A common question yesterday was, "If I DON'T think, and I'm brand new, how
is my subconscious going to know what to do?"
This is a good question indeed, and it just so happens that this is covered
in W. Timothy Gallway's book "The Inner Game of Tennis."
The answer is you LET it happen. You LET your mind learn.
Now I'm sure some of you are wondering, HOW are you going to let your mind
learn, if you have no reference base? How are you going to let it learn the
right way?
The answer is, rather than compiling a list of verbal commands, you instead
create a mental picture. Well, now you're wondering, "HOW do I create that
mental picture?"
Let's do a compare/contrast. If you're a beginner, maybe you go through the
rookie course walk, or you walk with a more experienced driver. You are now
given a list of commands, i.e. Brake here, get your car on this line here,
look over there, accelerate here. Then you go and try this list, repeating
it over and over, and find out that even though you've been told what to do
and you can hear the voices telling you what to do, you're still not
executing it. Then comes the punishment your conscious mind inflicts, i.e.
You idiot, you didn't do it, you suck, you'll never get this, you need to
take a million driver schools, you just need to keep TRYING until you get
it. If you're even (un)luckier, you'll have a co-driver there to remind you
of all the things you're doing wrong, all in the name of "constructive
criticism."
I've seen this approach work. There are MANY national caliber drivers who
use this approach, and it seems to work for them, and some of them just seem
to be abolutely miserable.
The reason why the McKamey School focuses so much on "looking ahead" is
because they're trying to teach you how to occupy your conscious mind, to
keep it from interfering with the work of the subconsience.
Using this non-thinking method, you actually use your conscious mind to your
benefit, as in, your conscious mind sets the goals. And then it gets out of
the way. Now the goals, and this is the tricky part, are NOT commands. Think
of toddlers learning how to walk, or how easy it is for children to learn
second languages. They have the goal, which is to walk, or mimic the voices
around them, but the goal is in the form of a picture. They are learning
without the interference of the conscious, ego-driven mind.
In his book, Gallway recommends thinking of your conscious mind, or Self 1,
as a mother observing her child learning how to walk. The mother is more
than certain that her child will eventually learn how to walk. She merely
watches, and lends tender words of encouragement, but mostly, she just
quietly watches.
So how do you create that mental picture? With your conscious mind as your
guidence counselor, you can:
* Watch others who are much better than you, but do so without verbal
comment. Just open your eyes and ears, and without using words, try to
mimic. This is why it's important to run in a class with drivers much, much
better than you. A mistake we made in the past was that we segregated the
rookies from the base class, all in the name of not discouraging them. The
problem is, discouragement comes from the EGO. Turn off the ego, now you're
in a situation of optimal learning. Fears of humiliation should not concern
you. It's a chance to see how others do it.
* Observe yourself. For example, find that you tend to understeer?
Before you assume there's something wrong with your car, or wrong with
yourself, without judgement, notice the sensation of the front wheels
plowing. Feel the vibration in the steering wheel. Don't label this as
"good" or "bad," but simply be aware of what it is.
* To correct these mistakes, rather than think, "I'm going to brake
sooner," create a mental picture of the car braking in time for the turn,
and then smoothly accelerating out. Think of how that might feel. Now you're
creating a new rhythm, without words. I'm using words here, yes, but when
you visualize this, take the words out. See, feel, and hear the car in your
head. If you drive off the course in your head, just go ahead and do that.
Notice how nothing bad happens to you.
* Ride with others. Just ride with them, but don't ask them to
verbally explain what they're doing. Just feel the sensations of the car
rolling, accelerating, where the driver is looking. Think of it like you're
going to mimic someone doing a popular dance move. Often times, they don't
explain it like, "Well, I put my hands over my head, and I turn my hips
fifteen degrees." Your friend might say, "Well, you just do this." You mimic
it, and within fifteen seconds, you got it.
* If you're comfortable with this, use a video camera. A video of your
runs is going to tell you a lot more than a bystander. It just shows you
what you did, without criticism. It's not going to hurt your feelings or
yell at you, or question your ability. Do you really look in the mirror at
home and say, "WHY do you have to have that FACE?!"
Try these at the next autocross. Notice how much more relaxed you feel, and
how much more enjoyable autocross is to the senses.
What I really like about Gallway's book is that he encourages us all to
respect our bodies. He explains that the mere movement of walking in a door
and turning on a lightswitch is actually quite a complicated manuevre
neurologically, and we do it all without thinking. Every day, when you drive
your car, you're performing amazing feats of wonder. Why is it when you
autocross, suddenly you have to be so hard on yourself? This is learned
behavior, but not behavior for learning. If you reach for your glass of
beer, and you miss it and grab air, you're not thinking, "YOU FOOL!" You
just reach over and grab it again, and enjoy the taste.
later,
Katie
Happiness is the best cosmetic.
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