The Tennis Racket and the Mind
Clinical Psychiatry News - April 2008 (Vol. 36, Issue 4, Page 25)
Some years ago, I received a telephone call from a potential patient who wanted to know whether I could help him improve his tennis game. I had done some work in helping people improve their concentration in studying techniques and in certain types of theatrical performances, and apparently word had spread.
Newspapers and magazines were emphasizing that improved concentration could be a great advantage in sports performance at the time. Over the years, we have seen the emergence of sports psychology as a specialty aiming to improve performance, just as sports medicine has developed and focused on treating athletic injuries and illnesses. Furthermore, at the time, my son Dan was on his varsity high school tennis team and, as part of his training, he and his coach were working on game concentration.
So the patient who sought my help not only tapped into a professional skill I had developed but also into a personal interest.
During the phone conversation, I briefly explained what I was able to do in improving concentration with regard to studying. I also made it clear that I could apply this to tennis and suggested that this approach would translate into improved performance. The patient agreed to try my approach and we made an appointment.
Using Split-Screen Technique
return to Article Outline
Knowing that performance anxiety, one's own insecurities, and fear of failure influence performance in many tasks, I was quite comfortable in using the split-screen technique to help improve this patient's tennis game, as I had done in the past when I helped people improve their concentration for studying and theatrical performances.
In that first meeting, I gathered the usual information. The patient had no previous history of any mental health interventions and he was perfectly healthy. He was anxious before each match, and he had an ongoing thought of seeing himself lose.
I saw nothing abnormal about those kinds of thoughts, as they are commonly experienced by many people who are competitive. I decided to teach him some relaxation exercises and then use a strategy of relieving his anxieties so he could concentrate more on the moment-to-moment action of the game.
Thinking in terms of my learning, philosophizing, and action technique (LPA) besides the relaxation and screen technique, I also philosophized about the use of bows and arrows. In the world of Zen, there is kyudo, a spiritual mental process of archery developed over a thousand years ago that combines a concentrated mental process with efficient use of the bow and arrows. As described by Eugen Herrigel (“Zen in the Art of Archery,” New York: Pantheon Books, 1953), the “hitter and the hit are no longer two opposing objects, but are one reality.”
As I understand the process, it is more than just shooting at the target. It is a learned/spiritual process by which fears and worries are displaced through the process of concentration on the bow, arrow, and target as one. This is a process that might start a patient on the path of a new and better way of focus, concentration, enhanced achievement, and self-confidence.
Also, I had heard from a friend that the Zen-kyudo archers were considered the best in the world and that, after World War II, police departments nationwide were adopting some of the practices of focus concentration on target ranges to improve their accuracy in the use of firearms.
In other words, the key was integrating the bow, arrow, and target as an ongoing mental process of movement. I wanted the patient to see them as one flowing experience, rather than as separate entities of bow, arrow, and target with intruding ongoing thoughts of anxiety and possible failure that can distract from shooting at the target or, in this case, hitting a tennis ball.
In the Zen-kyudo model, as I understood it, it's as if the archer is able to touch the target as an extension of who he is. I would try to teach this concept to the tennis player.
The first visit I had with this patient lasted about 2 hours. We discussed the history, his goals in tennis, and the teaching of a relaxation technique and the philosophy of the Zen-kyudo archers. I was making some connections of my own as I explored what I understood about kyudo archery and planning how this would be integrated into the action part of my strategy, where I could develop something valuable for the patient.
With the relaxation technique understood and the screen technique in place, on visit two I had the patient see the great big movie screen, put a thick line down the middle, and then project the anxieties before the game and a recurring thought of how badly he felt about losing. I had him project this on the left side of the screen, seeing it but not experiencing it. Of course, this needs ongoing practice, especially before a match.
After that, I used the right side of the screen, which was blank, for him to project any pleasant set of experiences he wished. Linking the two sides of the screen was the planned reciprocal inhibition/desensitization method to relieve these anxieties and allow him to play a better game. It worked, and he felt that this would be of great help—especially if he could enter a game relaxed.
Incorporating Zen-Kyudo Archers
return to Article Outline
Part two of this strategy was to use the screen again to incorporate my interpretation of what I thought was happening pragmatically with the Zen-kyudo archers. As they appear to merge mentally with the bow, arrow, and target—again, as I see it—it's as if they mentally touch the target. So part two was to have the patient view on the screen his arm, hand, and tennis racket as one entity, and, as he made contact with the ball (not hitting it), to see himself placing the ball where he wanted it to land on the opponent's side of the court. The racket and ball would become an extension of him in this new process.
This conceptualization took an entire visit of practice, but the patient truly felt he was on to something exciting, new, and different. It was as if he, the racket, and the ball had become one. The fragmentation of different segments was gone, as were the anxiety and thought patterns that had distracted him.
On the screen, he was learning how to be at one with the game. He was successful in winning more games and some tournaments, but he also practiced those techniques and strategies regularly and routinely as he reported back.
The entire process took three visits with the follow-up telephone contacts. I was helping the patient improve his tennis by using a lifelong Zen process that attempts to merge the skill with the person on a spiritual level, thus turning the practitioner into a Zen artist. We were not developing a new set of religious or spiritual values for either of us in the lifelong eastern practice of Zen, and the patient understood this.
Of course, the story does not end there. After this success, several of this patient's friends and work-related colleagues called for appointments to help their tennis games. I also got several calls from golfers. The strategy for golf was not too different from that used to help the tennis players.
In all, I saw several people for improved sports performance—all stemming from this one original patient. I stayed with tennis and golf, though requests did come in from parents of high school football and basketball players who wanted their kids to do better. I did not have a strategy for these team sports, however, nor did I feel comfortable with parents driving their children for better performance. My view is to let the kid enjoy the sport. This is where children should not be like a bow and arrow: They should not be extensions of the parents. Instead, they should be more like the arrow shooting from the bow, and they should go in their own direction.
With all the pathology we see and treat, it's nice once in a while to work with healthy people who want to improve the quality of their lives. Providing this kind of help is very rewarding.
Let me know your experiences in offering life improvement strategies, and I'll try to pass them along to my readers.
PII: S0270-6644(08)70239-X
doi:10.1016/S0270-6644(08)70239-X
© 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Some years ago, I received a telephone call from a potential patient who wanted to know whether I could help him improve his tennis game. I had done some work in helping people improve their concentration in studying techniques and in certain types of theatrical performances, and apparently word had spread.
Newspapers and magazines were emphasizing that improved concentration could be a great advantage in sports performance at the time. Over the years, we have seen the emergence of sports psychology as a specialty aiming to improve performance, just as sports medicine has developed and focused on treating athletic injuries and illnesses. Furthermore, at the time, my son Dan was on his varsity high school tennis team and, as part of his training, he and his coach were working on game concentration.
So the patient who sought my help not only tapped into a professional skill I had developed but also into a personal interest.
During the phone conversation, I briefly explained what I was able to do in improving concentration with regard to studying. I also made it clear that I could apply this to tennis and suggested that this approach would translate into improved performance. The patient agreed to try my approach and we made an appointment.
Using Split-Screen Technique
return to Article Outline
Knowing that performance anxiety, one's own insecurities, and fear of failure influence performance in many tasks, I was quite comfortable in using the split-screen technique to help improve this patient's tennis game, as I had done in the past when I helped people improve their concentration for studying and theatrical performances.
In that first meeting, I gathered the usual information. The patient had no previous history of any mental health interventions and he was perfectly healthy. He was anxious before each match, and he had an ongoing thought of seeing himself lose.
I saw nothing abnormal about those kinds of thoughts, as they are commonly experienced by many people who are competitive. I decided to teach him some relaxation exercises and then use a strategy of relieving his anxieties so he could concentrate more on the moment-to-moment action of the game.
Thinking in terms of my learning, philosophizing, and action technique (LPA) besides the relaxation and screen technique, I also philosophized about the use of bows and arrows. In the world of Zen, there is kyudo, a spiritual mental process of archery developed over a thousand years ago that combines a concentrated mental process with efficient use of the bow and arrows. As described by Eugen Herrigel (“Zen in the Art of Archery,” New York: Pantheon Books, 1953), the “hitter and the hit are no longer two opposing objects, but are one reality.”
As I understand the process, it is more than just shooting at the target. It is a learned/spiritual process by which fears and worries are displaced through the process of concentration on the bow, arrow, and target as one. This is a process that might start a patient on the path of a new and better way of focus, concentration, enhanced achievement, and self-confidence.
Also, I had heard from a friend that the Zen-kyudo archers were considered the best in the world and that, after World War II, police departments nationwide were adopting some of the practices of focus concentration on target ranges to improve their accuracy in the use of firearms.
In other words, the key was integrating the bow, arrow, and target as an ongoing mental process of movement. I wanted the patient to see them as one flowing experience, rather than as separate entities of bow, arrow, and target with intruding ongoing thoughts of anxiety and possible failure that can distract from shooting at the target or, in this case, hitting a tennis ball.
In the Zen-kyudo model, as I understood it, it's as if the archer is able to touch the target as an extension of who he is. I would try to teach this concept to the tennis player.
The first visit I had with this patient lasted about 2 hours. We discussed the history, his goals in tennis, and the teaching of a relaxation technique and the philosophy of the Zen-kyudo archers. I was making some connections of my own as I explored what I understood about kyudo archery and planning how this would be integrated into the action part of my strategy, where I could develop something valuable for the patient.
With the relaxation technique understood and the screen technique in place, on visit two I had the patient see the great big movie screen, put a thick line down the middle, and then project the anxieties before the game and a recurring thought of how badly he felt about losing. I had him project this on the left side of the screen, seeing it but not experiencing it. Of course, this needs ongoing practice, especially before a match.
After that, I used the right side of the screen, which was blank, for him to project any pleasant set of experiences he wished. Linking the two sides of the screen was the planned reciprocal inhibition/desensitization method to relieve these anxieties and allow him to play a better game. It worked, and he felt that this would be of great help—especially if he could enter a game relaxed.
Incorporating Zen-Kyudo Archers
return to Article Outline
Part two of this strategy was to use the screen again to incorporate my interpretation of what I thought was happening pragmatically with the Zen-kyudo archers. As they appear to merge mentally with the bow, arrow, and target—again, as I see it—it's as if they mentally touch the target. So part two was to have the patient view on the screen his arm, hand, and tennis racket as one entity, and, as he made contact with the ball (not hitting it), to see himself placing the ball where he wanted it to land on the opponent's side of the court. The racket and ball would become an extension of him in this new process.
This conceptualization took an entire visit of practice, but the patient truly felt he was on to something exciting, new, and different. It was as if he, the racket, and the ball had become one. The fragmentation of different segments was gone, as were the anxiety and thought patterns that had distracted him.
On the screen, he was learning how to be at one with the game. He was successful in winning more games and some tournaments, but he also practiced those techniques and strategies regularly and routinely as he reported back.
The entire process took three visits with the follow-up telephone contacts. I was helping the patient improve his tennis by using a lifelong Zen process that attempts to merge the skill with the person on a spiritual level, thus turning the practitioner into a Zen artist. We were not developing a new set of religious or spiritual values for either of us in the lifelong eastern practice of Zen, and the patient understood this.
Of course, the story does not end there. After this success, several of this patient's friends and work-related colleagues called for appointments to help their tennis games. I also got several calls from golfers. The strategy for golf was not too different from that used to help the tennis players.
In all, I saw several people for improved sports performance—all stemming from this one original patient. I stayed with tennis and golf, though requests did come in from parents of high school football and basketball players who wanted their kids to do better. I did not have a strategy for these team sports, however, nor did I feel comfortable with parents driving their children for better performance. My view is to let the kid enjoy the sport. This is where children should not be like a bow and arrow: They should not be extensions of the parents. Instead, they should be more like the arrow shooting from the bow, and they should go in their own direction.
With all the pathology we see and treat, it's nice once in a while to work with healthy people who want to improve the quality of their lives. Providing this kind of help is very rewarding.
Let me know your experiences in offering life improvement strategies, and I'll try to pass them along to my readers.
PII: S0270-6644(08)70239-X
doi:10.1016/S0270-6644(08)70239-X
© 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.