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Reaching “The zone”

I feel everytime I have been doing something, I never felt I really was doing it, until I reached: the zone.

That’s how sportspeople call it. The zone.

The sprinter who reaches intense concentration linked to perfect relaxation unleashes all his willpower in a split second.
He reaches the zone. Everything is in slow motion.
You just feel everything going smoothly.
You feel that wholeness to everything.

When I played the piano, I reached that a few times. I technically knew the music piece so well, that it literally flooded from my fingers. I could feel the granularity of the keyboard. Music had color.

I also reached that in table tennis. I had a brand new paddle, that really fitted me.
It just became a part of me. I could do anything, the ball would just go wherever I wanted. I would not focus on getting the ball at the right place, I was focusing on the flow, the rythm. This only happened to me once. I never got back that feeling.

In mathematics, that happens all the time.
You just look at the math problem, and it leaps out of the paper. You just saw nothing at first, but a whole universe is being downloaded to your brain.
You’re like Neo. Now you know.

The zone is that moment. That special place in space and time, when you have a full personal mastery.

I have tried to work on that state on several things, trying to summon it at will. I guess that’s what the best are working on.

Actors want to feel the character. They know when they have lived their character.
Sportspeople want that mind-body connection.
I just want to reach further.

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2 Comments to "Reaching “The zone”"

  1. Sanh's Gravatar Sanh
    October 23, 2008 - 2:30 pm | Permalink

    c’mon… in piano, and in table tennis, you were not THAT good : I WAS.

  2. Vinh's Gravatar Vinh
    October 23, 2008 - 4:47 pm | Permalink

    Hey I told you. It happened a few times.
    And if I recall correctly while I was still training seriously I always beat you in table tennis…

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