is anybody out there?
- Thread starter 12310bch
- Start date
The Legendary Zone
You found one version of the zone. The zone can be a wonderful place although a very close cousin can cause you to do some extremely silly things. A friend shot extremely poorly for him. He said that he was floating up above watching some numbskull shooting without paying the slightest attention to aiming, . . . and the numbskull he was watching was himself!! No the man doesn't do drugs of any kind.
The zone is a bit different fortunately. Ideally the conscious mind is still working but just observing and ready to step in if needed. The subconscious, unconscious, whatever you want to call it is in control. Some people report an extremely narrow focus, they wouldn't notice a naked couple working out on the next table. For others it is an expanded focus, their senses heighten until bordering on the supernatural. Some remember every moment, some remember almost nothing.
There are various thoughts on how to find the zone. Self-hypnosis is one but I don't really buy into that. I might be wrong but my version of the zone is an expanded consciousness and I don't think any form of hypnosis is going to get me there. Tying up the conscious mind with one simple positive thought or mantra, only one or a few words, helps some narrow their focus and that can be a step along the way to expanded focus although it seems counterintuitive. Finally, with practice a person can learn to quiet the conscious mind and let the unconscious perform. When I ease off by myself before competition I am adjusting my mental state to where it needs to be to slip into the zone easily.
After you find the zone a few times, it gets a little easier to find it each time you try to in the future. The bad news is that nobody finds the zone 100% of the time and the very nature of pool with pauses at the end of every rack make it very hard to get in and stay in the zone. The longest I have been in the zone playing pool was 6-8 hours. I played eight to ten hours and thought it had only been a few hours although I remembered everything that happened clearly. One great thing about the zone is that you are living in the moment. There is no past, there is no future beyond the table in front of you. Living in the moment allows you to perform your best.
Hu
You found one version of the zone. The zone can be a wonderful place although a very close cousin can cause you to do some extremely silly things. A friend shot extremely poorly for him. He said that he was floating up above watching some numbskull shooting without paying the slightest attention to aiming, . . . and the numbskull he was watching was himself!! No the man doesn't do drugs of any kind.
The zone is a bit different fortunately. Ideally the conscious mind is still working but just observing and ready to step in if needed. The subconscious, unconscious, whatever you want to call it is in control. Some people report an extremely narrow focus, they wouldn't notice a naked couple working out on the next table. For others it is an expanded focus, their senses heighten until bordering on the supernatural. Some remember every moment, some remember almost nothing.
There are various thoughts on how to find the zone. Self-hypnosis is one but I don't really buy into that. I might be wrong but my version of the zone is an expanded consciousness and I don't think any form of hypnosis is going to get me there. Tying up the conscious mind with one simple positive thought or mantra, only one or a few words, helps some narrow their focus and that can be a step along the way to expanded focus although it seems counterintuitive. Finally, with practice a person can learn to quiet the conscious mind and let the unconscious perform. When I ease off by myself before competition I am adjusting my mental state to where it needs to be to slip into the zone easily.
After you find the zone a few times, it gets a little easier to find it each time you try to in the future. The bad news is that nobody finds the zone 100% of the time and the very nature of pool with pauses at the end of every rack make it very hard to get in and stay in the zone. The longest I have been in the zone playing pool was 6-8 hours. I played eight to ten hours and thought it had only been a few hours although I remembered everything that happened clearly. One great thing about the zone is that you are living in the moment. There is no past, there is no future beyond the table in front of you. Living in the moment allows you to perform your best.
Hu
Drugs: Teaching America about the metric system since 1964.
