Getting into The Zone
(Introduction)
Ask any athlete or sports person, 'what's the biggest high aside from the medals', and they'll say without a seconds thought - being in The Zone.
Yet, even at the highest level, it can be a hit or miss affair to get into So why is it so elusive, and how do you increase your chance of getting there?
I believe it is a natural survival ability from our past allowing us to become hyper alert to our surroundings and heighten existing skills to face danger. I also believe the harder you try the less likely you will experience this state.
So What's So Special About The Zone?
Have you ever achieved the performance of your life while experiencing the feeling that it was effortless? That everything you tried worked to perfection? If you have experienced this, you were in The Zone.
The Zone has achieved mystical status in the world of sport and it is not surprising to see why. It’s a paradox. How can a peak performance be achieved with such little perceived effort? Surely if we are working at the very limits of our ability it should be hard work and not feel like a stroll in the park?
What happens when we are in The Zone, and why does experiencing it remain both a rare and unpredictable occurrence – and for many, completely unobtainable. Accounts from athletes, combined with studies conducted on the subject, not only give us vital clues to what this mysterious state is; but more importantly, they may show us how to get there more often.
The procedures I use will give you a totally different sensation of movement and show you how to take control of previously hidden factors influencing your performance. The methods I use are based on The Alexander Technique, the world-renowned system for developing what I call intelligence in action. My hope is that by creating a subtle shift in your thinking, you will be able to recognize aspects of your training that may be keeping you out of The Zone.
My program is the result of fifteen years of experimenting, observing and applying the Alexander principles to my own sports of martial arts and running, and also working with sports people in other fields. One surprising fact I have observed during this time is that, regardless of ability or experience, many people use their bodies in a way that interferes with their natural coordination.
The techniques will help you identify whether or not this is true for you. I am not going to use exercises in the usual accepted sense, because I believe they serve only to encourage the sort of habits that cause this and ultimately keep you out of The Zone. Besides, how many more types of exercise do we need to learn? Do we really benefit from doing all these actions that have little in common with those of our sport, or, for that matter everyday natural movements?
In addition to identifying habits that may be holding you back, my procedures can also help you to understand what it is that makes you good at what you do. You may have a ‘natural talent’ for your sport but if you are not consciously aware of which attributes give you this ability, what happens if injury intervenes? It is common for athletes to struggle to recover form after injury because if they don’t know what enabled them to achieve that form in the first place.
How do they get it back?
I believe conventional methods of sports training and exercise, in which we have placed our trust entirely, could be preventing the essential balanced state necessary for entering The Zone.
I propose it is time to move on from the view that performance can be improved by simply trying harder or spending a high proportion of valuable training time on exercise drills. Instead, we need to develop a more creative, mindful approach to our training. Ask most athletes how they entered The Zone and you will get a shrug of the shoulders. Is this not evidence that, even at the top level, there is still an element of the unknown in relation to human activity?
Perhaps the way to The Zone lies in developing our skills of self-awareness above and beyond our current ability. A departure from current ideas may allow us to discover new areas of previously untapped resources that would give us more control over our performance, leaving less to chance or circumstances beyond our current understanding. The skills you can learn from this book can be applied to any activity - adding a vital new resource to your existing abilities.
If you are used to vigorous forms of training then at first this way may seem a little pedestrian. However, if you can suspend judgment for the duration of this book you may find that this subtle, yet powerful approach is one of the best ways to focus and enhance your performance.
Marc Salem, Professor of Psychology, offers some very useful advice to all of us:
“Minds are like parachutes; they only work when they are open”.
This page is taken from the Introduction from my Peak Performance Zone book.
Yet, even at the highest level, it can be a hit or miss affair to get into So why is it so elusive, and how do you increase your chance of getting there?
I believe it is a natural survival ability from our past allowing us to become hyper alert to our surroundings and heighten existing skills to face danger. I also believe the harder you try the less likely you will experience this state.
So What's So Special About The Zone?
Have you ever achieved the performance of your life while experiencing the feeling that it was effortless? That everything you tried worked to perfection? If you have experienced this, you were in The Zone.
The Zone has achieved mystical status in the world of sport and it is not surprising to see why. It’s a paradox. How can a peak performance be achieved with such little perceived effort? Surely if we are working at the very limits of our ability it should be hard work and not feel like a stroll in the park?
What happens when we are in The Zone, and why does experiencing it remain both a rare and unpredictable occurrence – and for many, completely unobtainable. Accounts from athletes, combined with studies conducted on the subject, not only give us vital clues to what this mysterious state is; but more importantly, they may show us how to get there more often.
The procedures I use will give you a totally different sensation of movement and show you how to take control of previously hidden factors influencing your performance. The methods I use are based on The Alexander Technique, the world-renowned system for developing what I call intelligence in action. My hope is that by creating a subtle shift in your thinking, you will be able to recognize aspects of your training that may be keeping you out of The Zone.
My program is the result of fifteen years of experimenting, observing and applying the Alexander principles to my own sports of martial arts and running, and also working with sports people in other fields. One surprising fact I have observed during this time is that, regardless of ability or experience, many people use their bodies in a way that interferes with their natural coordination.
The techniques will help you identify whether or not this is true for you. I am not going to use exercises in the usual accepted sense, because I believe they serve only to encourage the sort of habits that cause this and ultimately keep you out of The Zone. Besides, how many more types of exercise do we need to learn? Do we really benefit from doing all these actions that have little in common with those of our sport, or, for that matter everyday natural movements?
In addition to identifying habits that may be holding you back, my procedures can also help you to understand what it is that makes you good at what you do. You may have a ‘natural talent’ for your sport but if you are not consciously aware of which attributes give you this ability, what happens if injury intervenes? It is common for athletes to struggle to recover form after injury because if they don’t know what enabled them to achieve that form in the first place.
How do they get it back?
I believe conventional methods of sports training and exercise, in which we have placed our trust entirely, could be preventing the essential balanced state necessary for entering The Zone.
I propose it is time to move on from the view that performance can be improved by simply trying harder or spending a high proportion of valuable training time on exercise drills. Instead, we need to develop a more creative, mindful approach to our training. Ask most athletes how they entered The Zone and you will get a shrug of the shoulders. Is this not evidence that, even at the top level, there is still an element of the unknown in relation to human activity?
Perhaps the way to The Zone lies in developing our skills of self-awareness above and beyond our current ability. A departure from current ideas may allow us to discover new areas of previously untapped resources that would give us more control over our performance, leaving less to chance or circumstances beyond our current understanding. The skills you can learn from this book can be applied to any activity - adding a vital new resource to your existing abilities.
If you are used to vigorous forms of training then at first this way may seem a little pedestrian. However, if you can suspend judgment for the duration of this book you may find that this subtle, yet powerful approach is one of the best ways to focus and enhance your performance.
Marc Salem, Professor of Psychology, offers some very useful advice to all of us:
“Minds are like parachutes; they only work when they are open”.
This page is taken from the Introduction from my Peak Performance Zone book.