What is being In the Zone?

 

What is being in the Zone?

Last Sunday, anticipating a busy week ahead, I was looking for some inspiration and bumped into the below quote by the legend Bruce Lee which drove my mind into a whirl.

‘Before I learned the art, a punch was just a punch, and a kick- just a kick. After I learned the art, a punch was no longer a punch, a kick, no longer a kick. Now that I understand the art, a punch is just a punch, and a kick, just a kick.’

Deciphering above quote - to a beginner, a punch or a kick is really that. Once he orients self, constant repetition helps him break the techniques into components and enables him to learn the nuances. Delving further, his body becomes one with the surroundings, moving smoothly with precision and control. When the feeling peaks, he is able to understand its mechanics and is able to fully focus on the target with no-mind also known as mushin.

Wiki says mushin generally happens when the mind is free of anger, fear or ego and in an absence of thought or judgement when the person is free to act without hesitation.

Later as the feeling withers, things return to being just a punch or a kick.

Practicing your art with no-mind is a mysterious healer. It drives an athlete to the verge of greatness. They also call it being in the Zone. The irony is they cannot predict when it will be available and the truth is, they cannot find it if they yearn for it.

As a spectator, you could see it happening… a sign of genius when an athlete performs his craft.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s free kicks (Yes, there are many), Novak Djokovic strolling past Rafael Nadal in Australian Open final of 2019, Virat Kohli’s 183 against Pakistan in Asia Cup in Dhaka et al.

Its presence overwhelms the spectator what to speak of the athlete.

There are many such examples where mushin or no mind was at play but best which comes to mind is one of Ayrton Senna.

It happened in 1988.

While driving his McLaren at Monaco in a qualifying session, Senna who had already qualified for pole kept moving faster. The distance between him and the other drivers was half a second earlier blew to two full seconds.

He was in the Zone.

He articulated the swell of such a feeling in an amazing way.

'I was already on pole and I was going faster and faster. One lap after the other, quicker, and quicker, and quicker. I was at one stage just on pole, then by half a second, and then one second … and I kept going. Suddenly, I was nearly two seconds faster than anybody else, including my team-mate with the same car. And I suddenly realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was kind of driving it by instinct, only I was in a different dimension. It was like I was in a tunnel, not only the tunnel under the hotel, but the whole circuit for me was a tunnel. I was just going, going – more, and more, and more, and more. I was way over the limit, but still able to find even more. Then, suddenly, something just kicked me. I kind of woke up and I realised that I was in a different atmosphere than you normally are. Immediately my reaction was to back off, slow down. I drove back slowly to the pits and I didn’t want to go out any more that day. It frightened me because I realized I was well beyond my conscious understanding.’

Many called him eccentric but few, kind of understood he had been to the other side of consciousness. In a way, he had become one with the car.

That is what no-mind or being in the Zone does.

Even the great Sachin Tendulkar reminiscing the sandstorm innings at Sharjah said he was in the Zone that evening. His words -

‘I knew more or less what they were bowling and I was ready to play that shot. Sometimes that happens, I wouldn't say every ball, but whenever one is planning to play a big shot, you say okay, if the ball lands in this area I am going to hit. And exactly that is where the next ball has landed and I have gone for that shot. You have those days where whatever you are thinking, that is what exactly happens.’

Lewis Hamilton, in a well written book Overdrive tells author Clyde Brolin that he is in the Zone every time he sits in the race car. To him the feeling of catching people and passing them as if they were standing still is the best feeling a driver can ever have.

Tiger Woods says when you are playing a shot, the mind tells you that you either play it on the left or to the right but he has trained it in such a way that with his fierce focus he is able to keep the mind out of the way.

Being in the Zone has its charm. In its quest, an athlete fights his doubts, soothes the nerves, finds solutions and thus greatness. He sweats for it, wakes up at ridiculous hours, leaves loved ones behind to practice in predawn gloom but doesn’t give up.

Athletes like Senna view sport as a means of self-discovery. They strive to find out not only how good he is but also how good he can be.

This to me was indeed an inspiration… a remarkable one.