The first books I researched on the Zone were the Inner Game of Tennis and The Psychic Side of Sport. The first taught a kind of non-judgmental detachment while the second gave a shopping list of zone phenomena reported by athletes after zone experiences. After then going on to the Eastern disciplines of yoga, martial arts and zen, a more complete picture started to emerge. Early brain research was revealing that linear thought, like language was a left brain function, while the right brain was more the physical, emotional and non-linear creative side. Gallwey’s Inner Tennis revealed how the left can interfere with the right side’s learning and execution. Blakeslee’s book on The Right Brain suggested using a cross brain activity like humming a song to distract and occupy the left brain while engaging the right. But mental states emerged as a central theme in all these areas.
Herrigel, in his book, Zen in the Art of Archery wrote
"(...) The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconscious is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill, though there is in it something of a quite different order which cannot be attained by any progressive study of the art (...)" Wikipedia
That selflessness, the quiet left brain, and disassociated awareness were like descriptions found in Murphy’s Psychic Side of Sports book.
Two students, a psychology major and a linguistics major, videotaped the world’s leading medical hypnotist. Their research revealed two different language models. One was used to elicit specific sensory descriptions from subjects while the second was a more general language and metaphors, used to trigger inner resources, inherent in each of us.
The first became the basis for learning how experts organized their experience and executed their skills. By modeling expertise they were able to transfer skills from experts to non-experts by replicating their body experience. In recent years brain research has revealed that thought is embodied. The body is telling it about what it’s experiencing and the brain is encoding it in the language of thought, word descriptions and physiological cluster responses we call emotions. But what about trance states?
A hypnotherapist, Stephen Wolinsky, Trances People Live, made an interesting discovery. Due to the nature of his work he needed to learn how to become attuned to when his clients enter a trance. A patient arrived one day and before he even started he noted the client was exhibiting trance behavior already. Subsequent clients revealed that each person exhibited some trance signs. Suddenly a light went on. People function on a regular basis by entering trances and transitioning between them. People that had issues with certain states, phobias, compulsive disorders, etc. had gotten stuck in a trance state. His practice was turned on its head. Instead of trying to help people by putting them in a trance state and rearranging their mental living room, he needed to help them get out of a dysfunctional trance.
Stepping back from all this and examining it from the standpoint of the body talking to the mind, embodied cognition, the idea that a mental state is the solution to performance seems unlikely. In 1986, Leslie Cameron-Bandler and Michael Lebeau wrote a book, The Emotional Hostage. In their research they discovered part of that communication link coming from the body, emotions. A neat package of physiological and chronological situational information arrives and is processed by "head"quarters. They isolated that the message had a "functional intent". If you got mad because you were cut off in traffic, your immediate reaction was in the present and told you that your expectations of behavior, in the situation, had been violated. It also included a proposed (reactive), course of action. Luckily this is the moment we can decide not to act on that impulse. (Hands off the oozie). It turns out we have free "won’t", not free will.
Now to the main topic, the zone. The thinking that we need to get into the right mindset needs reminding of Wolinsky’s discovery. We need to get out of those mindset trances, a quiet mind is needed. Give up control and trust. The synergy of mind and body is for the mind to help with the decision making and the body to do the rest. Activation level in athletes has long been considered a key indicator of peak performance dynamics. Instead of a mindset, we need a "soma"set. This is a getting in touch scenario, literally.
Anxiety creates those mental bundles, along with word interpretations and works against a quiet mind. That inner dialogue takes attentional focus inside rather than outside where it needs to be to perform. The brain can helps us by directing focus. It can also choose the time frame, get out of the present into an anticipatory mode transitioning focus to a future positive outcome. What sound will the balls make as they enter the pocket? How does that fit into a pocketing pattern? Ask questions of yourself that activate the creative right brain side. Control your activation level by controlling your perceived context. Find an optimal level and bookmark it. Give a label to it. Associate a sound with it. Build a physical stimulus to trigger it. Anchor that feeling to something that can be used to toggle it "on". The body is where our sense of feel lives. Operating out of a body set comprised of heightened sensory awareness bound together with a touch and feel for the precision of peak performance lets an empty mind enjoy the ride.
Find a functional intent for any anxiety. Consider that the body is saying it’s excited and anticipating the challenge, good stress, not bad, fight or flight stuff. It’s activating energy needed to get the body into the right state. Giving it an appropriate label gives it both intent and function.
Thanks for your time and interest if you got this far. Feel free to comment. These are just perspectives to explore.
Herrigel, in his book, Zen in the Art of Archery wrote
"(...) The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconscious is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill, though there is in it something of a quite different order which cannot be attained by any progressive study of the art (...)" Wikipedia
That selflessness, the quiet left brain, and disassociated awareness were like descriptions found in Murphy’s Psychic Side of Sports book.
Two students, a psychology major and a linguistics major, videotaped the world’s leading medical hypnotist. Their research revealed two different language models. One was used to elicit specific sensory descriptions from subjects while the second was a more general language and metaphors, used to trigger inner resources, inherent in each of us.
The first became the basis for learning how experts organized their experience and executed their skills. By modeling expertise they were able to transfer skills from experts to non-experts by replicating their body experience. In recent years brain research has revealed that thought is embodied. The body is telling it about what it’s experiencing and the brain is encoding it in the language of thought, word descriptions and physiological cluster responses we call emotions. But what about trance states?
A hypnotherapist, Stephen Wolinsky, Trances People Live, made an interesting discovery. Due to the nature of his work he needed to learn how to become attuned to when his clients enter a trance. A patient arrived one day and before he even started he noted the client was exhibiting trance behavior already. Subsequent clients revealed that each person exhibited some trance signs. Suddenly a light went on. People function on a regular basis by entering trances and transitioning between them. People that had issues with certain states, phobias, compulsive disorders, etc. had gotten stuck in a trance state. His practice was turned on its head. Instead of trying to help people by putting them in a trance state and rearranging their mental living room, he needed to help them get out of a dysfunctional trance.
Stepping back from all this and examining it from the standpoint of the body talking to the mind, embodied cognition, the idea that a mental state is the solution to performance seems unlikely. In 1986, Leslie Cameron-Bandler and Michael Lebeau wrote a book, The Emotional Hostage. In their research they discovered part of that communication link coming from the body, emotions. A neat package of physiological and chronological situational information arrives and is processed by "head"quarters. They isolated that the message had a "functional intent". If you got mad because you were cut off in traffic, your immediate reaction was in the present and told you that your expectations of behavior, in the situation, had been violated. It also included a proposed (reactive), course of action. Luckily this is the moment we can decide not to act on that impulse. (Hands off the oozie). It turns out we have free "won’t", not free will.
Now to the main topic, the zone. The thinking that we need to get into the right mindset needs reminding of Wolinsky’s discovery. We need to get out of those mindset trances, a quiet mind is needed. Give up control and trust. The synergy of mind and body is for the mind to help with the decision making and the body to do the rest. Activation level in athletes has long been considered a key indicator of peak performance dynamics. Instead of a mindset, we need a "soma"set. This is a getting in touch scenario, literally.
Anxiety creates those mental bundles, along with word interpretations and works against a quiet mind. That inner dialogue takes attentional focus inside rather than outside where it needs to be to perform. The brain can helps us by directing focus. It can also choose the time frame, get out of the present into an anticipatory mode transitioning focus to a future positive outcome. What sound will the balls make as they enter the pocket? How does that fit into a pocketing pattern? Ask questions of yourself that activate the creative right brain side. Control your activation level by controlling your perceived context. Find an optimal level and bookmark it. Give a label to it. Associate a sound with it. Build a physical stimulus to trigger it. Anchor that feeling to something that can be used to toggle it "on". The body is where our sense of feel lives. Operating out of a body set comprised of heightened sensory awareness bound together with a touch and feel for the precision of peak performance lets an empty mind enjoy the ride.
Find a functional intent for any anxiety. Consider that the body is saying it’s excited and anticipating the challenge, good stress, not bad, fight or flight stuff. It’s activating energy needed to get the body into the right state. Giving it an appropriate label gives it both intent and function.
Thanks for your time and interest if you got this far. Feel free to comment. These are just perspectives to explore.
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