The author of the legendary The Inner Game of Tennis, W. Timothy Gallwey, writes eloquently about the paradoxical phenomenon known as "trying to relax." Earlier this week I did another scoring shoot, this time at 50m, and it went well, again a few points higher than the last score at this distance, but again below my personal best. During that practice session, I was very dissatisfied with the quality of my focus and my mental program. So I decided that I could do better if I just focused harder, and went back the next day and did the same scoring shoot, this time really trying to solidify and standardize my mental program.
Needless to say, I scored much worse.
It's another piece of evidence that what I need the most is not more rigor, but more relaxation. But if you "try to relax" it just makes you more tense. So how do you relax without trying to? It's one of the central conundrums of athletic performance. "Trying" makes your muscles tense and overworked, but how do you accomplish anything without trying?
I don't know the answer, but I return over and over again to Gallwey, and one of the things he recommends is presenting yourself with a mental picture of what you want, then letting go and letting it happen. One way I have tried to employ this is, after I load an arrow but before I lift the bow, I mentally visualize the entire shot from beginning to end, emphasizing the form or other qualities I want to achieve. Then I lift the bow with the goal of "just shooting." I'm trying to undo the habit I developed of "working on my form" during every shot. I ended up doing this to the point where I couldn't not do it. I couldn't shoot without trying really hard to implement some form element or quality. It's hard to undo. And you can't undo it if you are fearful of shooting poorly.
Meanwhile, my back is better, I saw my doctor who reassured me that my symptoms are very mild for sciatica, and I have an appointment with The Best Physical Therapist In the World in about two weeks.
Tomorrow is the third of three seminars with my coach. I must get there early so I can see who owns that minivan with the rainbow sticker :-) Also so I can set up both the Intrepid and the Optima. Coach said to bring and setup your backup bow for this seminar. What will it be -- more balance board? More pyramid exercise? More scrambling for your bow under time pressure? Or new fun and games? It'll be hot; forecast high for Phoenix for tomorrow is 109. True, we will only be shooting until 11 a.m. but still.
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