Here's my take on it:
First, what is "the zone"? The zone that we all seek, is actually nothing more than a part of our brain that we seldom utilize properly for playing pool. It is nothing more than a much larger use of our subconscious mind. The same part of the brain you use a lot of when you walk somewhere.
Now, how to utilize that essential part of our brain to it's fullest potential? Much easier said than done, because we look at pool much differently than we should. We tend to look at pool with our conscious mind and leave out the subconscious mind.
There are many ways to "get into the zone". However, almost all of them, while they work very well, are not conducive to playing pool with time limit. The easiest way is through meditation. That, obviously, would not be taken to kindly by your opponent.
Optimally, we want to play like we walk. You want to walk, you just tell your subconscious to walk, and you do without any input from your conscious mind. Playing pool, we tend to add many parameters with our conscious mind that really don't need to be there. Such as, tough shot here, really aim this one!; hill-hill, don't blow it now!; where do I want to put the cb, and what do I have to do to get it there?; money game here, have to really try hard.; don't want to look like a banger, have to play good; ect. ect.
The best way I have found to at least come part way into the zone, is to (as CJ recently said, and I and others have said many times on here) "become the game". What that means, is that you let go of all the penalties of not playing well. None of that matters. All there is, is you and the table, and a job to perform. No labels whatsoever attached to any part of the game. No hard shots, no easy shots, no tough position play, no easy position play. No nothing but make the ob, and put the cb here.
Then do it again.
Watch Efren play, he usually keeps a hand on the table as he walks around it. Pros eyes stay on the table. They are becoming "one" with the table. No labels, just the game. Same as when we walk, no worries about the outcome, no fear of falling down, just walk. At times, you will see a pro explode with emotion after a win. That happens because he had a hard time eliminating those concerns from his game during play. His conscious mind kept getting in the way. Through experience, he was able to keep it in check enough, or even resorted to using his conscious mind to play, making very sure of each and every step along the way, that when it was over, his emotions would just explode. They were now free to go without restraint. When you see someone do this, you know for sure that they had to play with their conscious knowledge to get the job done, and they also knew that that is NOT the way to play the game at a high level. It is fraught with peril.
The easiest way to do this, for me anyways, is to take that extra 2-4 seconds after you think you have your aim down pat, and just pause. During that pause, you are not doing nothing. You are actually super focusing and becoming "one" with the table. You are seeing the shot just like you want it to happen, with zero thought of anything else happening. You are actually shifting to your subconscious mind, and letting the conscious mind go. When this works for me, you will see me soon start to take at the most one warmup stroke, and then fire. And run through the whole rack that way. See, and do. Nothing more. But, you first have to have a solid foundation in your subconscious so it knows what to do, and how to do it.
As another poster asked in another thread, how can Earl just look at the ball and shoot? That is because he has easy access to his subconscious mind. He actually plays "in the zone" almost all the time. Most of us, do not have such easy access to the subconscious, and, as ghostt mentioned, we need a "key" to get us there. That key can be any number of things. It is individual. As said, for me, it is that extra few seconds of going into the subconscious, seeing it happen like I want it to, and then just letting it happen. Takes practice for most of us, but can be achieved at least in part with consistent training.
First, what is "the zone"? The zone that we all seek, is actually nothing more than a part of our brain that we seldom utilize properly for playing pool. It is nothing more than a much larger use of our subconscious mind. The same part of the brain you use a lot of when you walk somewhere.
Now, how to utilize that essential part of our brain to it's fullest potential? Much easier said than done, because we look at pool much differently than we should. We tend to look at pool with our conscious mind and leave out the subconscious mind.
There are many ways to "get into the zone". However, almost all of them, while they work very well, are not conducive to playing pool with time limit. The easiest way is through meditation. That, obviously, would not be taken to kindly by your opponent.
Optimally, we want to play like we walk. You want to walk, you just tell your subconscious to walk, and you do without any input from your conscious mind. Playing pool, we tend to add many parameters with our conscious mind that really don't need to be there. Such as, tough shot here, really aim this one!; hill-hill, don't blow it now!; where do I want to put the cb, and what do I have to do to get it there?; money game here, have to really try hard.; don't want to look like a banger, have to play good; ect. ect.
The best way I have found to at least come part way into the zone, is to (as CJ recently said, and I and others have said many times on here) "become the game". What that means, is that you let go of all the penalties of not playing well. None of that matters. All there is, is you and the table, and a job to perform. No labels whatsoever attached to any part of the game. No hard shots, no easy shots, no tough position play, no easy position play. No nothing but make the ob, and put the cb here.
Then do it again.
Watch Efren play, he usually keeps a hand on the table as he walks around it. Pros eyes stay on the table. They are becoming "one" with the table. No labels, just the game. Same as when we walk, no worries about the outcome, no fear of falling down, just walk. At times, you will see a pro explode with emotion after a win. That happens because he had a hard time eliminating those concerns from his game during play. His conscious mind kept getting in the way. Through experience, he was able to keep it in check enough, or even resorted to using his conscious mind to play, making very sure of each and every step along the way, that when it was over, his emotions would just explode. They were now free to go without restraint. When you see someone do this, you know for sure that they had to play with their conscious knowledge to get the job done, and they also knew that that is NOT the way to play the game at a high level. It is fraught with peril.
The easiest way to do this, for me anyways, is to take that extra 2-4 seconds after you think you have your aim down pat, and just pause. During that pause, you are not doing nothing. You are actually super focusing and becoming "one" with the table. You are seeing the shot just like you want it to happen, with zero thought of anything else happening. You are actually shifting to your subconscious mind, and letting the conscious mind go. When this works for me, you will see me soon start to take at the most one warmup stroke, and then fire. And run through the whole rack that way. See, and do. Nothing more. But, you first have to have a solid foundation in your subconscious so it knows what to do, and how to do it.
As another poster asked in another thread, how can Earl just look at the ball and shoot? That is because he has easy access to his subconscious mind. He actually plays "in the zone" almost all the time. Most of us, do not have such easy access to the subconscious, and, as ghostt mentioned, we need a "key" to get us there. That key can be any number of things. It is individual. As said, for me, it is that extra few seconds of going into the subconscious, seeing it happen like I want it to, and then just letting it happen. Takes practice for most of us, but can be achieved at least in part with consistent training.
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