Having read my fellows' blogs regarding the power of the comfort zone, I have decided to pursue it from a third angle.
Bouncing during any sport (especially the high jump), can prove critical to the outcome.
Allow me to retell the legend of Rob's greatest victory to date- U18 2007 final...
The match had begun slowly, with myself and my opponent both fairly and evenly contesting. I believe that there were only a handful of points at the beginning where I lagged and found myslef playing catch up, but I had gained the first point and thus a psychological upper hand. At some point, roughly halfway through (there may have been a break and taking my mask off may have provided an influx of much-needed oxygen, thus clearing my foggy head for a blessed minute of calm). As the second time period began, I felt myself bouncing slightly, never ever staying in one place, like water down a hillside (which is reluctant to pool until it has run its course). And so, cascading through my own newfound state of mind, the bounce seemed to have sparked a higher state of being. I was not only physically nore energetic, but attuned to a sense of what was going on in a way that I have rarely even come close to replicating since. It is this galvanised sense of time and space that gave me point after point. My defence was sharper, my attacks were better timed and I had an overwhelming sense of dance throughout the second time period. Fifteen points to nine later I removed my mask and, upon the second inhalation of clean air, this wondrous extraordinary experience was over.
Was this really some higher state of mind? One can only be lucky a handful of times in one go- there was more than mere luck at work. Truly it felt incredible to be crowned the champion of the tournament, but even this sense of achievement was not quite the unstoppable dance which I had experienced only ten minutes before.
Chris's experience of this was unnnerving and unfathomable (and this time it proved unmatchable, but he will inevitably find a counter should it happen again); in Dave's sense it was merely a device designed to distract and decieve (which is, at one leve, one of the main concepts of good footwork). For me, it was something that cannot, in its purest form, be put on. It can only be accidently stumbled across when the sky is aligned and the winds are cast in the right directions. I have tried tirelessly to regain this sense of dancing, but fear that I have put too much concetration into the pursuit of it and lost points as a result.
So there we have it- a dance of great potency is out there, if you get the bounce right.
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Yet another interesting and thought provoking post Rob. You have raised some good points about the way physiology influences psychology. It is widely recognised that by changing your physical demeanour it is possible to change your mental state. Form is emptiness and emptiness is form. I was indeed using the lighter footwork as a method, but also experienced a change in mental attitude whilst doing it. The mind can influence the body and vice versa. Next time you are feeling nervous make a conscious attempt to feel confident. Even though you may not become an oasis of capability it is quite likely that you will feel a lot better. The same applies to anger and frustration, sometimes they can be turned off just by realising them and dealing with them.
Sometimes in life you will find moments when you are in the flow, in the groove, at one with the Force or whatever term you wish to use to describe it. In my experience these moments are rare, never occur in the same way and may be brief (in the sense that as soon as you realise you're having one it dissapears). However, they do point the way to bigger things. But, as the old Zen saying goes, they are only the finger pointing at the moon.
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