I recently sent out my latest Mini Lesson on Tim Gallwey’s
Bounce-Hit method of focusing and this is an e-mail I received with some
additional insights and my comments.
Hi David,
First of all congratulations on what you are trying to do through your website,
book and teaching. Keep up the good work and i wish you all the very
best.
I am also very interested in the mental perspective and have a few comments on
your latest issue.
First of all, instead of saying bounce-hit, perhaps one-two would be
better. I played around with Gallwey's insights while teaching many years
ago. The reason is because I found many players had a much harsher
intonation on the hit than they did on the bounce. Obviously the ego is
not involved in the bounce, but is on the hit so tension only came when the ego
was involved. However, often the hit can be interpreted as a command
instead of an observation. So by saying one-two, it emphasized that these
two symbols were simple observations of when the ball touched the ground and
when the strings touched the racket (or as close as we could get to those two
events).
The key, I think, is not to consciously change the intonation and say the word
more softly. This is done by the conscious mind and has lead to no
greater awareness and therefore no real change. However, what I did was
to ask the client to actually focus on the intonation of the bounce and the hit
or the one and the two and allowed them to hear the difference. Sometimes
this happened quickly and sometimes it took time, but either way I resisted the
temptation to tell them because I knew that there own realization would be a
greater catalyst for change.
This is a small thing, but something that inspired me to use as an excuse to
reach out and connect with you.
Again, keep up the good work and I wish you the very best always,
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Thanks for your comments. I really like to have other
people’s insights.
I have not tried to use the one-two words while playing
yet as we are snowed in and I have not played for over a week. I think it
doesn’t really matter what words you use as the main purpose is to get your
conscious mind out of the way and saying any words will help. The reason I
personally like the bounce-hit words is so that I can have a better awareness
of how hard I am trying. I have to keep monitoring how I say hit so that it is
more relaxed. I find that my conscious (ego) mind always tries to get around
the methods that I use so I have to change what I am doing from time to time.
Sometimes I will do just do the bounce hit, other times I will do the bounce
hit after the serve and return of serve and sometimes I will just do my normal
focus which is seeing the ball and focusing on my breathing. I do find that
saying the bounce-hit with really seeing the ball well works best for me most
of the time.
Some of my students have suggested using other words,
like bounce-swing. One of my students actually recites the power of two as he
is playing. He says 2, 4, 8 ,16, 32 etc. Of course he is still really focusing
on the ball and staying relaxed. Again, the point, as you said, is to get the
ego out of the way and if saying bounce-hit is an issue with the ego, then the
person should use different words.
What you say about the intonation is right on the money.
I believe that is equally important to getting the most out of this way of
focusing. Where I differ from the traditional Tim Gallwey’s method is that I
help my students be aware of what I feel is the “correct” way to say the words
and then let the student discover for himself or herself what works best for
them. By giving them a goal, I believe helps to get them to the ideal place
much faster.
Thanks again for sharing with me your ideas on the
matter. I am going to put this discussion on my blog so maybe it will add to
others understanding on the issue of focusing.
David
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Hi David, a few comments on your comments on my comments:
Of course, the words we use are inconsequential. You
could say 'coke cola' or pep-si. Each word corresponds to an event.
The first word corresponds to the ball touching the ground, while the second
word corresponds to the ball connecting with the strings (although, in reality,
cannot reality see this happen!).
According to my understanding, 'trying', which you keep
referring to, is an obstacle to allowing the ideal mental performance
state. Who is trying? It is the conscious mind that is trying and that
is what you are trying to silence in the first place with the counting.
In addition, trying requires effort and how long can you make an effort.
At some point you will have to rela
There is no 'correct' way of saying the words. It is
what it is. For example if your voice becomes high pitched on the 'hit';
it is an indication of tension, which in turn is an indication that fear has
entered through the conscious mind. You can change the intonation (the
outer), without affecting the fear (the inner) that is behind the
intonation. To change the outer without touching the inner is no change
at all and will ultimate fail.
You talk about a goal. Who makes the goal? This
goal and all goals come from the conscious mind. The conscious mind
creates the concept of time (past and future) and yet we want to be in the
present which is not a part of time. Goals force us into the future, we
want to be present. So, do you think it is possible for goals, which are
a function of the conscious mind to help us reach a place beyond the conscious
mind?
Getting to the 'ideal' place will not happen faster by
creating a goal; in my understanding it will prevent you from ever getting
there.
I thik action is driven by intention and intention is
necessary, but goal is something that brings attachment. I do not want to
get into semantics here, but goal in the sense you use the word will be a
hinderance, in my opinion.
I think that this drill is of limited value. It
certainly has some short-term value, but there are larger issues at stake
here. The whole point of using the bounce-hit or any such combination is
to trick the conscious mind into silence. We are moving from
fear-based judgement (a tool of the conscious mind) to simple observation (what
I like to call 'instinctive mond'). But why is there fear in the first
place? Because of desire? Desire is goals. Desire is there
because we mistakingly believe that achieving our goal or fulfillling our
desire has some value. It has very limited value. When we see that
goals can only bring us the outer, we may also see that giving up our goals
gives us the inner ( the ability to play and live life without fear) and the
inner is everything.
David, I hope you forgive my boldness in challenging some of
your comments, but I feel we are both after the truth and we are both aware, I
would imagine, that we do not have the truth. We are all on the path and
I am just sharing with you the view from my path. It may be of some help
to you, or it may not.
By all means place this dialogue on your blog.
much love,
happy
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Hi Happy,
Now you will know why I didn’t get into a lot of the
philosophical part of playing the mental game. I just can’t explain it like Tim
Gallwey and apparently like you can.
Much of your disagreements with my statements are semantics and
I agree with everything you have said here with one addition about the goal
issue. Some people and maybe most need to have some goal in mind in the
beginning. With that being said, at some point down the road, any thoughts of
the goal needs to drop away. By the way, maybe my use of the word goal is not
the right one. Your use of the word intention may be a much better word to use
and, in fact, I like it much better than goal.
So, I believe that in the beginning and for most people, this
intention has to be defined in order to make faster progress. Otherwise, one is
wandering around in the dark. They may eventually get where they want to go,
but it will most certainly take them longer. A few will not find their way at
all. Once they “find their way”, they will be able to go there again and again
and at some point they will be able to get there without any thinking and maybe
even get there more efficiently. And just maybe, they will discover for
themselves that this place is not really where they want to go so they then
move on. There is absolutely an evolution going on as I am still finding out
things about myself and my tennis game and I feel that there is much more to
come.
Thanks again for your comments. I enjoy having these kinds of
discussion. My only “but” it that I don’t like to have them in writing as I
don’t type very well and I don’t like not having to be able to talk back and
forth as we would do if we were having this discussion in person.
Maybe someday we can continue this in person.
All my best.
David
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