The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance

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At times, you’ll have to and want to give your body instruction. This should be based on the natural learning your body does already. You already know how to learn, so don’t try to interfere with that process. As a boy, Tim Gallwey was nationally ranked tennis player in his division and later captained his Harvard University team. Gallwey, W. Timothy (1981). The Inner Game of Golf (1sted.). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-50534-4. Images are better than words, showing better than telling, too much instruction worse than none, and… trying often produces negative results. watching the ball (birdie, frisbee, etc.), noticing the sound that it makes, verbalizing the hits, as exercises in focus and concentration

It is said that in breathing man recapitulates the rhythm of the universe. When the mind is fastened to the rhythm of breathing, it tends to become absorbed and calm. Whether on or off the court, I know of no better way to begin to deal with anxiety than to place the mind on one’s breathing process.” You’ve probably heard the phrase: What we resist persists. The questionis: Okay, I’ll stop resisting… now what? Most pro tennis players don’t complain about any sort of physical limitations. Rather, they complain about mental limitations, their Inner Game: They play better in practice than in games, or they get nervous and lose concentration during big points.When you're learning something, you typically have an inner voice: you might be telling yourself things like, "keep your eyes on the ball" or "you fool, how did you mess that up again?" Here's an important question: who is talking to whom? You might say, "I'm talking to myself." Well, in that case, you could look at it as a conversation between two people: in this book, the "I" telling you what to do is "self1" and the "myself" receiving instructions is "self2." Side note: there's a lot of overlap here with the "system 1" and "system 2" proposed by Daniel Kahneman (as summarized in Thinking, Fast and Slow), but The Inner Game of Tennis was written several decades earlier! What then should we do? Gallwey suggests that we take pride in t

To the extent that the mind is preoccupied with the seams, it tends not to interfere with the natural movements of the body. Author W. Timothy Gallwey has written a series of books in which he has set forth a new methodology for coaching and for the development of personal and professional excellence in a variety of fields, that he calls "The Inner Game." Since he began writing in the 1970s, his books include this one, The Inner Game of Golf, The Inner Game of Music (with Barry Green), Inner Skiing and The Inner Game of Work. Besides sports, his training methods have been applied to the fields of business, health, and education. The “hot streak” usually continues until he starts thinking about it and tries to maintain it; as soon as he attempts to exercise control, he loses it.Gallwey calls the two selves “Self 1” and “Self 2.” Self 1 governs what he refers to as the “ego-mind,” and Self 2 governs the body and instinct. The “ego-mind” is what chastises you when you do poorly and compliments you when you do well. He argues that we aren’t practicing and learning correctly and suggests a new method that is based on the concepts of playing an inner and an outer game, governed by two selves, one that relies on instinct and the other that governs the thinking mind. All human activity can be divided into two major parts: the outer game and the internal. Without some mastery of the often-neglected skills and goals of The Inner Game, success in any outer game is not only restricted and difficult but is also relatively limited in terms of one’s true potential being realized.