the AI Age: Your Last Human Advantage Jul 30, 2025 01:30:03 AI is moving faster than most of us can comprehend. But what if our edge isn’t in outthinking machines—but in outflowing them?In this episode, Steven Kotler sits down with two of the sharpest minds shaping our technological future: Peter Diamandis, founder of the XPRIZE and a pioneer of exponential thinking, and Mo Gawdat, former Chief Business Officer at Google X and bestselling author of Scary S
Gut Instinct, Hard Science: The New Neuroscience of Intuition
Gut Instinct, Hard Science: The New Neuroscience of Intuition Jun 30, 2025 01:01:20 What if your gut instinct was more than a hunch? What if it was your brain’s first navigation system—designed to reduce uncertainty, minimize surprise, and keep you alive?In this episode of Flow Radio, Steven Kotler and neuroscientist Dr. Michael Mannino crack open the black box of intuition. Along with co-authors Karl Friston, György Buzsáki, J.A. Scott Kelso, and Guillaume Dumas, they’ve just co
DIY and the Flow Code: How Punk Culture Built the Startup World
DIY and the Flow Code: How Punk Culture Built the Startup World May 20, 2025 00:38:44 What do DIY entrepreneurship, peak performance, and punk rock have in common? Everything.In this live Flow Radio episode, recorded at Summit at Sea 2024, New York Times bestselling author and FRC Executive Director Steven Kotler joins fashion icon John Varvatos to trace the rebel spirit from CBGB’s to Silicon Valley. Together, they map how the kids nobody wanted—punks, misfits, and rule-breakers—a
Flow vs. the Victim Mindset: Trade Blame for Breakthroughs
Flow vs. the Victim Mindset: Trade Blame for Breakthroughs Apr 22, 2025 01:02:43 No one is coming to save you—but staying stuck isn’t the only option.Steven Kotler and Ryan Wickes welcome back Columbia professor and humanistic psychologist Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman—author of the just-released Rise Above, and one of today’s leading voices on human potential.Kaufman joins to unpack the victim mindset, the neurobiology of agency, and how narcissism, entitlement, and impostor syndro
The Creative Leader’s Playbook
The Creative Leader’s Playbook Apr 16, 2025 00:56:20 Creativity isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a survival skill.In this episode of Flow Radio, Steven Kotler sits down with artist, designer, and serial entrepreneur Jody Levy for a conversation on how intuition, constraint, and ritual unlock creativity—and why all three are non-negotiables for high-performance leadership.They trace Jody’s path through experience design and explore the mindset behind build
Flow vs. the Machine: AI, Creativity & the Next Human Renaissance
Flow vs. the Machine: AI, Creativity & the Next Human Renaissance Apr 3, 2025 02:14:42 What happens when AI takes center stage—and humans still want to create?Steven Kotler returns to Peter Diamandis’s Moonshots to unpack the forces shaping our future: AI, abundance, creativity, and how flow fuels the human advantage. Drawing on three decades at the bleeding edge of peak performance, they explore what it takes to thrive in a world accelerating beyond imagination—and why the right 10
The Next Step Won't Kill You: Flow Lessons from the Iron Cowboy
The Next Step Won't Kill You: Flow Lessons from the Iron Cowboy Jan 29, 2025 01:11:30 What happens when you reach such extreme states of pain that you start having out-of-body experiences? Join us for a fascinating conversation with James Lawrence (aka the Iron Cowboy) about redefining human limits, managing pain through flow states, and what happens when you push beyond what doctors claim is impossible.  James shares his raw truth about overcoming the voice of doubt, achieving o

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