There is much that can be done to teach "Quiet Mind" technique: Man, that's the bulk of the sports psychology stuff that bounces around out there. More and more, however, psychological study leads us to the conclusion that much/most of who we are is rooted at the genetic level. Much of our personality is born and not made. By the way, I think a lot of the imagery technique that is sports psychology (in books I've read) may serve to do the opposite of quiting the mind. Dut I digress.
Did Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Jack Nicklaus, Reggie Jackson, Wayne Gretzky "learn" the secret to finding The Zone, or did they just "have" it, intuitively.
Didn't Lady Gaga sing about that? Born This Way.
Doc, I just finished reading (two nights ago), for the 3rd or 4th time, a book called the Tao of Physics. I got it 40 years ago, or so, as required reading in a Physics class in college. The book examines Eastern Philosophy/Religion (Buddhist/Taoist/Hindu) and how their universal view (of an interconnectedness of all thiings and a "reality" that is not visible to the unenlightened) is becoming the dominant view of particle physics. Wonderfully good, but heady, stuff. Hadn't read it in 15 years or so.
My copy is dog-eared from front to back, as I've marked pages for my attention the next time I read. but I always dog-ear more.
One of the last 2 or 3 pages had a comment that said (paraphrasing) essentially, "You can not explain, you can only experience." I dog-eared that page the other night. Had not before.
I am sure that the mind of a Nicklaus or Bird observed and experienced, but didn't try to explain the final round back nine Augusta or the last minute of a Championship game. At least until the press corps asked about it later.
It isn't easy and such is the stuff of the greatest greats. The physical ability gets you part way there.....but something else separates you. Tom Weiskoph had all the physical ability of a Jack Nicklaus, but even he admitted he was light years behind in the other stuff. Do we, the unitiated, percieve that Quietness as Self-Confidence?
I'm a worrier in my normal life. I lay awake at night, fret, stew, decide and undecide. It is who I am. Drives my wife nuts. Couldn't stop it if I tried....and I've tried. My dad, too. I'm sure its part of my DNA. But in competion I am just the opposite. I get quiet. Don't know why. When I coached, the closer the game and the closer to the end, the quiter I got. Have done the same the several times I've been 1st on the scene at auto accidents. 18th hole, 6 iron in hand, pond to carry, I get quiet. On the 3rd hole I might not.
Lady Gaga called it for me. So does The Tao of Physics. In those moments where loudness should prevail I manage to get quiet. I experience/observe and don't try to explain/analyze. Weirdness. I can't explain it.....and certainly didn't purposely cultivate it. it just is.
So does a Segura get quiet when he's comfortable? Loses that comfort otherwise? And what does you Aiki say about the Nicklaus and Bird?