The Zone and how to get there

Loretta

Loretta

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hello good people!

I've been lurking quietly around this board for quite some time and the recent post on the zone prompted me to register and start yakking.

I know what the zone is and how one can get there.

It's meditation. It's when our minds stop the incessant chatter and we enter a state of "no mind." When we're in the zone, we're not thinking, we're just BEING. It's what Monk means, I believe, by "be one with the shot."

Practice meditation in your day-to-day life and you will be able to draw on it when you're playing pool, not to mention how much easier and more enjoyable life gets when you're able to turn your mind off and just BE.
 
Loretta said:
Hello good people!

I've been lurking quietly around this board for quite some time and the recent post on the zone prompted me to register and start yakking.

I know what the zone is and how one can get there.

It's meditation. ]
Click to expand...


I can just see it now. Stop in the middle of the game and start chanting.'ohm ohm ohm. ' yeah right.

We have sports psychologists all over the place and they have not figured this out so do not think it is that easy or they would all be millionaires by now.

Nice try!!!

Laura
 
Laura,

Did you not just say in another post that you had to have your friends tell you what you did while you were in the zone? Whether you know it or not, you were "ohm, ohm, ohm-ing" yourself, and what most likely brought you out of that state was your mind. The next time you go to the table, can you get there again by choice?

My beliefs are my own. It's not my place, nor was it my intention with my original post, to shove them down anyone's throat.

It really IS that easy, though, and my post was intended to let people know that there IS another way. A gentler, kinder, calmer, more peaceful way.

Lo
 
Loretta,

I guess I was a little short. Sorry about that. I have only played for a year. Yes, it is true that my friends had to tell me what happened. It was also true that even though I played well, i am certainly not setting the world on fire in the pool world.

I have not read the Monk book. You have read that book and seem to know more about this than I. Perhaps everyone who wants this should either talk to you or go read that book.

Laura
 
I think the zone is caused by voodoo. You see, you take a little voodoo doll, then you staple a piece of your hair on its head (that's an old voodoo trick), THEN, when you're playing pool, you stick a BIG F*CKING NEEDLE in its head. While this might cause you to experience a very bad headache, it will cause you to not think so well. In fact, you won't think at all, and as a result, you will either play like complete sh*t, or you will hit the zone. Oh, by the way, this is JMHO. :rolleyes:
 
Loretta,

I enjoyed reading your post and I also thought it was very informative. Thank you for sharing that information. Sometimes when you start a thread, you never know how it will be received. I'm sorry you had to take so much abuse with your first thread. I guess you got your feet wet huh? Anyway, I know what you're talking about because I've done a little meditating in my day too.

Larry,

If you read where Loretta is from, you'll notice it's Sacramento, not San Francisco. I know they are not that far apart geographically but in every other way, they are much more than miles apart. I happened to grow up in the Bay Area and although San Francisco is a melting pot of diversity, that doesn't mean there aren't good people there that can think and reason with the best of them. Pretty soon you're going to run out of people to insult!
 
Thanks Rick...

Unfortunately for the posters, the abuse doesn't bother me at all. I didn't know what kind of responses I'd get, but I honestly wasn't expecting the nastiness. Sharing was what I was trying to do and perhaps my post wasn't worded correctly. Oh well. :)

Lo
 
Loretta,

Sorry for the abuse.But, I do think Larry is being silly. I really do not think he practices voodoo. I think that is a religion from places like Africa and Jamaica.

Sounds like rick has done some meditating. Maybe it would be worthwhile to see if he zones on a regular basis to test out your theory. I do think that a lot of pool players do not like woowoo stuff like meditation. Sorry.


Personally, to be honest, I have no idea how I get in there. All I know is that it seems to be a different way every time. There is another guy on our team who does it a lot too and he has never meditated or done any of that. We were trying to figure out what about the two of us is different from the other players, but so far have struck out. Maybe we are both right brained or something like that??????

Laura
 
Loretta said:

It's meditation. It's when our minds stop the incessant chatter and we enter a state of "no mind."
Click to expand...

Loretta,

I like this quote and would like to read the book you got this from. I like reading about that kind of thing. Would you please pm me the name of that book so that I can buy it?

Laura
 
fast larry said:
Let me get this right, instead of sitting in the corner cross legged for 3 days morning noon and night in a dark corner in serious pain and depravation going oooooommmmmm ooommm, I just jam the pin up the tail of the doll and dis guy is toast when I play him tomorrow. Yo baby....Is this a great country or what.
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I hate voodoo. It is not funny. I know all about those weird stories from countries that practice this. This is real wicked stuff. I cant believe you guys are laughing about this!!!! This voodoo is real, it is weird, and it is scary!!!!

Laura
 
The Zone

The Zone is an altered state of consciousness. There is nothing "cookey-spookey" or Voo-doo involved in any of it. At this link is an article I wrote about the zone:

http://www.azbilliards.com/blackjack/blackjack3.cfm

There are as many ways to get in the zone as there are people. The most common way is by controlling your focus through breathing, which is the method I recommend, because breathing is something most of us have mastered by adulthood.

Just as "playing in the zone" is an altered state of consciousness, so is choking. The mental part of pool is the toughest part to master. Claiming it does not exist, or that "playing in the zone" is a myth, does nothing but avoid the work involved in mastering it.

I recently read an excellent article on the subject, written by Nick Prinsloo. If I can find it, I will post a link to it for all to read.
 
you have to master some of the basics and mechanic skills of pool before you worry about the zone, granted mental skills are extremely important also, but if you don't have mechanic skills first all the meditating in the world won't help you hit a table length draw shot etc.
 
I got the impression from some of the posts that some persons think meditating is a short cut to being a world class pool player, maybe I took it the wrong way..........
 
OK, now this thread is going somewhere!!

What I was trying to do (and obviously poorly!) was make the comparison between the state one achieves when in the zone, "altered state of conciousness," as Blackjack says, and the state one achieves through meditation. It's the same state... no thoughts, no mind, no chatter. But most people don't know that it's the same thing, and I was trying to bring it to some light. Most people, especially those who experience the zone for the first time, have no idea what hit them. And they want it back, and are usually very disappointed when it doesn't come back no matter how hard they try.

Mick, you're absolutely right... I think you took it the way a lot of people did and I apologize if my post wasn't clear.
 
Re: The Zone

Blackjack said:
The Zone is an altered state of consciousness. There is nothing "cookey-spookey" or Voo-doo involved in any of it. At this link is an article I wrote about the zone:

http://www.azbilliards.com/blackjack/blackjack3.cfm

There are as many ways to get in the zone as there are people. The most common way is by controlling your focus through breathing, which is the method I recommend, because breathing is something most of us have mastered by adulthood.

Just as "playing in the zone" is an altered state of consciousness, so is choking. The mental part of pool is the toughest part to master. Claiming it does not exist, or that "playing in the zone" is a myth, does nothing but avoid the work involved in mastering it.

I recently read an excellent article on the subject, written by Nick Prinsloo. If I can find it, I will post a link to it for all to read.
Click to expand...

Thanks David. i knew you had written something about this before but could not find it.

Laura
 
Laura (and anyone else who's interested)...

I've read many books on meditation and the like. My personal favorite is "The Power of Now" by Eckhardt Tolle. It's not only about meditation, but it does explain where all that chatter in our heads comes from!!

I guess my point to starting this thread was to get more pool players interested in meditation. There is no "secret way" to get to the zone. But the two "altered states," the zone and the state of peace and no-mind one achieves through meditation, are the same.
 
Loretta said:
Laura (and anyone else who's interested)...

I've read many books on meditation and the like. My personal favorite is "The Power of Now" by Eckhardt Tolle. It's not only about meditation, but it does explain where all that chatter in our heads comes from!!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the book title. I like reading about that kind of thing. The first time I went into the zone and described what I felt like to my hubby, he called this the zone. I had never heard the word,

Laura
 
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No one should be getting rich over this idea, and if someone does figure out a way to steal money from innocent people seeking enlightenment, they are a thief.

It's free.
 
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