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The Inner Game of Everything: 1974 Tennis Book Is Still a Sensation

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Re: The Inner Game of Everything: 1974 Tennis Book Is Still a Sensation

#23
post #7

I read this book last year and saved some notes/highlights. Here they are in case they are useful: The Usual Way: 1. Criticise or judge past behaviour. 2. Tell yourself to change, instructing with verbal commands repeatedly. 3. Try hard. Make yourself do it right. 4. Critical judgement about results leading to repetition of process. The Inner Game Way: 1. Non-judgmentally observe existing behaviour. 2. Ask yourself t…

Awesome notes!

One thing that just struck me was the emphasis on relaxed concentration.

I have been using Headspace for guided meditation for the last couple months, and just finished the Focus series. In that series the instructor, Andy, also emphasized that a calm and relaxed focus is more effective then an intense focus, as well as the idea tha lasting concentration is not achieved through intense staring, but through curiosity and by "letting go".

Re: The Inner Game of Everything: 1974 Tennis Book Is Still a Sensation

#24
Practical Shooting : Beyond Fundamentals by Brian Enos is something similar for practical pistol shooters (P.P. shooting is a shooting sport). It isn't for beginners like the "Inner Game" but has some great insights even if you don't shoot i.e. its insights are probably transferable to the mental game for many sports.

Re: The Inner Game of Everything: 1974 Tennis Book Is Still a Sensation

#25
post #7

I read this book last year and saved some notes/highlights. Here they are in case they are useful: The Usual Way: 1. Criticise or judge past behaviour. 2. Tell yourself to change, instructing with verbal commands repeatedly. 3. Try hard. Make yourself do it right. 4. Critical judgement about results leading to repetition of process. The Inner Game Way: 1. Non-judgmentally observe existing behaviour. 2. Ask yourself t…

Awesome notes! One thing that just struck me was the emphasis on relaxed concentration. I have been using Headspace for guided meditation for the last couple months, and just finished the Focus series. In that series the instructor, Andy, also emphasized that a calm and relaxed focus is more effective then an intense focus, as well as the idea tha lasting concentration is not achieved through intense staring, but thr…

Thanks!

I can recommend a couple of books focusing on relaxed approaches to meditation. I can't always manage to relax during concentration exercises but when I do the results are often surprisingly good.

https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Meditation-Effortless-Meditat...

https://www.amazon.com/Meditators-Dilemma-Innovative-Overcom...

Re: The Inner Game of Everything: 1974 Tennis Book Is Still a Sensation

#26

My problems with tennis are with the racket. There's a hole in every one I use that is just about the size of the tennis ball.

Not sure if you want to pick the game again, but never ever losing track of the ball helps with that. You physically can't, but try to see the ball hit the strings. That helps.

Re: The Inner Game of Everything: 1974 Tennis Book Is Still a Sensation

#27

My problems with tennis are with the racket. There's a hole in every one I use that is just about the size of the tennis ball.

Watch the 5 minute video posted above by andy_ppp. The woman he teaches has the same problem in the beginning.

Re: The Inner Game of Everything: 1974 Tennis Book Is Still a Sensation

#28
post #8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieb1lmm9xHk This video of Timothy Gallwey teaching a woman how to play tennis. In 5 minutes. The book is one of the best I've ever read (go get it now), it's about mental focus, improvement by not trying and about not judging your results. I was sitting in front of a really difficult problem earlier today but I kept persisting at it even though at points I got frustrated ("I'm not sure…

What a great video, she looked so natural towards the end.
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