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Feb
28
The Mental Game Ch. 2
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In chapter two of The Inner Game of Tennis,”The Discovery of the Two Selves,” Gallwey talks about two things that are interesting to me, one is the term “relaxed concentration” (which I’ll talk about later) and the second is the idea that we have two “selves” that control our actions.
The “selves” according to Gallwey are Self 1 (the teller) it tells us what to do, and Self 2 (the doer) of course, does the things we want done. Self 1 also critiques how well or poorly we’ve done the job. So an example would be: your training with a guy, Self 1 (the teller) is saying “Okay watch out, you know this guy likes the collar choke, tuck your chin.” Self 2 tucks your chin. “Oh shit, he’s switching to armbar tuck your elbow, tuck it! Tuck it! Self 2 tries to tuck your elbow, but it’s too late, self 2 taps. “Come on man!“ Self 1 says, “That’s the third time we lost to this guy.”
I know it might sound a little schizophrenic, but this is similar to what I’ve experienced in my own training, the little voice that I call the “what ifs.” Self 1 can be a huge hindrance, a definite road block to flow.
Gallwey talked about a client he had that was having trouble hitting the tennis ball, she would always catch the ball on the frame of the racket instead of the strings. He had her focus on the seams of the ball and nothing else, and then she started hitting the ball perfectly. She had distracted self 1 enough that Self 2 could perform without distraction. It reminds me of mushin, the samurais’ concept of no-mind, the idea of not letting your thoughts get in your way.
I’ve written about my habit of singing while I trained and how I have since stopped, because I think it hurts peoples’ feelings, because they think I’m just toying with them and not taking them seriously, but I finally realized what I was doing, I was distracting Self 1. My singing was distracting Self 1 enough so Self 2 could do its job.
I tested this out Thursday night during class. I decided I would train and while I trained I would sing like I used to. Self 1 was gone. I was in the moment, no little voice, no fear, no critical comments from myself to myself, just song and motion—it was awesome. I think I’ve finally figured out the secret to flow. Distract Self 1, and let Self 2 do what it already knows how to do—what you’ve trained it to do.
I like this post. For me, my mind starts chattering at me when I go against somebody I think (or know) is superior. This inevitably causes me to roll like crap as I’m letting my thoughts get in the way.
Less thinking more singing.
I also remembered something Rickson Gracie said in Choke (the documentary). he was explaining how he felt when he rolled and he used the term “auotmatic pilot,” I think he was talking about the same thing. Getting your mind out of the way so your body could perform its task.
I have had this exact thing happen. My mind was yelling at me to do a escape and my body just wouldn’t move to do it. I’m not sure I’ve got the hang of “mindlessness” yet. I’m not even sure how to do it.