The Art of Mental Training - a Guide to Performance Excellence (Classic Edition) (10 page)

“Yep,” he said.

"Good.  Then that’s what I
want.  Pretend you're an actor.  Start being that champion.  Start hearing the
self-talk of that champion." I told him. "I want you to pretend and
feel that you are this champion I just described.  I want you to start firing
off, inside your head, the same self-talk that this champion would have going
through his head as he gets ready for a match.  Start now," I told him
looking at my watch. "We don’t have much time."

I shut up and watched him as he
immersed himself in his task.  At this point Jeremy began firing off the
self-talk of a champion in his head.  He stayed nearby as he walked around,
pacing, putting all his focus and his entire being into the exercise.

After about a minute I got his
attention again. “Good, very good,” I said, “Now we are going to add something
to it.”

The Second Critical Element: 
The way that you carry your body.  Ask yourself: How would this champion’s body
be moving as he prepared for battle?

“Jeremy,” I said, “Start moving
your body around as this champion that is preparing for competition.”

He was listening hard.  I
continued, “Keep on seeing yourself as this champion, keep the self-talk going,
and at the same time I want you to now start moving your body around as if you
were this champion getting ready to beat your opponent down.  How would you be
moving your body?  How would you, as this champion, carry yourself as you
prepared for the match?  Show me.  Starting right now,” I added, “You get
another minute.”

Jeremy sprang into action. 
Before my eyes he started moving his body around like a champion warming up,
getting ready to do battle, pacing, and practicing on an imaginary opponent,
full of energy, like a caged gladiator waiting to be released.  And, as I
watched, I began to have hope.  Jeremy’s body motions became like those of a
champion annihilator.

At the same time, as he moved
his body around like this champion annihilator, Jeremy kept firing off the
self-talk of this champion in his head.

Now we had the self-talk of a
champion going, and the body movements of a champion preparing for battle going
on.  I let him do his work.  I didn’t disturb him for another minute or so.

The Third Critical Element: 
Breathing.  Watching Jeremy’s imagination, self-talk, and body motions begin to
turn things around for him, I threw in the third element.  Jeremy I asked, “How
would this champion be breathing right now as he prepared for battle?  Keep the
self-talk going, keep moving your body around as this champion, and now, I want
you to add the breathing of a champion getting ready to do battle.”

Without missing a beat, Jeremy
adjusted his breathing.  Now he had all three critical elements going. 
Breathing, movement, and self-talk.  Jeremy was in a different world.

At the end of those few
minutes, Jeremy had changed his state completely.  When he walked on to that
mat: he was ready mentally and physically, and he was therefore able to deliver
one of his best performances ever.  By bringing all three critical elements
together in this way, Jeremy, my unbeliever, got out of his own way, he let his
training take over, and he competed like a true champion.

That’s how he did it; and
that’s how you can do it too.

As part of your pre-competition
routine . . .

Ask yourself:  What would the
self-talk of a champion be like as he prepared for competition?

How would that champion be
moving his body around as he prepared?

And how would that champion be
breathing as he prepared to enter the competition and face his opponent?

Then do it.  Bring it all
together for several minutes prior to your time, and allow yourself to enter
into this totally prepared and empowered state before you compete.  Get out of
your own way.  Let your training take over.

Remember:  Use all three
critical elements and bring them together in order to change your state
completely—The Self-talk of a Champion preparing to do battle, the Body
Movements of a Champion preparing to do battle, and the Breathing of a Champion
preparing to do battle.  Then allow yourself to become that Champion as you
enter your competition.

The
Art of Mental Training

I was finishing my studies at
the university.  One day Leo-tai called me and said that he wanted to come out
to visit and see where I was in the Black Hills, he said he also wanted to see
where Rocky Raccoon from the old Beatles' song used to run around. Then he
started right into it . . .

"Now somewhere in the
Black Mountain Hills of Dakota, lived a young boy named Rocky Raccoon, and one
day his woman run off with another guy, hit young Rocky in the eye . . ."

Leo-tai sung it over the
phone.  It was funny; he really had it down.

So, as so often happened,
Leo-tai ended up doing what he wanted to do.  Now, here was Leo-tai, smack in
the Black Hills, visiting me.  He was very excited to be so near the home of
Rocky Raccoon.

And, when I told him that I
figured Rocky Raccoon ran around in Deadwood: “Then we’ll have to go up there
for sure,” he said.

We were in a beautiful part of
the Black Hills, where I rented a place at the mouth of Spearfish Canyon while
I finished school.  There I took Leo-tai on a short hike up a trail ending high
above the canyon.

The stunning view took Leo-tai
by surprise.

“Danielsan,” he said with
amazement, “This is very good.”

“Incredible, isn’t it?”

“This is very good indeed!” he
said with his widest smile.

I showed him where to sit in
order to enjoy one of the best places in the world from which to watch a
sunset.  I pulled out my journal and two Gatorades, in order to jot down his
thoughts as we watched what we later agreed was one of the most beautiful
sunsets we’d ever seen.

Leo-tai’s lessons were always
concise and to the point.  He never went too fast, he kept it simple.

"To be totally in the Present,
Danielsan . . . that is the key.  To learn how to be there throughout the
competition, that is your goal.  To consistently play in the Present moment,
where mind and body are as one, where training takes over, where no thoughts
interfere.  This is Warrior knowledge, Danielsan, it is something that has been
taught for centuries.  You are being shown an established way to get
there."

Leo-tai’s eyes were far over
the horizon.  He continued, "By understanding and practicing the Art one
learns how to create the internal environment that invites in the quiet mind
during competition.  The quiet mind is a warrior skill.  In the Present,
everything comes together and performance is flawless and automatic.  Inside,
the Warrior/Champion has no thought, no cluttered mind; instead he is an
unstoppable champion totally absorbed in the action before him.”

As I listened I remembered
having recently watched Pete Sampras being asked in an interview what he was
thinking about during a crucial moment in a tennis match.  His answer was
fascinating, proving his total immersion in the moment.  “Nothing,” he replied.
“I was thinking about nothing.”

“A true champion,” said
Leo-tai, “Learns how to feel no pressure, because pressure is created by
anxiety, and anxiety can only exist if one allows one’s thoughts to wander away
from the Present to some uncertainty in the future or to some remembered
failure of the past . . . There is power in the Present moment, Danielsan: hold
on to it. 

“The two skills the
Warrior/Champion must possess to help him reach his maximum potential are the
ability to recognize when his mind is not focused on the Present, and the
ability to bring it back into the Present.  When your mind is racing, help
bring it back by focusing on your breathing.  This will help you to reach that
place where we have a sure sense that we can do what we know we need to do, and
that we can do it without having to try too hard, a place from where technique
flows freely and accurately, a place from which right action springs forth.”

“You mean the quiet mind,” I
said.

“Exactly, and the Present
moment is where the quiet mind exists.  There’s no worry, no judging, no
fearing, no hoping; the mind is totally in the here and Now throughout the
event. You must practice leaving all the mental clutter, all the personal
situations, all the distractions that fill up your head, outside of the arena. 
While it’s crucial to have learned from the past, there is also a time to leave
the past behind you.  And while it’s important to prepare for the future, to be
in the Present requires that it too, must be discarded at some level.”

Leo-tai looked at me carefully
to make sure that I got his point.

“Now is the time in which you
perform, and the Present is the only place that Now exists.  Practice quieting
the mind, and bringing it to the Present; learn to find the Present, in order
to be able to perform at your highest level—do you understand?”

“I think so,” I told him.

“Then you must practice more,
Danielsan, so that you may Know so.”

Once again, Leo-tai had helped
me to better understand his Warrior Art.

Remember:  "To be
totally in the Present, that is the key."

The
Art of Mental Training

I had been training with
Leo-tai for many years.  Now I had been accepted into the Navy flight program,
and we both knew that it might be a long time before I’d be back.

“You must prepare to win.” 
Leo-tai told me as we finished my knife-fighting lesson that night.  “A
champion always prepares to win.”

He knew that I was listening.

“Always use mental rehearsal as
you’ve been taught,” he told me.  “It builds confidence.  Confidence comes from
knowing you are prepared both physically and mentally. Confidence helps you
know what to do automatically even when you’re not sure.  It helps immensely. 
Be sure to visualize.”

Leo-tai began putting away the
training knives that we had been using.

“You must trust yourself,
Danielsan.  There must be no lack of commitment in your mind.  Eliminate
doubt.  There’s no room for it.  Have confidence and trust yourself as you
prepare to win . . . Always take your training sessions seriously.  Always
concentrate.  Remember: you’re creating neuro-muscular connections that are
going to take over when you learn how to get out of your own way.  The better
you concentrate during training, the more you’ll be able to trust yourself when
you must fully perform.”

Leo-tai continued: “Remember
that mental training helps the warrior develop the ability to set the
analytical mind aside long enough so that his training can take over and he can
fight by instinct.  When this happens you’re confident, relaxed, determined. 
Everything flows.  You experience peak performance.  It’s a reward for having
prepared well. Remember, and never forget, - you can’t actually force peak
performance. You must prepare correctly in an effort to allow it to occur.  You
now understand how to go about creating the Ideal Mental Climate from which it
springs forth.”

I followed him towards the door
of the studio as I finished putting on my watch cap and coat.  Everything he
was telling me made perfect sense.

“It’s a matter of learning how
to leave your conscious mind out of it,” he reminded me, “and letting your
training take over.  And don’t forget that sometimes improvement means letting
go of old ways, Danielsan.  So remain open to learning, and rest assured that
it will take courage to achieve your goals and reach your full potential.  Get
ready to work hard.”

As I stepped outside, I got the
feeling that he wasn’t quite ready to let me go—I wondered later if perhaps he
was remembering my brother at that moment.

He looked at me.  “The most
important thing is how a champion prepares for battle.  You must find the
warrior within.  You must do battle with all your heart in order to have no
regrets as you leave the contest behind.  A champion always prepares to win. 
Remember to act like a champion in order to become a champion.”

“I will.” I assured him as we
shook hands.  He knew how grateful I was for everything.

He smiled, “You did well
today.”

And with that, Leo-tai brought
my lesson to an end.

It would be a long time before
I would see Leo-tai again.  First would come Grenada, then Panama, and finally
the Middle East.

Remember:  A champion always
prepares to win.

The
Art of Mental Training

As we took a long walk on the
coastline near his home I caught myself reflecting on how all the years seemed
to have passed by so quickly ever since that last lesson so many years ago. 
Leo-tai still had that same effortless stride that he'd made me keep up with so
many times before . . . We walked a long time in companionable silence,
surrounded by seagulls, wind, and waves.

When we finally stopped Leo-tai
sat himself up on a comfortable-looking rock and I leaned up against an even
bigger one.  He crinkled up his eyes as he looked out to sea and I noticed for
the first time that he looked tired.  (How old was Leo-tai?  I wondered; I’d
never even asked.)

“Look at the waves,” he
murmured.  “Endlessly renewing themselves, endlessly feeding into each other. 
There’s no end to them.  No, just the renewal and withdrawal, over and over
again.”

A seagull circled over the
rocks.

“It is the cycle of the earth,”
said Leo-tai.  “We’re here, we’re gone.  We are born and we die.  The world
keeps turning, but too slowly for our understanding.”