Let the pitch arrive at its own pace, and be there to greet it [Dr D][claiming credit for O Sensei's teachings, but don't tell anybody]
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I recently listened to a podcast interviewing Steven Kotler from the Flow Genome Project. It strikes me that this quote lends itself to a mindset that would allow an individual to more easily fall into "the zone" which just might be one of the more important and understudied(?) skillsets that might be able to be cultivated delibrately.
How many other koans do you know that might provoke an individual's mindset toward being 'in the zone?' Is it possible that aikido lends itself to this concept more than, say, Tae-Kwan-Do or Shotokan Karate or any other martial art you can think of?
Pete Carroll has talked about developing his defense's 'long body'* and that this concept is closely linked to his and Michael Gervais' ideas about high performance. Is developing the ability to be 'in the zone', measurable? I guess we'd have to have questionaires. Has anyone asked Bill James about this concept?
*(The Long Body—Carroll wants players to access a sense of their body that extends beyond its immediate boundaries and perceives it as a part of an interconnected whole, which he believes can become the essence of a deeper kind of teamwork (his source: Native American tradition)link
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More evidence that Nathan has read more than Yr Hbl. Correspondent... 's ok. He would splice Kotler and O Sensei as follows:
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(1) Sadaharu Oh, as we've mentioned a time or eight, went to Morihei Ueshiba and asked him how to hit. This after Oh was about 400 homers into his career. O Sensei told him one thing, the "don't try to anticipate" shtick. What he meant was, don't guess which hand the baddie is going to punch you with, 'cause what if you guess wrong?
Rather, practice "mirroring" his speed and direction. In the dojo, somebody throws a 1/2 speed punch, the cardinal sin is to counter at 3/4 speed. No, your angles move along with your partner's. They're initiated by him but will be finished by you. :- ) Practiced correctly, this produces a place that almost transcends speed. Sounds unlikely, but some aikidoka can deflect arrows. Any decent aikidoka is (in effect) three times as fast as she looks, because she practices "perceptive" speed rather than physical speed.
Nathan wants to get better at falling into "the zone," which means he's smart. LeBron James also wants to get better at falling into "the zone." Tiger Woods can't find it at all any more, even though he has spent untold hours actually being in it...
O Sensei's principle applies to us in a Ping-Pong match when we do NOT attempt to guess the side on which the serve is coming, do not in fact get "captured" by the opponent's gaze or mind at all, but ...
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(2) The "long body" is a Western way to think about Extending Ki. Ichiro envisioned a line of energy extending out from himself and a 2nd line of energy that began at the pitcher's CG, bent up through the release point, and then curved in to the plate.
This may all be mumbo-jumbo, when people start thinking that ley lines actually exist :- ) but the construct leads to --- > seeing and even SENSING the opponent's intentions as early as possible.
You get a Little Leaguer who wants to play outfield, you play long toss with him and you say, --- > Get Under It As Early As Possible ... hey, kid, you should have been standing under that one 3 seconds, not 2 ... let's try it again! ...
Same in boxing. If you pick up the punch when it's arriving through the "window," you naturally go concave and get suppressed. A beginning boxer ought to have his elbows extended half way to the opponent, slapping his hands away before he even gets a punch started...
The Klitschkos do this even though they could now accomplish exactly the same "ki extension" without the physically-extended arm. But you and I can practice any new sport this way ... reaching a ping pong bat out towards the opponent, for example.
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But I'll cheerfully admit I'd never thought of extending multiple lines of ki, one towards your opponent and another to sense your teammate's angle to your area.
And this is part of the genius of John Wooden coaching: if you get players focused on something technical, they're already buying in -- automatically -- to the intent. If they're working on HOW, they have no time to argue WHAT.
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It's not only possible that aikido emphasizes this mumbo jumbo more than does Shotokan, it's the reality. Aiki sensei are consumed with the practice of these principles and the movements are engineered from the ground up to splice with Ki extension. So is kung fu, which is extremely similar to aikido but much more practical in the street.
Aikido's problem is that the practitioners are so absorbed in the spiritual that most of them resent conflict, never practice at full speed, and wind up with a rude awakening when they have to enter a real battle, as opposed to doing twirls with a dance partner on a clean white mat.
There are a few who get it, though, like Seagal sensei :- )
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(3) Other koan for "the Zone" ... to practice falling in to the Zone we need:
- Challenge, not boredom ... a 20-foot basketball shot and not a layup
- Positive reinforcement ... the swish of the net or the resignations of the chess opponent
- A focus on technique and improvement, rather than greed for success (the HOW not the WHAT)
- A sense of extreme determination and intensity, combined with relaxation and "soft vision"
Given those four things, we're all set :- ) so we start off a chess session with a little mental checklist of principles to use. We lean in to the task. We allow ourselves to become "fascinated" with a difficult but do-able set of opponents. And we remember to enjoy.
Same is true with a tough Friday afternoon's task list at work.
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By the way, I guess they know what they're doing, but I never liked batting practice in baseball. Not the way it's done at 5 pm, hitting the equivalent of 80 MPH changeups waist high. It reminds me of the upright little girl "performing" shiho-nage in the lead picture. Don't try this in a real battle, grasshopper.
Contrast NPB, where they put their snake eyes on for pregame drills. ... seriously, there's little doubt that some day Dr. D will realize there is some benefit to this "sedated zombie on the mound" batting practice (and aikido class repetition) that is beyond his perception.
Yeah, let's get ready for Chris Sale by having a 50-year-old throw us meatballs? ;- ) It might be okay if the session finished with something difficult. As it is, the BP falls into "Relaxation" above and I would have thought it was mostly good for calming the nerves.
But what do I know,
Dr D
