Shooting from Within By J Michael Plaxco.
Plaxco was a very successful pistol competitor. He was also able to break down what he did and why. Finally, he understood the zone as I did and had a lot to say about it compared to most. He had broken the zone down into three levels and detailed how to get to the first two. The first was where we normally operated so obviously no big deal. The second was narrow focus. The third was an an expanded focus which seems unrealistic to many that haven't been there. He detailed how to try to get to the third level but said nobody was always successful doing that. Reading about Simone Biles and her troubles performing made me wonder if perhaps gymnasts usually perform in that third level zone. As a side comment, I always entered the third level zone driving a circle track car. After decades of interest in the zone I do believe I know how to get there the vast majority of the time.
People can mean different things when they say "the zone". I was very interested in a book by a competitor who was also a MD and titled his book "Finding the Zone" or something similar. After reading the entire book I had to conclude he had never been in the level three zone and didn't even recognize that it existed.
You can search old posts and archives and probably dig up many threads with me discussing the zone. Many dismiss it as something mystical or supernatural, it isn't. It is real and something most of us can access, possibly all of us. Got to pay your dues though! I am interested in any book that is about finding that zone that J Michael calls the level three zone. Until then, Shooting from Within has more about it than any book I know of. Besides the section on the mental game he drops tidbits all through the book. Would be tough digging for someone who wasn't interested in shooting a pistol.
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Well..... I don't have that book. But I want it!
Probably two of the best books I've read that go into some detail about "the zone" and how to achieve that state of mind are "Peak Performance", by Stulberg and Magness (2017), and "Bounce", by Matthew Syed (2010). Both books dive pretty deep into the inner workings of the mind and body as it relates to performing at a level beyond mere body mechanics. Not sure if either book can live up to "Shooting from Within", as I haven't read that particular book. But they are very good and well worth looking into.
The Zone is certainly not a mystical or supernatural thing. It's a mind over body thing, walking that fine line between conscious effort and subconscious action.
I recall a story about a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who sat down in the street during a protest march in Saigon back in 1963. He sat perfectly still, legs crossed, hands on his thighs, while two other monks poured 5 gallons of gasoline over him. Then he struck a match and set himself on fire. He was immediately engulfed in flames, but remained perfectly still and quiet in that same meditative posture while his clothes and skin burned to a crisp.
Onlookers screamed and cried and covered their mouths and faces, and then a firetruck arrived but it was blocked by the monks. And this burning man remained completely motionless, completely silent, until his face and body was charred black and the flames turned to crackling smoke. Then the monks declared him dead. They wrapped the blackened corpse in a blanket, put it in a casket and took it away.
That's a gruesome story, but it's also the ultimate example of how the mind can control the body. This man didn't move a muscle, didn't make one noise or one facial expression. He just sat there in the flames. His body was there in the street, burning, but his mind was at rest.
I'm not suggesting any of us should try such extreme mind over body practices. But in a way, this monk was in the zone.