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Reprints From The Professional Skier

Fall 1997 - "Getting Zoned: The Ultimate Mind-Body Connection" by David Merriam

This article is reprinted from The Professional Skier. All copyrights apply. Please see our copyright and disclaimer notice page.

The better I get at skiing, the more I seem to forget about it; the more I seem to forget, the better I seem to do it. It sounds crazy, but based on personal experience, it's true. I've found that the more proficient I become, the more I can let go of conscious thoughts--you know, that constant stream-of-consciousness jabber that interrupts our focus, distracts us, and keeps us from performing our best.

Focused and undistracted runs provide moments of pure bliss, when that inner dialogue melts away and your body seems to function without the intrusion or interruption of analysis. You're skiing for the moment, not listening to internal noise or chatter. It's as if you're on autopilot. You're suspended above the surface of the snow, you're perfect, you feel a step ahead. Everything is spontaneous. The run just happens--it just comes together. The experience seems to unfold in slow motion. You see everything. Everything is calm and quiet. The run is effortless....

Have you had a skiing experience or performance like this? Did things seem to flow and unfold in this seamless and connected manner? I'm sure you tried to recall the event. Wasn't it dreamlike and surreal? Because, it seems so surreal, it's very difficult to put your finger on what it was that made it that way. This surreal nature makes it difficult to describe and thus reproduce it on a constant basis.

In his book Your Best Sport (Laguna Press 1992), Jonathan Niednagel refers to achieving this state of mind as "zoning," which he defines as "the subconscious almost mystical state that athletes often experience when they perform at their very best." Understanding this zone will enable you to perform more optimally when you need to and will give you insights to help your students and/or athletes achieve this state of mind so they too can perform at their best.

In the last decade, some significant discoveries have led to a greater understanding of this so-called optimal state. In 1992, Monte Buchsbaum, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and the director of the Brain Imaging Center at the University of California, studied the brain activity of subjects playing video games. Buchsbaum mapped and revealed brain function and levels of stimulation with the use of sophisticated Positron Emission Tomography (PET), the method of tagging radioisotopes to molecules, glucose, or blood. The isotopes, given intravenously, travel with the blood to the regions of the brain and indicate levels and areas of heightened brain activity. This recent technology differs from CAT scans in that the PET shows more than just basic structure and anatomy.

With the use of PET technology, Buchsbaum discovered that when people played video games, high levels of brain activity correlated with poor performance. The more the subjects consciously thought during the game, the worse their performance became. He also found that as the subjects improved their skills, brain activity actually lessened. In other words, the more skill his subjects brought to the task, the more efficiently their brains worked.

Buchsbaum's research also indicated that while increasing proficiency led to an overall decrease in brain activity, there was an increase in activity in the visual cortex, that part of our brain that processes visual imagery-the feedback and information we see. Buchsbaum concluded that his subjects were able to process more visual information as they thought less about how to use and apply their skills. That is, as the subjects shifted to autopilot for skill application, they experienced a greater ability to perceive and react spontaneously to the game!

While Buchsbaum did not correlate his findings to athletic performance, Niednagel, seems to concur with Buchsbaum's findings as he writes, "The ability to enter the zone correlates to an athlete's skill level. The more skill-proficient one is, the more likely the zone can be accessed .... Optimal performance is achieved when athletes are in a perceiving rather than judging mode." So, in essence, greater ownership of skills allows us to shift our attention away from the past or future analysis of the application of our skills and focus on what is presently happening.

This shift to autopilot may be what gives the zone such a surreal and dreamlike quality as well. The events flow through your mind without being tagged with descriptions, reasons, criticisms, and constant analysis. You are virtually unaware of thoughts expressed verbally, thus recounting the experience and defining it with words becomes difficult and elusive, making it feel like a dream.

Achieving this dreamlike state of mind is not the only goal of a performing athlete, but it is the mind-set required for those indescribable and spine-tingling runs. The process is relatively simple but not easy. Based on the observations of Niednagel and Buchsbaum-and through my own successes and failures-I've devised some suggestions for making the shift to autopilot, that is, keeping the mind free from the distracting This shift "white noise" that can hinder performance. These suggestions, described in the sidebar below, are useful, common-sense guidelines to help you get "zoned."

Experiment with getting "zoned," regardless of the activity at which you excel-skiing, snowboarding, juggling, or even playing video games. Remember that this state of mind won't be easy to access and maintain. Just as it takes commitment, practice, and time to master the physical skills you need to perform a particular activity, mastering the mental skills involved in getting zoned requires the same dedication and perseverance. Early on, it will come for fleeting moments; zoning is not a state that you can simply turn on. With practice, your body will soon begin to take the lead and, before you know it, your mind will follow.

How To Get Zoned

1. Start by learning, developing, and refining task-oriented, sport-specific skills. The better you become at these skills, the greater your potential to shift into autopilot.

2. Gain greater control of your mind. On a daily basis, practice the simple focusing exercise described as follows, and learn to rid your mind of superfluous thoughts and focus on the task at hand.

aFind a quiet area and get comfortable.
aChoose a subject on which to focus. Describe it with a word or phrase. (I have a found that the less stimulating the subject, the better.)
aBreathe naturally and repeat this word or phrase as you exhale.
aWith each slow and methodic exhale, blow the tension from your muscles.
aIf your mind begins to wander, just bring it back by focusing on your breathing and your word or phrase.
aDo this for about 10 minutes or so.
aPractice every day.

3. Practice shifting into autopilot. Focus on seeing what is happening rather than on evaluating and judging what has occurred or is about to occur. Thoughts about the past or future only distract you from the present. There is no time for cognitive intervention, no time to overanalyze. Spontaneity is the key!

4. Place the emphasis on the process of the performance, not the results. The outcome may be very important, but thinking about it won't help during the event. It is interesting to note that Formula One/Indy cars have all the normal dials and gauges except one: a speedometer. That's because the car's speed results from everything else working right. Keep your focus on the event, not the clock.

- David Merriam