David Ranney's Tennis Blog

About How Far To Go In Letting The "Other Than Conscious" Control Things

A reader Question:

 

“I read the first portions of your book, regarding watching the ball and breathing. The watching part is helping me, as I need to relearn this, and your Core statements 1 & 2 are a big help (I'm seeing spin sometimes for the first time). The breathing is all new to me and will start practicing this before I go further in the book.

 

I do have a question however, about how far to go in letting the "other than conscious" control things. I thought that this part of the mind was to be given a goal by the conscious mind, then let go and busy the conscious mind with watching the ball.

 

Do you advocate letting the other than conscious mind completely decide where and how the ball will be hit?

 

And my answer is:

 

How far do you let the other than conscious mind decide where and how you hit the ball is a terrific question and, unfortunately my answer may be a little fuzzy.

 

The best way to discuss this, I believe, is to use driving as an example. Usually, you have a destination in mind when you get into your car and you need to have in your mind the route you need to go in order to get to this destination. In tennis, as an example, let’s use hitting the ball to the backhand as your destination or goal for this discussion.

 

While you are driving, your conscious mind needs to be aware of where you are, what streets you need to turn on, the other cars on the road, and be ready to slow down, speed up, turn etc as needed. In tennis, you will need to see if you are actually hitting the ball to the backhand side. But when you do this you are letting your other than conscious mind actually execute these movements hopefully without thinking.

 

Now, there are times when you don’t really need to pay much attention to where you are and what is going around you. This happens when you are driving on a long trip and your car is on cruise control and you are just pretty much sitting and sightseeing. This would be considered “zoning out” or “going on autopilot” which is extremely dangerous while driving a vehicle, although it works well for tennis. You are in a trance and your conscious mind is just not very active. It will know, however, when you need to turn (hit the ball to a particular place). Your other than conscious mind will be paying attention and will direct your body accordingly. This part of your mind is seeing where you are and will “wake up” the conscious mind, if needed.

 

Here is what I do on the court and, to be honest, I don’t know that I can describe exactly what all this feels like. I am also still learning and experimenting how the relationship between the conscious mind and the other than conscious mind works so that I can play to the best of my ability. I do know that it is not always really obvious as to who (meaning my conscious mind and my other than conscious mind) is doing what and I believe that everyone needs to discover for themselves how this relationship works for them. That being said, getting to what I have called “the foundational place” is an important step in discovering this relationship.

 

Bear with me as I think I am finally getting to a “real” answer to your question.

 

When I begin playing, I start with a strategy that I believe will get me to where I want to go. I use my core principles as the vehicle to execute this strategy. However, many times my conscious mind just does not want to let go. It wants to control things and to be able to recognize what is going on can become very subtle. I may think that I am letting my other than conscious mind control hitting the ball, but I am really not.

 

How do I know this? I know this when I start choking or when I start missing balls that under normal circumstances I don’t miss. So, especially when I get behind in the score (sometimes even before this), I truly attempt to get my conscious mind out of the picture and I do this by letting go of “any” strategy or thought of what I am doing and relaxing my body more and just doing the core principles. I attempt to completely turn over my play to my other than conscious mind. I do this by visualizing what you want to happen and then letting go of a conscious strategy. In other words, I try to get to my foundational place.

 

 

What then begins to happen is that my conscious mind gets back into its proper function and just acts an observer and this is where I am aware of the thoughts (directions) that the other than conscious mind gives to my body as to how and where to hit the ball and not the other way around.

 

Once I am in this state, I do find that I am playing at my very best so, for me, I do want to “completely” turn over all control to my other than conscious mind. Going back to the driving analogy, your other than conscious mind will wake up your conscious mind if, for example, a change of strategy is needed.

 

I feel like I really can’t describe to others how this really works. I just know that, for me, this is what I do. You, and everyone else, will have to figure it out, but when you do the core principles and when you work on getting to “the foundation place” you will begin to discover how it works and feels for you.

 

Are you sorry now that you asked? Have I really messed with your mind? I think a whole book could be written about this. OH, I forgot. There was one and it was called “The Inner Game of Tennis” by Tim Gallwey. He explains all this so much better but now you know my puny explanation and how I “try” to play.

 

So to answer your specific question “Do you advocate letting the other than conscious mind completely decide where and how the ball will be hit?” my answer would be yes.

About How To Practice

Here is the main question that was asked by David, one of my book owners. He then pretty much answered his own question and hopefully I added a little more to the answers he found in Lesson #15 and #41 in my book.

 

"Is there ever a time on court, during a point, when one should consciously think about strategy (or stroke mechanics)? I think the answer is no during a tournament match or match that is important. But how does one practice stroke mechanics and consciously be aware of your body mechanics and/or strategy? Only during practice or drills? "

 

And he answered himself with this:

 

"After I emailed you I realized that probably all I had to do was go back and read "the book" again. Of course, it's all right there. I found some good answers to my question in lessons 15 & 41, and they are very helpful. I have been working so hard on my stroke mechanic and strategy stuff that I'm afraid I have neglected practicing the mental game. As you have pointed out, we all practice the other stuff at the expense of not practicing the mental game. Perhaps the answer to my question lies in deciding when and what to practice at any given time. Or, as you have pointed out in lessons 15 & 41, one can practice both strokes and strategy and the mental game at the same time. In a tournament match however, it's all mental game. Thanks again for your help and congratulations on your good summer season."

 

Here are my additional thoughts:

 

I am glad that you found the answers to your questions in my book. That saves me a lot of thinking and typing. (lol). Maybe, that should be my answer to all the questions people ask. I should tell them to just read my book again.

 

One of the things I would add is that you can use what happens when you hit balls to direct your practice. Here is what I mean. When I am practicing, different things happen as I hit the ball. Maybe I am hitting balls long. When I become aware of this, I then spend a few minutes dealing with that issue. If, for some reason, my backhand feels “off,” then I will deal with that for a few minutes. Maybe I notice that I am not breathing properly. I will then spend some time being aware of my breathing. So, what I practice on will depend on what is happening at that moment, but I will only work on one thing at a time. These things will change from day to day. How to “fix” these things, as you said, are all in my book.

 

Now, I also have a check list that I use from time to time. My check list is a list of things that I have become aware of that I need to either work on or need to make sure I am doing. See the index of my book for a list of some of these check lists. And, I add to my check list as I become aware of different things that are going on with my game. This check list is a work in progress.

 

I use the same process to fix “my problems” when I play games except that as things come up, I only visualize the correction and then I let it go and just go back to my core principles. I do not work on fixing it (except in my mind and in between points) when I am playing points. If it continues to be a problem, then I will work on it in my next practice session.

 

My last words of wisdom are to make sure that you spend enough time practicing the core principles. I practice them this way. Let’s say that I am hitting backhands cross court and I am working on my footwork. After a time, I will then play a game of seven points, again just hitting backhands cross court. Now that I am “in a game mode” I will forget about my footwork and just work on seeing the ball and breathing (core principles). See Drill #5 in my book for more ideas.

 

Thanks for your e-mail and I hope I have added to the answers you found in my book.

Questions About Breathing

Here are some good questions about breathing by Michael.

 

“I really enjoy your book and newsletter.  Thanks for providing a common sense, concise and fresh perspective to the game of tennis... and beyond.

 

Questions that I have for you regarding breathing during tennis ---are...

 

1) When do you recommend the exhale begin as it continues throughout the tennis stroke?  In reading your book, on volleys and return of serves I get that it begins as the ball is coming towards me. 

2) Does that includes the throughout backswing?  (or part of the backswing?)

3) How about on the serve, overheads, and ground strokes...  Should the exhalation begin at the backswing and continue through the whole swing and follow through?  (or even begin during part of the backswing?)

4) Does exhalation become more intense when the tennis ball is actually on the strings?

 

I don't mean to get caught up in the specifics (and lose sight of the forest by looking at the trees). However, since breathing is so fundamentally important the rhythm and focus of the game, your insight is appreciated.

 

Thanks for sharing your time and perspective.”

 

 

My Answer:

 

Hi Michael,

 

Thanks for the good questions.

 

My answer is very simple. It doesn’t matter when you begin your exhale as long as it starts before contact. Remember the whole purpose of the breathing is that the upper body can be as relaxed as possible when hitting the ball.

 

When practicing, I usually work on timing my exhale based on where the ball is, but not in relationship to my swing. I like to start my exhale somewhere around (either before, as, or after) when the ball bounces when I am hitting a ground stroke and just after the ball leaves my opponents racket when I am at net hitting volleys. On the return of serve, I start it when the ball is hit.

 

Now that I think about it, I believe it makes more sense to time the exhale with where the ball is because that will help keep your focus on the ball even though we are not actually working on seeing the ball. However, if, for you, the timing of the exhale works better when you start it sometime during the stroke, then you should do it that way. As I said, the important thing is to start before contact and let it be long and relaxed. I am assuming that you know that when you play points, you do not think or try to work on breathing “correctly.” At this time, just let it be what it will be. If you are aware of it not happening properly, re-program it and practice it in a later practice session.

 

The answer to your last question is no, the exhale should not be more intense when making contact with the ball. In fact, that is one of the critical things to be aware of. Are you still doing a relaxed exhale on contact? This is harder to do when hitting a serve, but even more important. And, yes, you can swing as hard as you can on a serve (or any other shot) and still have the exhale be long and relaxed.