The Journey of training and finding the elusive Zone
Cultivating the Journey
Have you noticed the special energy people have when they’re doing something they really love? Their focus is strong and their intent undeniable. It’s called passion and passion surpasses all obstacles as determination meets every challenge.
This is also called heart. It becomes the soul of what you do.
When someone has heart, you know just by observing them that they have what it takes.
But you cannot think heart into existence.
We all want that win, the achievement and the gold. But, I’ve learned that the journey, without exception, has a gate through which one must pass before arriving at the house. It’s the space between the gate and the house that one must traverse.
Without heart, the journey will burn out.
For me this meant taking time to prepare for the practice of my sport. It was about having the respect to pay my dues, so to speak
Each time you begin your practice, you focus on your own ritual of entering through the gate.
This is best accomplished through your own form of a "getting ready" meditation that lets you cross over the threshold from your daily worries to a different dimension wherein you are completely oriented on training. You will get to a higher level of practice quicker because you respect the entrance to learning and thereby open the way to access focus and foundation.
When I was competing in skydiving gymnastics, I spent over a year at the gate with just one move I needed to perfect.
I had to develop vision throughout my whole body.
In your practice, look at where your entrance to learning is—what is your gate? This is where your heart and passion will grow.
Through taking the time to learn process and technique - you are creating the potential to build a special foundation where you meet yourself and become one in focus.
Entering "The Zone " for Peak Performance
The Zone is elusive.
The Zone can only be achieved through developing the potential for it.
To train your potential for anything, you must first develop the Intention. The energy for what you want to achieve comes from Intent.
There is no thought in the Zone
I believe the zone—that special place where complete clarity, power, and skill come together all at once can be accessed when you need it.
The Zone does not have to be an elusive or mystical state of being that magically seems to come out of nowhere. You know you can get into that space when you've cultivated your potential to be there.
When I was training in Style (skydiving gymnastics at 200 m.p.h.) it took extreme concentration with a single-pointed focus to perform.
Each move had to be precise - and I practiced each move until there was no thought involved.
You cannot be thinking and debating and simultaneously perform the ultimate of anything.
After years and several thousand jumps on my journey of training, I began to enter into a place where focus became very concentrated. Eventually, a state of “no mind” began to develop within the focus. My actions became automatic, to the point where in those precious seconds of free-fall time, I began to perform perfect movement.
I learned to train my internal energy and body simultaneously (mind/body).
When you practice with the intent of the mind working with the internal energy of the body, you will start to develop “flow.”
Essentially, it is about managing your energy and making it coherent. You are moving as efficiently as possible—mind and body together.
Even in business you cannot work as a bunch of scattered pieces
After you reach this stage, you can start building more power or technique into your goal.
But, once you start thinking about power and technique, you are setting yourself up to lose it.
This is where the elusiveness of staying in the zone comes from. I believe that entering the zone is a process—a formula, so-to-speak—of practicing and learning, but knowing that you need to drop the monkey mind at a certain point - and that your mind and body will have the know-how without you thinking about every little thing.
Taking it a step further, you refine the energy into spirit.
When you start feeling more powerful and gain success, know that it’s more about your spirit than of your mind.
It's about you wanting to do what you do to the extent you would do it even if you had no crowd watching you – no money attached for reward. It’s just the Ideal you are going after – the highest level within sports and business.