The Zone with a capital Z

Hierovision

Hierovision

Dios mio, man.
Silver Member
I've been talking to blah blah about the "Zone" recently.

Most of the posters here know about the Zone. It's that special frame of mind that embraces the subconscious and helps us run racks :p

I just want to talk about this little bit from a PM I sent to blah blah earlier after shooting for an hour at lunch:

I fully consciously got into the zone today, and just for S+G I tried coming out and back into the zone successfully.

The only way I can describe it is this:
At first I thought about how I felt in high school, and I think this primed me to get into the zone. I was a boxer/skater/soccer player and I was pretty overly confident/naive (i.e. invincible superman) at the time. I stopped thinking about what I couldn't do and focused on being "naive" again, imagining that everything was possible and I was capable of anything. While shooting I didn't think about anything other than having complete confidence that every ball on the table was going to do what I wanted it to. I unconsciously shot just a bit faster than usual but still ended up running 3 racks of 9-ball on dirty, crappy 9-footers. Each rack took around 4~5 minutes. I kept everything simple and didn't analyze the table. If a thought krept into my mind I blanked it out.

Honestly, I put myself in as naive a mindset as possible... and the rest just flowed. The way I took myself OUT of the zone was to focus on mechanics hahaha. How ironic.

I've recently been getting a lot more physical activity, so that could be helping too.
Click to expand...

I ran a few more racks out of sequence over the rest of my lunch hour while experimenting with my thoughts and mind-frame. What became very clear is that when I let go of my mind AFTER putting myself into the naive mind-set and let my subconscious drive, I was running 8 or 9 balls at a time. When I missed it was usually because a thought krept into my mind and I shot before I could blank it out.

With a little more mental practice I might just get a few balls better :p

That's all, just wanted to share.
 
easier said than done

It is easier said than done but there shouldn't be any thought in words while you are down on a shot. Even better if there is no thought in words for an entire inning at the table. Letting things flow works magic.

Hu



Hierovision said:
I've been talking to blah blah about the "Zone" recently.

Most of the posters here know about the Zone. It's that special frame of mind that embraces the subconscious and helps us run racks :p

I just want to talk about this little bit from a PM I sent to blah blah earlier after shooting for an hour at lunch:



I ran a few more racks out of sequence over the rest of my lunch hour while experimenting with my thoughts and mind-frame. What became very clear is that when I let go of my mind AFTER putting myself into the naive mind-set and let my subconscious drive, I was running 8 or 9 balls at a time. When I missed it was usually because a thought krept into my mind and I shot before I could blank it out.

With a little more mental practice I might just get a few balls better :p

That's all, just wanted to share.
Click to expand...
 
: )

I used to think "Bad thoughts make bad shots," but now I think it should be something closer to "Thoughts hinder shots."

Blech. Needs work.

(Still has that rhyme but now it's lost its rhythm.)
 
The 'zone', as we call it, is that wondrous period of time when all the pieces of the puzzle comes together and you play your best. Many of us have had a similar experience playing golf, where the driver is splitting the fairways, the approach shots are high, long, and near the cup, and putting is lights out. A great place to be.
The 'zone' is also where, at least I believe it to be, the place where luck has become the residue of success and all the favorable rolls have gone our way. Where one's confidence level soars so high that even the most difficult shots have become commonplace.
But alas, it is an island that we mortals but rarely visit. A glorious holiday that is much to short for our wants and leaves us wanting more, more I say...

Hey, Mr. Wilson. This guy's creeping me out. :eek:
 
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