Directions to the Zone?
- Thread starter Patrick Johnson
- Start date
Go to the corner of "walk" and "Don't walk". Where it says right turn only, turn left for 2 blocks, walk back and repeat.
The zone is the part that sets the hooks in.... When you start playing you feel it when you hit a single shot perfectly.... As you progress you need more and more of this ambrosia... You go from a single shot to maybe a full rack... Then you play a full race there.. Then you get to bask in all of the glory of zone for even longer periods....
The longest I have stayed there was 6 weeks... For 6 weeks I didn't miss... I was 41 and thought I might never experience that long of a streak again... At 28 I spent a month there.... Every day I showed up and the zone was just waiting there for me to slip on like an old coat.....
What the zone "really" is is a physical manifestation of what we see in our minds... You imagine something from start to finish about a shot and reality matches what you imagine.... To get into the zone all you need are a few old friends that you shoot in warm ups to the point that reality and imagination are indistinguishable.....
This will get you to the border line of the zone but if you have not put in the time on the practice table you will not stay there....
Any time that reality doesn't match your imagined results your conscious mind starts to try and figure out what broke down.... Why did I miss that? Why was I short of my position zone? Man my speed is off....
If you have hit enough balls in practice the mind will skip over the errors easily and you can stay zoned, you will walk away from the table and not even recall what ball or shot you missed......
Without the table time you will start analyzing everything that doesn't match your imagination and pretty much kill your chances of peak performance..... ie.. you get kicked out of the zone........
The longest I have stayed there was 6 weeks... For 6 weeks I didn't miss... I was 41 and thought I might never experience that long of a streak again... At 28 I spent a month there.... Every day I showed up and the zone was just waiting there for me to slip on like an old coat.....
What the zone "really" is is a physical manifestation of what we see in our minds... You imagine something from start to finish about a shot and reality matches what you imagine.... To get into the zone all you need are a few old friends that you shoot in warm ups to the point that reality and imagination are indistinguishable.....
This will get you to the border line of the zone but if you have not put in the time on the practice table you will not stay there....
Any time that reality doesn't match your imagined results your conscious mind starts to try and figure out what broke down.... Why did I miss that? Why was I short of my position zone? Man my speed is off....
If you have hit enough balls in practice the mind will skip over the errors easily and you can stay zoned, you will walk away from the table and not even recall what ball or shot you missed......
Without the table time you will start analyzing everything that doesn't match your imagination and pretty much kill your chances of peak performance..... ie.. you get kicked out of the zone........
Nice thread. Interesting.
What I do to get focused and to stay there is for my mind to hear the contact sound of the QB hitting the OB when I shoot. You really have to stay still and your mind must be quiet......trying to listen.
I was in the zone for about 3 months back in the late 90's. Man, that was one heck of a time. I would be playing someone races of 9 ball to 9. After sinking the 9 I would go to the head of the table waiting for my opponent to rack, thats when he would say nice race. Blew me away. I hadnt realized I had won.
When I am in the zone I lose track of time and whats going on around me, in fact I am not even aware of my opponent. Just me and the balls.
John
What I do to get focused and to stay there is for my mind to hear the contact sound of the QB hitting the OB when I shoot. You really have to stay still and your mind must be quiet......trying to listen.
I was in the zone for about 3 months back in the late 90's. Man, that was one heck of a time. I would be playing someone races of 9 ball to 9. After sinking the 9 I would go to the head of the table waiting for my opponent to rack, thats when he would say nice race. Blew me away. I hadnt realized I had won.
When I am in the zone I lose track of time and whats going on around me, in fact I am not even aware of my opponent. Just me and the balls.
John
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I think you're close. Very close.
You want directions to the zone huh??
Start out on Budwieser street,,,go north to Vicodine Ave. ,,take a left til you get to Cocaine Corner and you are there!!!! If you see Tequila Road,,you have gone too far!!
You can take a different route but it takes longer to get there!!!!! LMAO
Start out on Budwieser street,,,go north to Vicodine Ave. ,,take a left til you get to Cocaine Corner and you are there!!!! If you see Tequila Road,,you have gone too far!!
You can take a different route but it takes longer to get there!!!!! LMAO
You guys need to be more serious, he's asking a real question.
Here you go:
From I-5 Southbound
Exit on Disneyland Drive/Ball Rd. Make a left. Cross over Ball Rd. (You will be on Disneyland Drive). Make a right on Magic Way. Make a left on Downtown Drive. We are located next to the Disneyland Hotel.
You will be at ESPNs "Zone" following these directions. Have fun!
Here you go:
From I-5 Southbound
Exit on Disneyland Drive/Ball Rd. Make a left. Cross over Ball Rd. (You will be on Disneyland Drive). Make a right on Magic Way. Make a left on Downtown Drive. We are located next to the Disneyland Hotel.
You will be at ESPNs "Zone" following these directions. Have fun!
Unfortunately that's a trap many people fall into; trying to force the conscious mind to be quiet. It needs to be directed somewhere, telling "it" to shut up will just bring it into the foreground more.
You have the right idea though, it's one of the ways to keep the conscious mind occupied. Have it concentrate on something like the sound of the tip hitting the ball. If you're in a noisy environment, think about how your grip feels. Don't concentrate on people, or the music, or anything that requires more than just feeling.
As soon as you find yourself coming out of that zone, set your anchor before the memory of the feeling fades. It will make it easier to get back, just don't force or expect it.
I agree -- "telling your conscious mind to shut up" is, itself, a conscious activity -- it brings the conscious mind into the fore even more. Rather, the technique used most effectively is a gentle redirection. Hand that "busy body" backseat driver a book to read to keep it occupied, like the ideas mentioned in the next quote...
That one -- the bolded part -- is mine. Whenever I find myself becoming "anxious" or otherwise "conscious" of what's going on, I focus on the feeling in my grip hand -- feeling the contact points in my hand, feeling the weight of the cue, and the "heft" of it as I do my practice strokes, etc. I take my focus *away* from the conscious aim at the ball, and redirect it backwards towards my grip hand. I let my subconscious aim at the ball. And when I do so, I remove all the conscious concerns of "Omigod! Omigod! Am I aiming correctly at this shot to make it?!?"
Dana, this is great stuff you're putting out here. Besides the obvious -- Pleasures of Small Motions and The Inner Game of Tennis -- do you have other source references for this type of material?
Really enjoying reading this thread,
-Sean
Well,
i have on this topic my own opinion. In my opinion the zone is a myst. You just have to try to play each ball as perfect as possible, ball by ball and position by position. And the more you have practiced, you will have less moments where a negative thought could come up- the more your practice the more self-belief you get. That s why you practice and work hard. Once you re able to *be in balance with yourself* and you practiced enough (table time), you will be able to play more and more balls just by immediatley pulling the right picture out of your brain.
If you will call this the zone- ok- then it s perhaps a different description. But this zone is in my opinion just a time, where you re self-confident and just do your job- where not negative thoughts coming through.
lg
Ingo
i have on this topic my own opinion. In my opinion the zone is a myst. You just have to try to play each ball as perfect as possible, ball by ball and position by position. And the more you have practiced, you will have less moments where a negative thought could come up- the more your practice the more self-belief you get. That s why you practice and work hard. Once you re able to *be in balance with yourself* and you practiced enough (table time), you will be able to play more and more balls just by immediatley pulling the right picture out of your brain.
If you will call this the zone- ok- then it s perhaps a different description. But this zone is in my opinion just a time, where you re self-confident and just do your job- where not negative thoughts coming through.
lg
Ingo
best game
The few times i found myself in the zone where those times when i had full concentration of my shots and my opponent shots. What i do remember is that when in the zone i seem to play my best game. That is i play higher than my average (based on my knowledge at the time). I often associate being in the zone with this higher-than-average concept.Thus, is statistically and realistically impossible for me to be in the zone most times as most times i tend to play my average.
The few times i found myself in the zone where those times when i had full concentration of my shots and my opponent shots. What i do remember is that when in the zone i seem to play my best game. That is i play higher than my average (based on my knowledge at the time). I often associate being in the zone with this higher-than-average concept.Thus, is statistically and realistically impossible for me to be in the zone most times as most times i tend to play my average.
I do have Pleasures of Small Motions, however, I haven't started it yet. I am a fan of The Inner Game and have read it several times. Zen In The Art of Archery is a great reference as well particularly for those who aren't quite sure how to begin.
These books are quoted often on here, along with a few others. I've had a long interest in Zen and hypnosis as a tool to keep things in focus. Lawrence Kincade, who posts on this forum, sells an excellent audio CD that I would recommend to anyone interested in the mental game. I have a collection of about 2 dozen books on hypnosis and meditation as well.
Mahayana Buddhism itself is a little hard to swallow for most, but a simplified version is taught in the US at various centers. Zen doesn't have a timeline, a start, or a finish which is a little disconcerting at first. There are no roadsigns in it to tell you which "degree" you have reached, or what your next difficulty level is. Imagine telling your child they have to go to school, and when they ask for how long, your only answer is until they have finished. But what is finished? The day? The semester? Grade 1? High-school? College? University? Grad school? When you don't label "finished" it's too vague for our ideals of how things work.
Hypnotism is also difficult at first. Aside from the fear you'll happily give away the deed to your home or bark like a dog at the end of a session it's hard to give over that control we have all been taught to hang on to. Immediately after a session of progressive muscle relaxation and beginning to start hypnosis I can find myself swallowing involuntarily. It's an automatic response of the conscious mind trying to exert itself by making you focus on it. It's normal. Some people develop the need to itch, shift positions, etc. The conscious mind doesn't like letting go.
Playing in the zone is just as difficult. There are ways to help induce it, such as what I mentioned before about using an anchor. But that's only a direction like saying China is in the far east. Using some of the methods, or all, studying the literature, practicing, and a little self-discovery will help any player get there faster. But I can't write down steps A through F to get into the zone at will. If I could, I'd play there constantly myself.
I don't know that there's any reliable way to get into that fugue state we call "dead stroke," other than constant study and practice. And then there’s the issue of “dead stroke” as a moving target.
IMO, dead stroke happens because on certain days many small physical things happen to sync up for us. Some of these little things are seemingly insignificant, but actually quite important to whatever idiosyncratic quirks make up our individual body mechanics and stroke. The mental state is just a manifestation the confidence we end up feeling and perhaps mild euphoria.
So I think dead stroke visits us when we're doing one, two, or maybe more things, differently than before. Perhaps a bit more of a step to the left, establishing contact between bridge hand and cue shaft with different motion, a slightly longer or shorter bridge, a longer or shorter grip, a slightly turned wrist there, a higher or lower head, a more level cue, a longer back stroke, a more relaxed or tighter bridge, and so on. On occasion, all this comes together to produce a precise stroke and the ability to do what we will with the cue ball.
Then, the mental part of dead stroke comes to us and we become absorbed by our ability to execute shots with sharpened precision. The next day, we go to the table and, because we're not machines, we do it a bit differently, and end up with different results.
Way back when, I would notice that if I just played very quickly, without thinking, I could play "very well." I would run around the table, collapse into a stance, throw a hodge podge of sometimes unorthodox bridges on the table, and zip the balls into the pockets. I could run a lot of balls this way. The problem was that this "system" wasn't reliable enough to count on.
Nowadays, it's more the opposite. I find that it's when I'm concentrating on the balls and table, considering every nuance of the upcoming shot, position play, table layout, and using a very studied technique, that I play "very well.
" So why the difference? I think it’s because the words "(play) very well" have a different meaning for me now than before. The lack of reliability that I experienced as a younger player was because I just wasn't good enough and didn’t have the knowledge I have today. The failure of my earlier "system" was actually my failure as a player. I could only play so well and missed the balls and position plays I was suppose to miss -- at the time -- not knowing I was suppose to miss them and blaming the "system."
Now, I think I have a better appreciation for how difficult the game can be, and can more clearly see what I don't know and might not be able to execute. I also now know, with much more accuracy, what playing "very well" means. Many times in the past, I thought I was playing "very well." Now, I have a much more narrow definition of those words and they require a much higher level of precision and consistency in execution than I would have used just six months ago.
So what does this mean? I dunno. Perhaps it's just that "dead stroke" means different things to different people, and different things at different times in our lives. Certainly, "dead stroke" for a player that has only been playing for a year or two, means something quite different than to a player with twenty or thirty years of playing experience. And because we keep "raising the bar," dead stroke always remains elusive and a very hard place to get to.
Lou Figueroa
There is a lot of very good stuff here in this thread!!! Tap tap tap to all
who have shared. Personally I think there is a lot of semantics, and vagueness based on paradigms with the terms .. deadstroke.. in the zone.. unconscious..
IMO... deadstroke is the result of practice and confidence, and no self doubt
Then the zone can hit... where deadstroke begins to mingle with 'unconscious'....
When the 'zone' leaves this 'world' it gets into 'unconscious' land where Star Wars 'the force' lives, and faith based people know 'God', where 'pure'
thought rules, not the kind where you think.. the kind where you just 'know'..... what you picture, you do.. no judgement, no doubt. I know that I don't know when I'm there because I don't "know" anything..
I am just there, being. It's weird, it's mystical, and I doubt anyone who hasn't been there would accept it as a real place.
Sorry to those non faith persons who may take exception to my descriptions, but that's my personal view!
td
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But what do I know....... I'm just a banger!
who have shared. Personally I think there is a lot of semantics, and vagueness based on paradigms with the terms .. deadstroke.. in the zone.. unconscious..
IMO... deadstroke is the result of practice and confidence, and no self doubt
Then the zone can hit... where deadstroke begins to mingle with 'unconscious'....
When the 'zone' leaves this 'world' it gets into 'unconscious' land where Star Wars 'the force' lives, and faith based people know 'God', where 'pure'
thought rules, not the kind where you think.. the kind where you just 'know'..... what you picture, you do.. no judgement, no doubt. I know that I don't know when I'm there because I don't "know" anything..
I am just there, being. It's weird, it's mystical, and I doubt anyone who hasn't been there would accept it as a real place.
Sorry to those non faith persons who may take exception to my descriptions, but that's my personal view!
td
Edit....
But what do I know....... I'm just a banger!
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I agree with every word. And I doubt seriously that you are just a banger.
stillrolling
Registered
In the early 80's George Fels wrote an excellent column on dead stroke in Billiards Digest. He covered practice methods and breathing exercises to train yourself to get to dead stroke easier. I have asked BD to include it in their Vault or on their website but got no reply. I thought it was a great article and about as much help as The Inner Game of Tennis for me.
Well, here's something b y George Fels that at least refers to that article.
I remember that 'dead stroke' article as well.....
...it was from George that I acquired the term 'the land of dead stroke'.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...I1Uv16r0bPa5ZZFqg&sig2=gHbPM_jY0smRZypw4wX1JA
