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b mations. Increasing ly, I had t he sense that t he key to these leaps was inreeconnecred ness-c-some part of my bei n,l; was harmonizing all my relevant k now ledge, ma ki ng it gel into one porenr eru ption, and suddenly t he enigmatic was crystal-clear. But what was really happening~ T he question of inruition is hody deb ared among psychologisrs, philosophe rs, and artis ts, and it has been a source of much research and rhough r in m y life. My g randrnor her, Stell a \Vairz ki n, a boldly creative Abstract Exp ression ist painter and scu lptor, used to tel l me that intuition was the hand of G od . Artists often refer to intuition as a muse. In the introduction, I meneioncd that one philosophy professor of mine at Colu m bia University tol d me, rather proudly, t hat the vety not ion uf intuitiun is incoherent-c-rt doesn 't exist. In my op inion, meurtion is our most valuable compass In this world. It is t he b ridge between the unconscious and the conscious mind, and it is hugely im portant to keep in touch with what makes it tic k. If we get so caugh t lip in narcissistic academic literalism t hat we dismiss int uiti on as nonexiste nt because we don 't fully understa nd it, or if we blithely consider t he unconscious to be a piece of mac h ine ry t hat operates mystically in a realm tha t we have no connection to, then we lose the rich opportun ity to have open comm unication wi t h t he wells pring of our creativ ity. For much of rhi: book I have described m y vision of the toad to mastery-you start wit h the fundamentals, get a solid found atioo fueled by understandi ng the pri nciples of your discipline, the n }'OU expand and rehne your repe rtoire, guided by your individual predispositions, while kt'l'p ing in tou ch, however abstractly, with what you fee l to he the essential core of the art, W hat results is a network of deeply inrcrnalized, in terconnected knowledge that expands from a
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ceneral, persona l locus poi nt, T he q uest ion of in nu non relates to how rhur ne twork is navig ated and used as fuel for creative insig h t. Let's begin rhe pl unge into rhis issue w it h chess servi ng as a metapho r fer all d iscip lines , T he deares t way ro approach t h is di scussion i.s wi t h rhc imag ery of fhllukill}!, and can 'ed lleural parhu
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random situatio ns whi le th e stronge r p layers were a b,t lost witho ut "logic ro the posi t ion." So, in a nurshell , chunking relates to the m ind's abi lity to take lots of informatio n, find a harmonizing/log ically consisrenr strain, and put it togethe r inro one men tal fil e t hat can be accevsed as if it WCf(' a single piece of inform ation. By "carved neural pathways" I am rt ft t t ing to t he proCtSS of crear mg ch un ks and rhe navig at ion system between ch unks. I am no t making a li teral p hysical desc nprion, so much as illus trating the way rhc brain 0pl:mces. Let's say t hat I spend fifteen years studying chess. Du ring t hese thousands of hou rs, my mind is dfet.:ti vely cutting pat hs t hrough the dense jungle of chess. T he jungle analogy ts a g ooJ one. Imag ine huw rim e-consu m ing it would be to use a machete tc cur your way throug h t hick foliage. A few rr ules cou ld take days. O nce the pat h is cleared, ho wever, you cou ld move qu ickly t hrough the clearing. If you were to make a road and ride a bi ke or other veh icle, the transporta ti on wou ld get fas te r still . When confronted by a new chess posit ion, in it ially I have to p lod t h roug h t he variations. D uring this ptocess, I discove r organi zin}o; prin ciples and new parttrns of movement . T his new inform ation gets systemat ized into a network of chun ks t hat I can access w it h increasing ease as my navigat ional fu nct ion im p roves. Now, let's turn to the learn ing of chess and see how these funcrions really operate. We wi ll start w ith J ay one. 11K" fi rst th mg I have to <10 is to interna lize how t he p ieces move . I have to learn t he ir val ues. I ha ve to learn how to roordinare them wit h one another. Early on, t hese steps m ight seem com plex . T here is t he pawn, t he kn ig ht , the bishop , t he rook, rhc q ucen, and the ki ng , Each piece is un ique, w ith irs
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own strengths and weaknesses. Each t ime I look at a chess p iece I have to remember what ir is and how ir m oves. T hen I look at the next piece and try to remember how that one moves. T he re are initially rhirry-rwo pieces on a chessboard . To make a respo nsible c hess decision, I have to look at all t hose pieces and check fur captures, q uick arracks , and other obv ious possibilities. By the t ime I };et to t he t hird p iece, I'm already a bi t overwhelmed. By t he tent h piece I have a headac he, have already for};o [(en what I discovered abour the fi rst nine pieces, and my opponent is bored . At th is po int I will probably JUS t m ake a move and b lunder. So let 's say t hat now, instead of lau nch ing from the stand ard starli ng position, we begi n on an empty board wi th just a king and a paw n agai nst a k ing . T hese are relatively sim ple p ieces. I learn how t hey both mo ve, and t hen I p lay around with them for a whi le until I feel cornforreble. T hen , over t im e, I learn about bishops in iso latio n, t hen knijjh rs, rooks, and queens. Soon enough, the movemen ts and values of the chess pieces are nat ural to me. I don 't have to thi nk about the m consci ously, b ut sec t heir potential simultaneously with the figu rine itself. Chess pieces Stop being hunks of wood or plastic, and begin to rake on an energetic d im ension. Where the pece cu rrently sits on a chessboa rd pales in comparison to the cou ncless vectors of potemialll.yin.c: off in t he mind. I sec how each piece affens t hose arou nd it. Because the basic movements are natu ral to me, r can take in more infor mation a nd have a b roader perspect ive of the board . Now when I look at a chess posi tio n, I call see all t he pieces at OllCC . T he network is coming together. Next I have to learn the princi ples of coof
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how to maximize a g iven so ld ier's effect iveness in a particular serring. T hese road sig ns art principles. Just as r in itially had to thi nk abou t each chess p iece ind ividua lly, now I have to p lod th rough the princip les in my brain to fi,gure Out which apply to rhc current position and how. O ver time, t hat process becomes increasingly natural to me, u ncil l eventually see t he pieces and rhe appropria te pri nci ples in a blin k. W h ile an intermed iate p layer Will lear n how a bishop's streng th in the midd leg am e d epend s on the ce ntral fXlwn st ruct ure, a slig h tly more advanced player wi ll just flash his or her mind across file board and rake in the bishop and t he critical structural compo nents. The struct ure and t he bishop arc one. Neither has any int rinsic value outside of its relation to the other, and t hey are chun ked together in t he mind. T h is new inrejrration of k nowledge has a peculia r effect , beca use I begi n to realize that the ini ti al maxims of p iece value are far from ironclad . The pieces g mJ ually lose abs ol ute ide mi ry. I lea rn that rooks and b ishops work more effi cient ly rogerhe r t han rooks and knig hrs, but {lueens and kn ig hts (end to have an edg e over queens and bis hops. Each piece's powt r is p urel y relational, de pe nding u pon such variables as pawn structure and surround ing forces. So now when you look at a k nig ht , yo u see ItSporenrial in the context of t he bis hop a few squares away. Over ti me each chess pri nciple loses rig idi ty, and you get bern-e and better at reading the subde signs of qualitative relativ ity. Soo n enough, leam mg become'S un learn ing. T he stronger chess p layer is often t he on e who IS less attached to a dog mat ic in terp retat ion of the principles. "Ib is leads to a whole new layer of p rinciples-those that co nsist of t he exceptions to t he initial princ iples. o f course t he next ste p is for t hose co unterint uitive signs to become internalized just as the initial move-
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menrs of the pieces were. T he network of my c hess knowlNg~ now involves principles, pat terns, and chun ks of information, accessed t hro ug h a whole new set of navigati onal p rincip les, purrems, and ch unks of in formacion, wh ich are soo n follow ed by anorbcr set of principles and chu nks designed ro assist in the interpretation of t he last. Learni ng chess ar this level becomes sitti ng w ith paradox, bt-ing at peace with and navigating the tens ion of compe t ing rruch s, kn ing}o;o of any notion of solid it y. T h is is where t hi ngs get interesting. W e are at the moment when psyc holog y beg ins [Q t ransce nd rechr uque. Everyone at a h igh level has a h uge amount of chess und erstanding , and much of what sep arates t he gl"C"J.t from t he very good is deep prt'S~nce , relaxation uf t he conscious mi nd, wh ich allows the un conscious to Aow u nhindered. T h is is a nuanced and largely mis understood state of mi nd rhar when refined involves a subtle reinteg rat ion of [he conscious mi nd into a free-flowing unco nscious process. T he idea is [Q shift t he primary role from t he co nscio us to the unconsc ious without h lissing out and losing rhe p recision th e consciou s call provide. For a physical analogy, consider your vision. Lee's allow the co nsciou s rrund to be represented b y your are-a of visual focus , and your un conscious to be your pe ripheral vision . Chances are you are sitti ng d ow n reading t h is book. W hat you see is the book. Now if you relax your eyes and allow your perip heral vision to take over, you r visual awareness will take in much more , you can see th mgs t hat are well ofl to the side. Now, t he next s t~ p is to refocus on the book, wh ile ma mra mi ng a p er iph eral awareness. Th is is a ski ll that some martial anises cul nvare for sit uat ions with multiple opponents or other such unpredic table oc ca sions. In a relaxed
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enough Sl ate o f rnmd, you can 100m in 0 11 somet hing in from of you wit h great precision while rnnintaining a very sharp awareness of your sur round ings. Along these lines, chess players must let t he unconscious flow while t he conscious leads and follows, sorti ng out detail." p un ing t hings in order, making prec ise mat hematical calcu lations. Most people wou ld be surprised to discover t hat if you compare t he t houg ht process of a Grand rnasrer ro t har of an expert (a much weaker, b ut quite compete nt chess playe r), you will often find that the Gra nd master consciously loo ks at less, not mo re. T hat said, t he ch un ks of informacion that have been put together in his mind allow him to see muc h more wit h much less conscious th oug ht. So he is looking at very lurk- and seeing q uite a lot. T his is t he critical idea. * N ow, thi nk of me,J osh, compet ing aga inst a less refined mart ial arti st. Let's say I am in t he process of instigating a t hro w t hat involves six rech nical steps. M}' opponent will experience an indecipherable fl urry of action, wh ile for me the six external steps of the t hrow are just t he outer rim of a
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• A t,,,hnical ~," m pl~ of h",. this mi!,ht f"nnion in eh"s! is for ~ pl"F' tu nmsid~r a pair of OPI""i,,!, bishops on a sen"_op"n d".. ,b..."rd, There is a hu!'e a"",,"" of informatIon which is (llI\d."n~ntal '" d,,,i p)\< rin" th~ dynam Irs o( ,h"", tWIt bishops----,ha, IS, <''''''11 !"'wn st,,,nut<', 'urroundin" pi,,-..",, I"""n,ia l ".d..s, ",,,,ible ""nsi,i,." l
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huge net wo rk of ch unks. O ur realiti es are very diffe rent. am "seein g" m uch more t han he is seeing. Co nsider one of my favorite judo techn iq ues, a variat ion of a sacrifice throw-c-or s/(/fl/l i - U WZd. I am facing m y oppone nt. My left hand holds his right wrist or sleeve and m y rig h t ha nd hold s his collar. The rechnique involves the following steps: 1) I ge ntly p ush forward wi th m y tigh t hand on h is chest , CaUSl11g a reacti ve push b-u:k follow mg the momentum of h is push , 2) I sim ultaneo usly p ull h is rig ht arm forward and across h is body, slip m y left foor in front of h is rig ht foot, pull do wn with my rig ht hand on h is lapel, and sit back while sp in ni ng a b it to my left, .) H is rig h t foot is blocked so he has to fa ll fo rward, which actua lly fee ls okay to h im beca use he wi ll apparent ly land un lOp of me. As he Starts to fall forwa rd, howeve r, m}' rig h t foot slips between his legs. 4) As he falls on top of me, I pu ll h is nghr arm in toward me and k ick lip against his left inner t hig h with m y right foot, fl ipping him over. 5) I roll, following his fall, and end up on top of h im . 6) In t he trans ition at t he end of th is tech niq ue. I take h is head in wh at is k now n as a scarf hold , and trap h is rig h t arm in a submission lock . T he fi rst rime som eone has th is rat her co uorerim ui rive t hro w {lone to t he m, it W Ill all be a b lur---Qne fast ver ng rnnus experience of being flipped onto the floor and landed on. I speak from experience. I fi rst saw t he t hrow when my dose frie nd Ahmed sp rung it on me in traini ng a few years ago. Ahmed is a six-foot-two, 20 0-pound powerhouse whose martial inscincts emerge from a very d ifferent p lace t han mint'. li t' is a nea r O lym p ic-caliber sprinter, a professional {lancer and m usicia n, an d a lifet ime marcia! art ist, wh ich involves an u nd efeated. Muay T hai full-contact k ick bo xing record (1 5-0) and treme ndous j eet Ku n Do an d kara te
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traini ng . I was pret ty skilled in Tai C hi C huen (had recen tly won b ronze in t he World Ch am p ionsh ips), had some judo experience, and at t his ti me , Ahmed and l were both a lit tle over a year in to ou r st ud y of the g rappli ng art Brazilian j iu Jitsu wi th the m ind -b low ing martial artist and teacher J ohn Machado . Because of ou t d ifferent backgrounds, training with Ahmed often led to creative eruptions. When such knowledge gaps eosc. much of the battle involves surv iving the unexpected and bringing t he game into a place where the neura l pat hways arc carved . O ther t imes, it 's like ru nning a ga untlet. Whe n the transit ion from t he familiar to the foreign takes place, it fecls like the m ind is Aying downhi ll over fresh snow and sudde nly h it s a patc h of thick mud. As an obvious rule, it is good to be the one fly ing dow nhill wh ile your opponen t is In the mud , Ahm ed and I were in the swirl offree-rraining , moving £lSt. I was on m y feer, then I was head nver heels and on my back before my brai n knew what to make of the situation. I hadn't been bli nds ided like this in quire some time. I immediately asked Ahmc-J to break down the throw for me and soon enough I 5:IW that the blur involved five or six steps, the foundation of which was a Brazilian J iu J itsu SWlXp I had not really understood. J dec ided that this was a throw I wanted to cultivate at a very high level. I fig ured that if it could catch me, it would catc h other people. So I started practicing . First I worked on each step slowly, over and over, refining my timing and precision. T hen I p ut rhc whole thi ng together, rqx'aEing the movements hundreds, eventually thousands of times. 'I od ay, t his t hrow is my bread and b utter. In time, each step of the technique has expanded in m ~' r nmd in more and more detail. T he slightest variations in the way my opponent respo nds to my first push will lcad to nu merous options in
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t he way I wi ll tri gg er I1H O t he t hrow. "'fy p ull on his r ig ht wrist will involve t wenty or rhirry subtle details wirh wh ich I will wry m y act ion based o n h is nuanced m icroresponses. As I si r back on t he grou nd a nd trip his rig h t foot, m y percep t io n of t he moment mi gh t involve thirt y or fort}· vananons. Recall t hat initially I experi enced t he whole throw as a blur, too fast to decipher. and now we are tal king about a riny port ion of rhe throw involving ma ny distinct mome nts. \X'hen it felt like a b lu r, my conscious mi nd was trying ro m ake sense of unfam iliar terrain. N ow m y unconscious navig ates a hug e ncr work of sub rly programmed technical information , and my con scious mind is free to focus on ccrrain essential de rail s that , because of the ir simplic ity, I can see wit h tremendous precision , as if th e b lin k in my opponenc's eyes takes man y seconds. T he ke y to t his process is und erstand ing that t he conscious mi nd , for all it s magni ficence, can only take in and work wit h a certain lim ited amount of in formacion in a un it of ti me-c-c nvision t har capacity as one pag e on you r computer scree n. If it is p resented wi th a large amount of information, then t he font will have to be very small io order to fit it all on the p age. You wi ll nor be ab le to see the de tails of t he let ters. Bur if that same t(K)1 (rhe conscious mind) is used for a much smaller aruounr of inform at ion in t he same amount of ri me , t hen we (all see every dera il of each letter. Now t ime feels slowed down. Anot her way of underst and ing this differe nce In percep rion is with the analogy of a camera" \X'it h practice I am
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maki ng net works of chunks and paving more and mo re neural pathways, which efflXtivdy rakes huge piles of dara and throws it over to my high-speed processor-the unconscious. Now m y conscious m ind , focusing on less, S!tf:IIIS to rev up its shu rrrr speed from, say, four fmmt'S pe r second co 300 or 400 frames pe r second. T he key is to unde rstand thar my trained mind is no r necessarily wo rk i ng muc h faster than an untrained mi n(I-lt is simply wor k ing more effecnvely, which means tha t my conscious m ind has less to dea l with. Expe rientially, because I am I(Klking at less, t here arc, wi thin rhe same un it ofrime, hundreds of frames ill my mind, and maybe on ly a few for my op ponent (w hos e conscious mind is bogged down wit h m uch more data that has nor yet been internalized as unconsciously accessible). I can nuw uperate in all those fram es that he does n't even see. T h is is why profoundly refined ma rtial anists can somerimes appear mystical to less skilled pracrinoners-c-rhey have trained t hemselves to perceive and operate with in segments o f time r ha r ate roo small ro be perce ived b y un trained min ds. Now, ret urning to rhe scene t hat initially inspired this movement of t houg ht in m y life-does this type of t rained e nhanced perception I've bee n discussing come from t he same place as t huse wild moments in li fe whe n time slows dow n in the m iddle of a car crash or, in my case, w hen my hand shattered in t he ri n!: ~ The answer is yes and no. T he simi larity is rhar a hfc-or-dcarh scenario kicks the human mind into a very na rrow area of focus. Ti me feels slowed down because we insrmcnvely zero in on a riny amoun t of crit ical information rhac our processor can then break down as if it is in a huge fom . T he trained version of th is state of mind vharcs rha r t iny area of conscious focus. T he difference
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is that, in ou r disciplines of choice, we cult ivate th is expertence by convertinj; all the o ther surrou nd in.c: informa rion into unconsciously in reg raeed data msread of ignorin g it , T here is a reason t he hu man mi nd rarely goes into t hat wild place of heightened pe rception: if an u nt rained fighr er were ro focus all his energy on h is opponent's breath panern or blin ki n;.; eye, he would get punched in t he fate or thrown o n t he g rollnl!. I f when ever I crossed N ew York 's 33 rd Sneer and Sixth Avenue, r zoned in on some random car that wasn't about ro hit me, and I saw ir passing in slow mo ri on, rhen rbere is a good chance that one of these days I'd get hit by another car. I n mos t viruations, we need to be aware of wha r is happcr ung around us, and our p rocessor is buil t to hand le rh is responsibility. O n t he o ther hand, armed wirh an undersranding of how int ui ti on operates, we can tram ou rselves ro have remarkably pot ent percep tual and p hysical abilit ies in our dis(i plines of foc us. T he key, of course, is pracnce.
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Early em in my study of the philosophicalfoundation of Tai Chi, wh ile scouring t hroug h a hook ofold ad ages called rbe Tai Chi elwin. I came upon a passage that imr i}; uoo me. In the t x rh centu ry \Xlang Tsu ng-yueh described h is p ractice by wnc ing;
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If rhe op ponent's move men t is q u ick , (hen q uic kly respond; if his movem ent is slow, t hen follow slow ly. T hen (he 19 t h century sage W u Yu -hsia ng built on Ts un g - yue h's words wit h a typ icall y absrracr C h i nese inst ruc tional conundr um: I f the opponent d oes nor move, then I do not move. At the oppo nent 's slightest move, I move first , T he fi rst stanza is rather straigh rforwa rd . It is about listenmg , being sens irive to the adversary's slig hresr tremb le, 1<9
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three o'clock, we went to battle, T his type of envrronrnent was a horbed of psychological maneuvering. Ic was d uring these years t hat I began to draw the parallels between people's life tendencies and t heir cbessic d ispositions. G reat players arc all, by defi nition, very clever about what t hey show over the chessboard, b ut, in life's more m undane moments, even [he most cu nn ing chess psychologists can reveal certain essential nuances of characte r. If, over d in ner, a Grand master tastes something birree and faintly wrin kles his nose, there migh t be an in kling of a [el l lurking . Im pat ience while standing o n li ne at the buffet mig h t betray a p roble m sitting wit h tension. It's amaz ing how m uch you can IC"J. rn abou t someo ne whe n t hey get caught in the rain! Some will ru n wit h their hand s over their heads, ot hers Will sm ile and take a
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scrong , agg ressive. T he idea is to stay on your feet and wi th in the ring. In th is ma rch up I'm nor g oing to win with force. It's t he rnenra l side of the game t hat will be crit ical. T he march begins wi rh o ur right wrists crossed . I ap ply light pressure o n h i, wns c, and he pushes back. T he mood is
sec As the play begins we circle one anot her. I pro be him wit h feints, and eac h t ime he comes bac k at me wir h a counter attack. We go in to the cl inch, borh of us having ou r rig ht arm s wrapped u ndern eath t he nppnne nr's left arm p it, bo th wit h our righ t leg s forward . I pu lse tw ice w ith m y right shou lder and each time he meets my p ulse wirh resistance. I break our of t he clinc h . I' m ba,king up . \X'e p laya htr lc more, ar a d istance, A few ti mes I p ush into his midsccrion, and he ron fidenr ly holds his g round . T hen I create an ope ning , allowi ng h im to close distance and p u ll me back im o the cl inch . O n the entry J p ulse again with my rig ht shoulder, t his t im e very subtly, and immediarel y t rigger into ,I t hrow whe re I em pty our my rig hr side and torque him in ro the hole . I Ie hi ts t he g round hard and is confused . W h ar happened? T his is an overs tated exam p le of me ntal prog ram m ing . Wh at I d id here is obse rve a nd p ro vo ke a pa r te r n of act ion /react io n in my opponen t. I ll,' was much b igge r t han me, so probably entered the marchup wa nt in;; to impose his power. I bega n by barely pressing against his w r js r in t he srurring posi ti on . Here he co uld have JUSt neutral ized my p ressu re, let ir go, bu r ins read he held his grou nd , pus hed hac k . [ have engaged h is ego . H e is already sec up . N ext I went into th e clinch wit h the bi;; guy and pus hed tw in ' wit hou t an y am b it ion to move h im. I just wan ted to mo re deeply insp ire our rhyt hm of dance. H e 's big, I'm sma ll. Wh en I push , he pushes back. If you thi nk about whar th is
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means, In t hat second in whi ch he is respon di ng to m y sho uld er probe w it h cou nrerforce , I am suppo rt ing some of h is weigh t , I'm becoming one of his legs. W hen l b acked out ot rhe cli nch that fi rst t ime, he fel t very good- he's g aini ng grou nd, I'm unhappy-e-sc he th inks. I cr mrinuc to inspire his p ush- back mentality for a few m ore moments and t hen I re t urn ro t he clinch . T h is t ime, my shou lder p u lse is vtry sub tle . I ll' does not have ro make a decision to p ush back , it just h ap pens reflexively, b ut now im med iatel y afrer m y p ulse, and actually jusr before h is rt spome beg ins, I trigg er into a t hrow t hat is ent irely based on h is approac hing, p rogra m med reaction . I empty our my righ t side, wh ich has rhc cffccr of removmg rhc leg he is just srarti ng to lean on , and I add to his sliv er of moment um with a condensed , pottllt technique. H e h its t he floor in a b lu r. W henever these types of mome nts happe n in the martial arts, it feels a littl e magical. H e experie nces sta nd in g and then fall ing into a black hole beca use our final exchange was all very subtle and perhaps invisible to h is co nscious mind. In actual m art ia l p lay, t hese types of exchan ges arc much m ote refi ned . Im agi ne the condensing p tocess of ,"'lakinK Smaller Cirdes applied to rhe observation and p rog ramm ing side of this inreraccion. W hat can really happen is t hat our wrists mee t and I apply the ci niesr am ount of pressure con ceivable. My oppone nt ho lds hi s g ro und wi thout hi., con scious m ind even reali zin g t hat he has responded . H e is already set up to be t hrow n w ith a one - t wo co mb inar ion because his reac tion to t he mit is already predictabl e. I w ill m ove before his nco. Taking [hi s one sttp fu rrher, if my first move ment is conde nsed enoug h, It w ill hardly manifes t physically at all . My rwo appears to be a one. A t the OPPOllelll S .diKhteJ( more. I nJlif)f fint.
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* * * Consider one of rhe more interesring and Psychologically subde card Hicks performed by highly evolved illusiooists. A magi cian is nnsrage and asks an aud renee member to ' . lOin him . When the volunteer (a genuinely unplanted middl. _ aged man who seems ro be enjoying th e show) apptoaches, the performer holds his arrent ion fo r a few mom.nts whil. he handles the cards. T hen the illusionisr lays the fifty-two cards (a real deck) on a table and asks th e man to think about a card. Visualize it . The mag ician then shuffles the cards, lays the deck on the table, and asks the voluotterto fl ip the lOp card. It is the envisioned card. What happeoed here? Did th e mag ician really read the man's mind and then miraculously separate that card from the other fiftyone ' Of course nor. Th is particular illusion is very much in line with the controlling of intention rhat a martial artist might employ. The key is the subtle manipulation of the volunteer's conscious and unconscious minds. It all happens before the "magic" begins. As the two men stand before one another, in conversation. the illusionist engages the volunteer. This
interaction is dictated by the magi cian . Th e volunteer is answering questions, following , trying to look good onsrageIn the midst of all this, and in a blur that no one in the audience notices, the illusionist flashes a card . This is the sleight of hand. The critical point is that the volunteer must unconsciously notice the card without the observa tion registering in his conscious mind . He is engaged in the banter of the illusionist, and then suddenly has a seed planted in hIS . has aIread·1 rrn.nd. When asked to envision a card , that choice been made fo r him. Mani pul ating the card throughout the 156
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sh uffl e so it remains at the top of t he deck is ch ild 's p lay for a halfway-decen t sleig ht of ha nd artis r. The su btlety of this deception is t hat if t he performer fails to full y engage t he man's conscious mind , t hen t he clever volunteer will realize he 's being p mg ram med and decide [0 choose anot her cardthe tri ck won't work.
• • • If a pattern of interaction is recognizable to t he adversary, the n me ntal cond it ioning will not be terribl y effccr ivc. In t he Push H ands scene I d escri bed above, had my oppo nent rec ogni zed t hat his eg o was being man ip ulated, he cou ld have thwarted my plan. My feigned un happi ness and backing up made him feel powerful, co nfid ent , so he was not on th e lookout fo r being set up. T h is allowed a senes of sub tle cond itioni ng exchanges, which finally eru p ted into a throw. If I had rea lly shoved the g uy, he surely would have recognized wh at J was do ing, I had to operate beneath his radar. T h is is where Making Smaller Circles and Slowmg DOIl-1l Tillie come into p lay. W hen work ing wit h high ly skilled and mentall y toug h opponems , the p sychological ga me gets increasingly subtl e. The battle becom es abou t read i ng b reat h patt ern s and b lin ks of t he eye, p laying in fram es [he opponent is unaware of, invisible tech nical rnani pulat jon t hat slow ly CtC"J.tc'S response patterns. Iff understand a seri es of m ovements m ot e d eepl y, in m ore fram es, wi t h more d etail, t hen I can manip ulate my oppo nen t 's intent ion with ou t him feJ.l izlIlg what happen ed. I Iere is an example of how [his migh t be done. Srand up with your feet shoulder-widr h apart , Pur your weig ht in your left leg . Now, imag ine somebody is st and ing on you r left side and pushes into your body and lip through your Ide arm
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wit h a lot of force. How are you gomg (0 keep your balancer Well, you have to lift up )'our right leg, go with the momentu m, and t hen replant your rig ht foot a couple feet away and land-as if you jumped sideways-a-no problem. Now pur all your we ight in your right lcg, again, fccr shoulder-wid th apart. If someone were to p ush you from yo ur left shoulder, you wuuld have a m uch big,ger proble-m beca use your tig ht leg is stuck to the g ro und . A funda mental principle of maintaini ng balance while moving fast (for exam ple wh ile neucralizing a martial artist's t hrow or exp losive p ush) is that your feet should never CtoSS. Now when you go airborne, your left foor has to ma kc the long journey past r our rig h t if you are goi ng to have any chance of stayi ng u p. Yo u'll be all [fUSsN. up and probably crash into rhe ground. This is a sim ple idea wi t h huge imphcar jonv . M uch of the Push I lands game takes p lace with the two playe rs connected up top. H ands and arms are subtly probing for tensio n. If I p ush inro an opponent, he will ei t her resist my force or emp ty our rhe urracked part of h is body, dodge the blow, and let the aggressio n pass by. In either case, t here will be a subtle shift in weig ht. T his is a cri tical moment. In t hat bl ur durin}; which someone switches weigh t from one foot (0 another, t he receiving leg IS momentarily sruck. It canno t move . At a high level, arhleres have d eveloped very powerful throws. If SOrn['(lOC is sligluly off balance or unable to move freely with incom ing force, he will not be able to catch up bcforc he is hurtli ng toward t he ground . If I trigger a t h row toward sorneone's ti g ht foot at rhe precise moment that h is rig hr foor is settling onto t he g round, then my opponent will not he ab le to correct hu n self. H is footwork will ge t all twisted up. This idea is far from unique to chc martial arts. If a ten nis player has some-
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one lean ing left and hits the bal l just om of reach to t he righ t, the opponent will appear f lar footed and paralyzed. If an Nfl. runni ng back, NBA ba ll hand ler, or World Cup soccer player can get t he defender ro pur weigh t in t he wrong p lace at the wrong rim e, the n he can blow o n by and leave the g uy tr ipping OWt himse lf. In vinually every competitive physical discipline, if you are a mas ter of read in}; and manipu lating footwork, then you are a force to he reckoned with. So le t 's build a game a rou nd t he simple p rinciple of weight red istribution. T here arc two inn-r rwincd ,ompo nenrs to t h is process. T he first is condensed techn iq ue . T he second is enhanced perception. O ur g oal is ro rake advantage of the mome nt our oppone nt is swi rch mg his weight from one loot to another, There are many weaknesses or tells rhu r may be used to approach this goal-hreath pat terns, physical tension , in ferior recbnica l understandmg, complacency, emotion, dist ractio n , an d an array of othe r un con scious, predictable habi ts can all be homed in on or combined for the desired effecr. For sim plicity's sake, let's foc us on the eyes . Specifically the bli nk. First ofall, most people blink without knowing it, so they probably won' t consider it a weakness that may be exploited in competition. Even for top competitors, t here is not muc h ofa sense of danger associared with the blink-it happe ns so quic k ly, everyt hing I<-d ., safe. But it isn't. There is a small change in awareness that accompanies the fl ash of eyes, and a hig hly ski lkxl p layer (an t rain himsclfro exploit it. T his is where r he rnerhodol ogy of S'~lI'ing Dou-n Time comes into p lay. If, throug h incre me ntal t rain ing as descr ibed earlier in the book, your u nconsci ous lln
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ge nce to ha nd le the tech nical com ponents of your moment , (hen your conscious mi nd can zoom in on very small amounts of data- in t his case, t he eyes. Because our m inds are so complex, if you g ive us a small amount of material (0 work with, and we d o it wi th g reat inrcnsity, t hen we can break it d ow n into m icroscopic d erail . If our conscious mind is p urely focused un the eyes, they will seem ro take a wh ile (() blink. We see t hem heginning (0 close, closed , stareing (0 open, and then open again. T hat 's all we need , SO 1e ( 'S say I am doing Push H and s wi t h a very sk illed op ponent . I' m in t he zone, feeling his weight, h is patterns of mo vement, his eyes, H e has certain rcllv. Befo re a blink, may be h is check twitc hes. Maybe a (Ouch of moisture forms around h is pupil. O r maybe his eyes d ose a t iny bi t, t hen reopen, the n hi ink. All this IS subtle, hu r I am tapped in. Roth ofour right legs are forward and we are moving around (he ring . In P ush I land s you need til hold plUr ,l;tIlund to Star in t he ring. Somet imes you have to root offrhe rear leg b ur you d on't want to spend roo much ti me w ith you r weight sh ifred hack since that gives you nowhe re to go: t here 's not m uch give in your scruc rure. Ski lled players have in ternalized t his reality, b ut their t raining can be used against them . We a re fl owing. T hen, 011 his bl ink, or just before it be};ins, I puis!' into a one-two combination, left , rig h t, into his bod y, My moveme nts arc very sm all; I don't pur m uch force into the m. Very litt le seems to be happeni ng . But my rig ht PUtS hi m into h is hack leg, just barely taki ng t he weig hr off his front leg , W hen I release the p ressure from my right hand , in (he middle of his bli nk, when his presence is slightly alte red, his bod y instl llcti vely settles hack toward his forward leg. In rhar instant , I n ig ger into a throw which co mbines the faet th at he IS movmg forwa rd, providi ng
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momentum, and for a microsecond anchoring his forwar() leg to the floor, If I am };ood, all this can happe n before he has finished bli nking. He goes flyin g onto the ground and comes up contused. T ime and again I have used th is t YlX' of straregy in competition, and afterward opponents have come over to me and im plied that I d id something m ystical. T hey were standing and t hen on the ground, and they did n't feel or see anything occu r in-bet ween. O f course the re is no thing m yst ical happen ing, just the interplay of some interest ing psycho logical, rechnicul, and learning princi ples. I read his incen non to bli nk and then controlled his intention by d eterm ining when he wou ld u nconsciously place his weigh r into hIS forward leg . If I did this we ll, my rncveme nrs-c--rhe one-two combination-should barely have been visible , T he}' served the lone p urpose o f manipu lating weig hr disr nbudon. I sho uld point out t hat t he spe6fic exam ple of u, ing a blink is JUSt one of many options, and it Gin be neutralized. W hen preparing for the 200 4 World C ham pionsh ips, my main trai ni ng pa rtner was my dear friend Daniel Ca ulfield. Dan is a phenomenal marrial artis t who placed second in the world in his weig ht d ivision. H e's a fierce competitor, dee ply percepti ve, WIt h a philosopher's soul tha t ;; ives his martial sryle a uni que resonance. Dur in}; our training for the Worlds, Dan and I squared olT on the ma t every nig ht with the intensity o f roumamenr opponents . It was strange going to war with each other after so many years of friend shIp. We knew each other's ga mes inrsmarely-cthere were no technical secrers-c-so our bar rles were Iar};e1 y of t he mind . In the final three months of preparatio n, we made the risky ag reement co each be respo nsible for his own safcty, whic h liberated us to playas we would in t he
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champ ionsh ips. T here was no holdi ng back . If one of us was slig bcly on~ he got annihilated and had co Slew in hi s ju ices unt il the next session. If one of us dereceed a (ell or weak ness in t he ot her, he we nr after it relendess lv unci I a de fensive ad jusrmenr was made. W e weren 't just com pet ing in rhc ring, we were hon ing our abilit ies to read and mask the subrlesr signs on the fir Dan IS a b rilliant g uy with tremendously exp losive power and razo r-sharp technique. H e knew even m )' t in iest hab its. Every exhalat ion was dang erous. If my presence diminis hed for a fraction of a second , I was on the floor. The ai r felt electric during these sessio ns. We ta ped our trai ni ng and every week I broke dow n the v ideo . Depc nd lllg on th e day, on e or both of us seemed to be operating in a d iffere nr dimensio n. Time feh slowed down or sped up . A coup le of rim es w hen D an was reall y on, I bli nked and by the ti me my eyes were open , I was in m idai r, flying out of t he ring . This was m y secret! N o one had ever tu rned. it on me before. An adjustment was called for, and I got into the habit of taki ng a t iny step back or p ulsi ng in to Dan o n my b links, creati ng a lit de space so he could n 't fire in on me. A few t im es when I was reall y flowing, I used Dan 's awareness of m r eye pan em s aga inst him , bli nking to pull him into an overextension. Ill' quickly caug h t on to m y ruse and our psychology continued (0 evolve . If bo t h p layer<; are aware of a te ll , then ir w ill be neurralized, mad e ineffective , and ot hers w ill h ave to be u ncarrhed and exp lo iwd . The game goes on . T h is rype of ps ychological warfa re is at t he cente r of nearly all high-level com pet it ive d isciplines-c-and I mean ffJIll/klilil'f: III the loosest sense imaginahle. f or exam ple , t he car salesman and potential buyer are 0pJ!'m m IJ. \V hen rwo high ly t rained m inds square off in any field, the players are
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in a fig ht to enter each other's head s. T hese exc ha nges feel like epic tennis rallies in which rhe t ilt of bank sways back and forth ,1S one p layer p icks up on a faint te ll that mayor m ay not exist long enough (0 be exploited, and the other has to feci the Janger, and swat t he rival out of h is m iod before it is tOO late. \V hilt refi ned mental com peti tors can have exte nded dialogues of r his nature, in rny obse rvatio n most people are relarively unaware of their psycholog ical sub tle ties. T his makes for easy picki ng s for the astu te rival. So beware when squaring off with a well-versed negot iator, salesman, or lawye r! Un derstand tha t t he battle s tretches well beyon d t he traditiona l aren a. W hen one p laye r is more aware of t hese issues t han t he urher, condi riunin,l; is q uite simple. Quarterbacks Hick t heir eyes and send safenes flying all over t he foot ball field. Real estate mog uls fu rrow the ir brows, act impatient , check rbeir wa tches ro lull b uyers into nervous offers . A chess p layer observes a rhythm, then sits, lets his clock tick even thoug h a decision has already been reached, then finally makes h is move jusr as the opponen t pred ictably gets up ro g o to rhe bat hroom. W har now? Take a min ute, go to t he bathroom, come back. Control rhe pace of the game. Awareness of t hese d ynam ics can make you hard to m anipulate, and can allow you to t urn the tables on eve n t he savvies t of cond it ioners. To master these psychological barrles, ir is essential to understand thei r techn ical foundation . Contrary to the egoenfo rcing desc np rio ns of some "kung fu masters," t here is nothing mystical abou t controlling intention or e ntering the mind of t he opponent . T hese are sk ills to be cultiva ted like any other, and the last few chap ters have been my attem pt to lay our chc road map to their internalizati on .
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In Ocrobee 2005, I spent t wo weeks in t he A mazo n jungle, My father had to go to Brazil to research gold mining operations tor his bonk The OreaIIJ IHm.-h,mt, and there was nn way I was going to let my POP d isappear into the jungle without me. My budd )' Dan w ok the tti p wi th us because he'd always dreamed of t he Amazon . We spe nt m uch of t he tri p 250 kilometers south of Manaus , in an area called Tupana . where t he outer reaches of the TransAmaznnian H ig h way, the only connectio n to crvflizano n, dwi ndle from a pin ed t wo-lane ro ad into a dirt path, with the forest canopy dosing in from all sides unt il t he trees are overhead and eng ulf what rema ins of the clearing. Every ten or twenty milt'S, t iny vrllag es exist virtua lly untouched by (he modern world. In this rem ote part of Braail, rhere is a deep respec t for the thin line between life and dea th. T here art' no layers of protect jon such as the ones most of us are used to. No grocery stores, no hospitals, no ambulances o r policemen to buffet a bad moment . T here is t he sense among Arnazoruans that (he jung le sits po ised to devo ur the unwa ry. No one walks inro t he foresr alone. Most people carry weapons. T he dan};t't is too great .
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W h ile we lived in t he rainforest, a ma n named Manuel acted as our }o;uide. Man uel is a nat ive Amazo nian, born in Tupana, about fifty years old, powerfull y bui lt with shi ni ng b row n eyes and the jung le in his blood . H e led us th roug h t he den se foliage, q uietly I){)iming out mcxlicinal trees, an imal tracks, insects, monkey vines, rhe sig ns of rhe forest. From time ro t ime he would stop, raise a ha nd . M inutes passed. We stood silent and listened , the air alive with t he so u nd of ani mals feed ing or mov ing nearby. Manuel carr ied a shorg un. His friend Marcelo trailed us w it h another. Cats were always on the mi nd. T hroughout the tri p, Dan and I asked a lor of questions abou t the jaguar. Wa lk mg th rough t he forest a t n ig h t, we wanted to be p repared for an encounter. We were g iven spears, which made us feel better. Bu t over and over Manuel shook h is head and explained rhat if a jaguar reall y want s you, there will not be m uch figh t. It is rare for someone to speak of seeing a jaguar in tile forest. If you see one, it 's p rol» ably roo late. People traveling in g ro ups will, for the most parr, be left alone. from t ime to t ime, t he last person in a procession will be picked off from behind, but cat s generally avoid teams. They are stea lt h h unters. A lone rmveler will be mov ing through t he forest , and t he cat will be crouched on a li mb of an overhanging tree , blend in}; in ro t he forest canopy, listeni ng, waiting. T hen t he ambush em erg es from now here, and the cat is on you r neck. In Manuel's descript ions of the jaguar, th ere seem ed ro be an almos t religious respect for its power, cu nn ing, and lIltensity. But what If I have a machete ) H ow could I not have a chance? One eveni ng, lying in ha m moc ks above the forest floor, eng ulfed by deep blackness and the wild symp hony of n ight sou nd s, Manuel to ld us wha t happened to a friend of his a
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few years before. T his man was na med J ose. lie was born in rhe Amazon. H e k new rhe jungle's sounds, irs smells, irs signs. lie knew how to heal every conceivable ailme nt wit h saps and boiled barks of trees, roots, leaves. H e climbed vines like a monkey, hunted every ewning with a blowg un and dans laced wirh t he venom of poisonous frogs. J ose could uperate from sound and smell alone, frttzing in rhe dark forest, lisceniug, t hen shooting his d an Into the dusky woods and hirting his mark for his fami ly's di nner. H e was one of the rare ones who venrurcd into [he forest alone. O n t hese eveni ngs, he wore a mask on his head , eyes pointing backward so the cats would not ambus h h im from behind. H is only weapon was his small blowgun and a machete he apparently wielded like a samurai. One nig h t Jose was movi ng t hroug h the forest , dark ness closing in, on t he way home wirh a small capy bara strapped to his back. Suddenly his skin prickled. He stopped, lisrened , heard rhe deep rum ble of a car. H e smelled rhe animal, knew it was near. He fete for his blowgun, bur it had been a long n ig ht hunti ng and t here were no dans left. J ose was standing next to a giant Surnuumei ra tree, which are often USN by Amazonians for rornrn unica ti ng over long d istances in t he juogle. I m media tely, J ose too k his machete and swung it back and fort h in a bl ur, clanging agai nst t he tree's magnificen[ exposed eoor and .,ending a pounding call for help through the darkness. T hese vibrations can be heard over a mile away. Hopd"ull}· his son would be listening. Then Jose stood m silence, waiting. He smelled the cat. It was dose. A few moments late r a large black jaguar, onz« wgm. over two hundred pounds, glided d own from a tree twe nty feet ahead of him a nd st arred mov ing in. J ose remembered t he glowing yellow eyes, a, t houg h a demon
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were com ing for him . Ill' knew if he ran t he rae would be on him instantly. H e rossed his nig ht's catc h forward onto t he forest 1100r, t hen held his mac hete and st ood IlLS ground, movi ng his weapon rhyth m ically, preparing for the figh t of his li fe . T he ca t wa lked seraig hr coward him , and chen changed course about eigh t feec away. It st arted pac ing . Back and fonh, keepi ng distan ce , but never raki ng in eyes off J ose. It watc hed t he m achete, followed its move men ts . Ac fi rst, t he jagua r's pacing fel t g ood. J ose t houg h t t hat may be it was ind ecisive, considering t he d ead rodent. T he m inutes passed . Jose 's arm g or ti red from swaying. H e watched the ri ppli ng muscles of t he car's legs, imag ined t hem hu rling t he beast 0 11 top of h im. T here wou ld he on ly one chance. When the cat rarne, he would need to docl};e and st rike m a hlur. He wo uld have to get to the neck or take off a li m b and somehow ro ll away fro m the razor claws. It would a ll happe n in an insta nt. But rhe wai ti ng was eati ng him up inside. H is whole being was on edge, po ised for battle, explod ing, while the cat paced , lang uid, easy, yellow eyes g lowing, edging closer, now seve n feet away, nnw six feet. Afcer ten minutes t he tensi on was un bea rable. J ose was drenched in sweat, his rig h t arm shook from t he weig ht of t he machete. Ill' switched hands, fe lt t he weapon in his left, hoped rhe cat d id n' t notice the new awkward ness for a min ute or so wh ile he rec overed . l ie fclt d reamy, as if the cat weft' hypnot izing h im. Fear overwhelmed h im . T his man of t he iu ng lc was falli ng apa rt, After fifteen mi nutes, t he cat starred moving faste r, It edged in, coiled, watched t he machete move, then t urned hack co pac ing. Ir looked fo r ope nmgs, fele the t im ing of the we-apon. J ose was all strung out. H is nerves were frayed. T he yellow cyc"> were laking him over. H is body shook.J ose
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scarred sobbi ng. lie barked away from the cat, and rhis was a mis take . The jaguar moved in. Straig ht in. It showed its teeth , crouched to leap. Jose had no fig h t left. l ie gave himself up and there was a crack through the night. T hen shouting. T he cat turned. Anorbcr crack rang out and t hen two young men ran through the b ush screami ng. J ose's son cook aim wi th his g u n, but the (at vanished into the darkness, leaving a farbe r weepi ng on the jungle floor. Three yean; later, J ose sti ll hadn' t recovered from th is encounter. T he vi llagers say he went mad. H is spirit was broken. W hen J heard this story, suspended in the Amazonian nig ht, I was struck by how much I rel ated to bot h the predator and the p rey. I used to create chaos on the chessboard um il my opponents crumbled from t he p ressure. I loved the unk nown, the quest ions, and they wan ted answers. W hen t here were no answers, I was home and t hey were terrified . T he game was mine. Then my psychology got com plicated and the tables were rurned. In my early encounters wirh world -class G rand masters, I was usually beaten like J ose. T he chess posicion m ig ht he objecrivdy even, but as the tension on the board mou nted it felt as t hough a vise was slowly ci nching down on my head, t ig hter, t ig h ter, until I reached a burscing point and made som e small concess ion li ke ) OStt backi ng u p, a ti ny im precision tha t changed t he cha racte r of t he game, anyt hing to release the press ure on my brain . T hen they were all over me. Gra nd masrers know how to ma ke t he subtlesr cracks decisive. The only t hi ng co do was becom e imm une to t he pai n, embrace it, until I could wor k th roug h hours of mindnumbing com plexines as if I were takiog a lovely wal k in the park. The vise, after all, was only in my head. I spent years worki ng on chis issue, learn ing how to Ilidinfain the ten-
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H ow can I learn to enter the zone ar will, make ir a way of life r H ow can I maintain my focus under p ressure, Slay serene and p r inci pled un de r fi fe, ove rco me d istract ion' W hat do I do when my emo rio ns get our of cont rol: In Part I, I w id the story of my chess caree r predominantly wirhin rbe frJ mework of the lea rni ng process. Now 1\ 1like to briefly reexamine the arc of t hose years from the perspective of t he performance psycholog ist . Recall t hat as a young boy, sorne nrnes I became so d eeply immersed in a chess position that t he world seemed ro fall away. Noth ing existed h ur me and my jung le, Du ring these mo ments my mot he r says I seemed co become an old man, as if I k new th is game from another life , playing for hours wirh a focus so inte nse that she thought he r hand would burn if she placed it be tween m y eyes and the board. O t her days I would be disrracred, chew b ubble g u m, loo k around and smi le at spenarors in Wash ing ron Squa re Park. Ir was hir or m iss, and my POOf parents and coach had to sir and dea l wit h whichever J osh showed up t hat day. In rime, when I sta rted playi ng tournaments, I had rc be more consisreru and so I starred spe nding more etfore on con-
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cent ranon. I sat ac the board when I wanted to walk aro und. Wh~n my mood was flippant, I sucked it up and worked harde r. I W ,15 an intense romper nor, and have never been one (0 give up on a goal. As a fun ny aside, my ever-precocious sister started am using herse lf wirh t his never-quit aspect of my personality when she was rhree years old by giving me cocon uts to open on Bahamian beaches. I'd spend hours smashing away in the sun, refusing to give up un ril she was dri nkin;&; and mu nching away. In my scholastic chess lite I was almos t always able to put more ~nergy into the struggle t han m y opponents . If ir was a battle of wills, I won. W hen I started co mpeting in adult tourname nts, my am pcd-up energy and focus sometimes worked against me. If you recall the chap ter Tbe Sofr Zone, I began having problems wit h mUSICor other dis tractions r har g ot srur-k In my mind. Initially I tried to push t he world away from me, keep everything xilent, bur this just am plified the noise. A rando m song , whisperi ng spectators. dis ranr sirens , ticki ng chess docks, would take over my brain unt il chess became al most im possihle to play. Theo I had t he breakrhroujrh ro t hink rc the beat of t he song, embrace distractio n, and fi nd an inner ti>L US that could exist no mat ter what the external envr ronment. For years I t rained myself to deal WI t h IXI.<.I condirions , use them ro m y advantage. It turns out rhar the next movement of my life would put t his training to the {esc on a much larger scale. Whe n I was fifteen years old , SMrrhing ftr Bobby Fischer was released and my life went Hollywood . SIl
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mature, I might have been ab le [0 t ranslate m y yout hfu l experiences with m usic ro chis larger form of disrrac rion. Bur 1 was off-balance and once again resorted W using my will ro block everything our. Instead of rolli ng wit h t he new vibe of my life , I handled t he pressures by puning hugt, amou nts of enecgy in to each chess game . I recall t wo moments in pa rnc ular when I became a man possessed . O ne game was a cnrica l macchup In the U .S. J unior C ham pionsh ip ag ai nst t he };ifred Ro manian emi gre, G ra nd master Gabriel Schwart zman. T he other was in the U.S. Cham pionship in 1994 , when I sq uared off ag ainst my t rainer at the rime , G randmaster G reg or}' Kaidanov. In both games, rhc stakes we re hig h, both profeSSiona lly and emoti ona lly. I was all business, and m y intensity was a lirrle wild . Bot h fou r-hour su ugg les passed m a bfink. N ot hing else existed for me, Ac one point dur ing our rnatchup, wh ile I was staring lasers at t he boa rd , worki ng m y way t hro ug h the posi tion , Schwart zman walked over ro my father, who was in the audie nce, and told him t hat he had never seen me like t h is-he said my concentrat io n was so fierce ir was scary sitting across from me. Aga ins t Kaid anov, I felt like a riger in a cage, seet hing with raw energy. I won borh t hose games, and played some of my mos t inspired chess, b ut what is in reres ting is chat afterward I was p rofou nd ly depleted and in bo t h cases my rou rnamc n r im mediately fe ll apart. I blew m yselfour and had not hing left for the rest of t he compcririons. In shore, I was a mess. I hMI learned as a boy how to d eal with d isrracrion in a g iven moment , b ur the large r disrracnons of my l ife were ove rwhel mi ng me, In an isolated SItu ation , I could overcome the issues-c-I've always been able to bring it for rhc big game-c-bur rhe ki nd of rcckl,'s!; in tensity
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t his required sapped me, At a hig h level the chess world has many bi}; games and in long , grudin)l: ruurnarnenrs the y tend to follow one a nother, over and over, for da ys and weeks at a time . I k new how to block Out m y issues in a spri nr, b ut in marath o ns I ran out of g as. Consisten(}' became a critical problem . On days that I was insp ired, I was unstoppable. But other days I would play bad chess. T he t ime had come for me to learn t he science of long- term , henlrhy, sd f-sustuinin)l: peak perf ormance. In the fall of 1996 my farber read about the sports psychologist J im Loehr, who ran a performance trai ning center called LGE in O rland o, Flor ida. LG E (rrcen rly rena med t he Human Performance Institute) was fou nded by Loehr, t he esteemed spottS nut ritiunist j ac k G tup pd , and the nononsense physi cal t raine r Pat Etcheherry as an environment in which the physical and mental sides of the p ursuit of excellence con verged . By t he time I firs t went dow n to LGE in December of '96, it w,IS already hemming a mecca for athletes who wanted to hone t heir performa nce ski lls, professionalizc their nutri tiona l pattern s, work out sophiseicared everyday training routines [Q optim ize g rowt h, and balance pu blic and personal lives. World-class tennis pla yers, golfers, N Fl. and N BA stars, Olym pic achleres, top CEOs, FBI SWAT teams, basically any kind of elite performer could be found on a g iven day working out in the high-ter:h gym, meeting with sports psycholog ists. or charri ng wit h one anothe r about the simi larities of t he ir experiences. I'll never forger my firs t afternoo n in the l G E weight room. I was working with a {miner, having tests done on me to determine my exact level of fitness. I was usmg muscl es I never knew existed, pushing my physicalli mits far beyond what I would have known was safe or possible-and I loved
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my fi rst exposure to physical tr .. . rhls waa .. aln1ng at as 1[' I el of professIOnalism and sophisticatio Ih n as ad · h a ev . . hlgn COOd'tioOlOg my mind fo r so many yeats Th I I . ' ere was be< . 00 a high -tech staClonary bike sw' ' ·n[l og . eating up a spo h oked up to all SOrts of moni tors wh (Onll. 0 en a g uy , s __ 1 me on my back. I turned around to see J ' H !app-.' irn ars h irh a big xmile on hIS face . At the time J im h baug WI . . ' was t e erback for the Indianapolis Colts. Being a hu J art . ge ers star qu f.ln, I had not always rooted for J irn, but I had warched him C r years and adrnired hIS fi ery competitive spirit H play 10 . . . e •
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hadan arm like a cannon, was famous for last-mmute come-
backs, and was simply a fabu lous athlete. I was surprised whenJ im told me that he was also an avid chess player and had followed my career for a long time. We fell into a Conversation about the psycholog ical parallels of top-notch chess competi tion and quarterbacking in che NFL. I was amazed by how many of the same issues we wrestled with. I rhink that thi s conversat ion in the LGE gym was my fi rst real inkling of how universal the arts of learning and performance reallyare.
* * * The cwo intertwined issues I wanted to take on at LGE were consistency as a cornperiror and my complicated relationship to the baggage that had come with Sea rching for Bobby Fischer. W hen I fi rst went down to Orlando shortly after my twentieth bi rthday, I was still a pretry intuitive performer, operating from a natural mix of intensity, digested experience, and d rive. As I described above, when things gOt rocky, my habit was to h it the gas and blow my opponent and myself out of the water with wildly energetic focus. This was tlearly less than an ideal approach for the long term.
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T he main cramer that r worked wit h at t G F. was a deeply insightful Sports psychologisr named D ave Srricgd. Over the years, D ave and I developed a close relationship and freque ntl y spoke o n t he phone between m y tri ps ro O rlando. Although many val uable insig hts eme rged (rom our d ialogues, perha ps t he most explosive revel at ion emerged (rom an innocen t q uestion duri ng ou r first mee ting. I remember it cl earl y: aft er a few hours of co nve rsa ti o n In w hich I descr ibed m y life, my career, my c urrent issues, D ave sat back, scratched h is head , and asked me whether or not I believed t he q uality of a chessic tho ught process was hig her ifir was preceded by a period of relaxation. This simple quesnon led ro a revolu tio n in my approach to peak performance. l oot evening, after a long day of eye-opening sessions with Duveji m Loehr, and J ack G roppel, [ sat dow n WI t h my lapto p and ch ess notebooks and spent a few ho urs look ing over my p rev ious year of com pet it ions. During chess to um amencs, players nota te thei r ga mes as t hey g o alo ng. TIle chessboard is seen as a g rid , with vertica l ranks run ning a- h from left to rig h t, and th e horizontal fi les ru nn ing I -H , up from white's perspect ive. After each move, a chess player will write d own , for example, Bg 1 or Q hS, mea ni ng Bisho p mo ves to g4 or Q ueen moves ro h5. Usually notatio n is kept on a sheet wi t h a carbon copy beneath, which allows public and pri vate records of all chess ga mes to be saved. For a number of yeats, when not at ing m y games , I had also wri tten down how long I t hough t on each move. Th is had th e p u rpose of helping Ole manage m y time usage, bu t after m y firs t session with Dave, it also led ro the discove ry of a very interesting parrern. t ook ing back over my games, I saw that when I had been playing well , I had rwo- to t enminute, cris p t h in ks. ''(Then I was off m y game , I would
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' ~es faIl into a deep calculation that las t ed Over t SO·.. hi "I ong ( hiIn k" 0 ften led to wentv . eS and ( IS . mlout . an Inaccuracy . h is more, If I had a number ofIong thinks ' ' \"(/ ar . . In a row, the li ty of my deCISIOns tended to deteriorate qua l . . . Th e next morning , Striegel and Loehr told me abo U[ h ir concept of Stress and RecOl'ery. The physI'ol ' ( el . . ogisn at . . . . eth..
LGE had discovered that 10 virtually every discipline, one of the most teIl ing featu res of a dominant performer is the routi ne use of recovery periods, Players who are able to relax in briefmoments of inactivity are almost always the ones who end up coming t hro ugh when the game is on the line. This is wh y the eminent ten nis players of their day, such as Ivan Lendl and Pete Sarnpras, had those strangely predictable routines of serenely pick ing t heir rackets between points, whether th ey won or lost the last exchange, while their rivals fumed at a bad caIl or pumped a fist in excitement. Consider Tiger \'\foods, stroIli ng to his next shot, with a relaxed focus in his eyes, Remem ber Michael Jordan sitting on the bench, a towel on his shoulders, letti ng it all go for a two-m inut e break before coming back in the game' Jordan was completely serene on the bench even though the Bulls desperately needed h im on the court. He had the fastest recovery time of any at hlete I've ever seen, Jim Harbaugh told me abou t t he fi rst time he noticed this pattern in himself. He's a passionate g uy, and liked to root on his defense when they were on the fie ld , But after his fi rst sessions at LGE he noticed a clear i rnprovemenr in his play ifhe sat on the bench, relaxed , and did n't even watch the other team's offensive series, The more he could let things go,rl>e sha'lper he Was 10 ' the next drive. The notion that I d idn 't have to hold mysel in b ellS ' h concentration every second of. cIiess 179
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huge hberacion. The most immed iate change r made was my way of hand ling chess games when it was not my turn to move. I nstead of feel mg obliga red to stay completely focused on t he chess posit ion while my opponent thought, I began to let my mi nd release some of t he tensio n. I mig h t t hink about t he position in a mo te abstract way, or I mig ht even walk away from t he board and have a drink of water or wash my face , W hen my opponen t made his move, J wou ld return to the board with renewed ener,gy. Immedia tely I started noticing imp rovement in my play. In the com ing months, as I became mo re arr uned to t he qualitative tl uctuations of my t houg h t processes, I found t hat if a think of mille went over fourteen min utes, it would often become repetirive and imprecise. After noticing this pattern , I learned to morn tor t he effici ency of my d l inking . If It started to fa lter, I wo uld release every rhmg for a ruomcnt , recover, and t hen come back with a fresh slate. Now when faced wit h di fficult chess posi tions, I cou ld think fur t hirty or ferry min utes at a very hig h level, because my concentratio n was fueled by lirrlc breat hers. At H,E, t hey made a science of the gathering and release of intensity, and found tha t, regardless of the d isci pline, t he better we are at recoveri ng , the g reater poteunal we have to endure and perform under stress. T hat realization is a g ood starti ng point. Bur how d o we learn to let go) I r is much easier to tell someone to relax t han to act ually do ir on t he free-throw line in overt ime of t he N BA playoffs or in t he moments before making a career-de fining presentation. T his is where t he mind-body connection comes in. 111e physica l rondrtioners at LG E taught me to do cardiovascular interval trai ning on a stationary bike t hat had a heart moni tor. I would ride a bike h't'ping my RPM" over
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100, at a resistance level t hat made my heart rate go to 170 beats per minu te after ten m in utes of exertion. T hen I would lower the resistance level of t he bike and go easy for a m inu te- m y heart rare would ret urn ro 144 or so. T hen I wou ld sprint again, at a very h igh level nf n-sis rancu, and my heart rate wo uld teach 170 agai n after a min ute. N ext I wou ld go t"'dSy for another mi nute before sprinting again, and so on. My bod y and m ind were undulat ing between ha rd work and release. T he recovery time of m y heart got pr og ressively shorter as I cont inued to train t his way. As I go t into better condition, it rook more work to raise my heart rate, and less time to lower my heart rate duri ng rest; so on my TCS t intervals were only forty-five seconds and my sp erm times longer.
W bat is fascinat ing about this method of physical conditioning is that after just a few wee ks I not iced a ta ng ible drfference in my abili ty to relax and recover between arduous thought processes in a chess game. At LGE they had discovered that there is a clea r physiological connection when it comes to rccovcry-c-rard rovascular interval trai ning can have a p rofound effe« on you r abili ty to q uickly release tension and recover from mental exhaustion . W hat is more, physical fl ush ing and mental clari ty are very much in tert wined. T here was more than one occasion t hat I };O£ up from the board four or five hours into a hugel y tense chess game, walked oucs ide the playing hall , and sp rimed fifty yams or up six Aighrs of stairs. T hen I'd walk back, wash my face, and be comp letely renewed . 'Io this day, vi rtually every d em ent of m y physical t raining revolves arou nd one form or anothe r of stress and recovery. For example, d uri ng weig ht worko urs, the LG E g uys ta ug ht me ro p recisely moruror how m uch t im e I leave
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between sees, so t hat m y muscles have ample tr me to recover, bu t are still p ushed to improve their recovery time. When ! began t his form of inte rval rraini ng , if! was d oi ng 3 sets of 15 repetitions of a bench press , I would leave exactl y 45 seconds borwccn sets. If I was J o ing ., scrs of 12 repetitions with heavier weig hts, I would need 50 seconds between sets, if my sets were 10 reps I wuuld take 55 seconds, and if I was lift ing heavy weigbrs. at :" sets of 8 reps , I would rake one min ute between reps. T his is a ~(KKi baseli ne for a n average ar hlcte to work with. In time, with consisreur work, rest periods can be i ncrememally shorte ned even as muscles g row and are stressed to their larger healthy limits. O ve r the yeats ! have g otten better and bener at ret urning from mental and physical ex haustion. W hil e In my chess career the necessity of such intense body work may seem strange, in my martial arts life it is dear as day-c--rbe fighter who can recover in rhe thirty seconds between rounds and in tilt' irreg ular intervals between marches will have a huge advantage over t he g uy who is sti ll huffing and puffing , me ntally or physicall y, from the last battle. O n a mote dynamic level, in Tai Chi Chuan, real martial power springs fwm ebe explosion from em ptiness to fullness, or from t he so ft into the hard. So there are countless moments when I will release all n- nsion for a spli t second in t he mids t of a martial flurry. Ulrirnarely, with incremental tmi ning very much like what I described in t he chapter i\Jakmg SlIIallf r Cirda. recovery t ime can become nearly instantaneous. And once t he act of recovery is in our blood, we'll be able to access it u nder the most strained of circumscaoces, beco ming masrers of creating tiny havens for renewal , even where observers could not co nceive of such a break .
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• • • In your performance training , the first step to masteri ng t he zone is to p ractice t he ebb and flow of srress and recovery. T his shou ld invo lve in te rva l t rain ing as I have describl.-x1 above, at whateve r level ofd ifficulty is appropriate for the age and physical condir ioning of t he ind ivid ual. T hi s t raining could, ofcou rse, take man}' forms: I have a lready men tioned biki n}; and resistance work , b ur let's s.'1y you en joy swim ming laps in a pool. lnsr ead of jus t sw imming u nt il you are exhausted and t hen qui rring, p ush yourself to your healthy lim it , then recover fo r a min ute or two, and t hen pux h yoursel f ag ai n. C reare a r hyth m o f in tc rvals like the one I described with my biking. W ith pract ice , increase t he intensiry and du rarjon of your sp rint time , and gradua lly condense rest pe riod s- you are on your way! T h is Slime p attern can be used wi rh joggi ng , wt'ight lifti ng , ma rtial arts rrain ing , or p laying any span rhar involves cardiovascul ar work. If you are in reresred in really im p roving as a performer, I woul d suggest in(Orpo Ta t ing the rhythm of stress and recovery into all aspt'n s of yo ur li fe . Trut h be told , th is is what m y enti re approach ro learni ng is based on -e-break ing dow n the an ificial barriers be tween OUt div erse life experiences so all m oments become en riched by a sense of in rerconnecred ness. So, if you are read ing a book and lose focus, put t he book down , take some deep brearhs, and pick it u p again with a fres h eye, If you are ar work and fi nd yourself run nin g our of mental st ami na , rake a break, wash you r face, and come bal k renewed. l r wo uld be an excellent idea to spend a few m inutes a day doi ng some simple meditation pracnce in which you r m ind garhe rs and releases wit h the eb b and flow of your breath . This wi ll hel p connec t your p hys ical
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int er val training to the men tal arenas . If you e njoy the experie nce, ~rad ua ll y b uild up your mental stam ina and spend more t ime at it. W hen practiced p roperly, Tai Ch i Ch uan, Yog a, or m any for ms of sitting meditation can be exce llent vehicles for t his wor k . As we ge t better and bet ter at releasing tension and comin}; back with a fu ll tank of g as in o ur eve ryd ay act ivities, ho th physical and rnenra], we will gain confidence in ou r abi lities to move back and forth bet wee n cnncent rarinn, adrenaline fl ow, physica l exerti on (any kind of stress), and relaxat ion. I can't tell you how liberating it is to k now t hat rela xat ion is jus t a b li nk away from full awareness. Besid es adding to your psychological and physical resilie nce , rl'ns ope ns up some wonderful and surprising new possibilities. f or one rh iog , now t hat your consc ious mind is free 1O rake little b reaks, you 'll be delig h ted by t he su rges of creat ivity t hat w ill emerge o ur of your u nco nscious . You'll become more att u ned to yo u r int ui ti on and will slow ly become more and more true to yourself styl istically. T he unconscious m ind is a po werful rool, an d lea rni ng how to relax under pressu re is a key fi rst seep to capping into its porenrial. Inte rval work is a cri t ical bu i ldi n~ block to becomin~ a consistent long -term pe rformer. If you spend a few mont hs practicing stress and recovery in your everyday lire, you' ll lay th e p hysi ological fo u ndat ion for beco m i ng a resi lie n t, d ependable press ure p layer. T he next step is to create you r trigg er for the zone ,
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O ne of the big gest road blocks to releasi ng the tension d ur ing b reaks of intense com pe ririon or in an y other kind of challe ng ing env iron me nt is t he lear of whe t her we wi ll be able to gel tt hack . If getting focused is hit o r mi ss, how can we g ivl;' up our foc us once we've fi nally gor it! Cond icioning to rhis insecu nr y begins young. As ch ildren , we mi g ht he told to "conceur rare" by parents and reache rs, and rhen be reprimanded if we look off into the stars. So the child learns to associate nor focusing wirh bei ng "bad." T he resulr is rhar we conc enrtare wir h everyth ing we' ve go r until we ca n't withstan d t he pressure and have a meltdown. \'V' h de later on in m y career, I sorneti m es bl ew m yself out wit h intensity d urin}; a g am e, in m y early schola stic chess rournamenrs my d ad a nd I were very g ood ar p reserving my energy, Mosr of m y you ng rivals h ad coaches who treated tour r ram enrs like military Lam p. Teachers and pare nts woulJ make kids analyze t heir g am es ex tens ively berwee o ro unds , tryi ng {O wrin g a chess lesson ou t of every moment, wh ile I would be ours jde having a catch wit h my d ad or tak ing a nap. Maybe it is no accident (hat r tended to sur;;e at t he end of tcurnam erits. M y pop is a clever guy.
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T h is tendency of compet ito rs to exhaust t hemselves be tween munds of tourname nts is surprisin.c:ly widespread and very sel f-destructive , W henever I visit scholastic chess events today, I Stt coaches t rying to make themselves feel usefu l or showing nlf for parents by rea ching srude ms long tec h nical lessons immediately follow ing a two-hour game and an ho ur before the nexr round . Let the k id rest! Fueling up IS much more im portan t than last-mi nute cram mingand at a hig her level, t he abili ty to recover will be pivotal. In long chess tournaments that may last fo r over two weeks, one of rhe mos r dec isive factors is a competitor's ability ro slee p at night. Eve n the vrrongest Grandmas te rs need t heir energ y to come rhro ug h in t he horncstrc rch . In the martial arts wo rld, this t hem e is also cnrical . T he abihry to wait for ho urs on end without explod mg Wi t h tension or losing yo ur edge is ofeen whar separates the top fighters before they seep in the ring. Big tou rnament s involve
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a lor of downt im e between matches. Some fighters keep t hem selves in a scare of fever ish alertness, always po ised for acti on for fear t heir mome nt might come and they won't be ready. The more seasoned com pecirors relax, liste n to headphones, and nap. They don't bum throug h their ranks befilre steppi ng on the mats. T his p heno menon is no t un ique to the fields I have chosen. We don't live wirhi n a Hollywood screen play where rhc crescendo erupts JUSt whe n we want it to, and m ore often t han not t he climactic moments in our lives will follow many unclirnacric, normal, hu mdru m hours, days, weeks, or years. So ho w do we step up when our m om ent sudde nly arises ? My answer is to redefine the question. N or only do we haw to be good at wai ring, we have to love it . Bec ause wa iting is
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,,,ir ing , ir is life. Too many of us live without full not ' d " c y . g our min s, wamng ror that moment wh engag1n _ en our real . begi n. Years pass 10 boredom, but that is okay bee h"es . ause when our true lo\:e comes around. or we discoverourreal calle will begin . Of course the sad truth is that if iog. W I we are esenr to the moment, OU f true love could come a d r , . n go nor P ve would n t even nonce. And we will have beeorne and w ,omeone other than the yo« or I who wou ld be able to embrace it. I believe an appreciation for simplic ity, the everyday- t he abi lity to d ive deeply inca the banal and discover life's hidden richness- is where Success, let alone happiness, emerg es.
* * * Along these lines, when considering the issue of performance state. it is important to avoid focusing on those rare elimaeric momenrs of high-stakes competitive mayhem. If rou get inro a frenzy an ticipating the moment that will decide your destiny, rhen when it arrives you will be overwrought wit h excitemen t and tension. To have success in crunch t ime, you need to inregrate certain healrhy patterns into your day-to-day life so th at they are completely natural to you when the pressure is on. The real power of incremental growth comes to bear when we t ruly are like water, steadily carving sto ne. We JUSt keep on flowi ng when everything is on the line. In recent years I have given many talks on performance PSychology. At the beg inning of an event in Los Angeles a few years ago , I was approached by a top Smith Barney producer, call him D ennis , who said he was having trouble attessing a good performance state and often found himself dIStracted in impoeranr meeti ngs or under deadline. He 187
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asked m y adv ice abou t how to figu re ou t what his "ho t but ron' was. Den nis knew tha t some professional ath letes have routines that consistentl y p ut them in to a good frame of mind before competition. He JUSt couldn't find the rig h t rout ine, Nil matter how hard he tri ed to d iscover the pe rfect song, med itat ive tech niq ue, stretching exercise. or eati ng pattern, he JUS t couldn't make it work. Ideall y, De n nis said he would like to have a song t hat slipped him into the zone. \\lhar should he do! T his is a prob lem I have seen in many inconsis te nt performers. T hey are frusrrared and confused try ing to fin d an inspiri ng catalyst fo r peak performance, as if the perfect rnotivarional tool is hovering in t he cosmos wait ing for d isrevery, My method is to wurk backward and create rhe rrtgger. I asked Dennis w hen he fel t closest to serene focus In his life. lie t houg h t for a mome nt and told me it was when he played ca rc h with his t welve-year-old son, J ack. He fel l into a blissful state when tossing a baseball wit h his boy, and nothi ng else in t he wo rld seemed to exist. T hey played catch virtualI}' every day and j ack seemed to love it as m uch as his dad. Perfect . I have observed that virt ually all people have one or two activ it ies t hat move them in t his manner, bu t t hey usua lly dis miss rhem as "just taking a break. " If only t hey knew how valuable t heir b reaks could be! Let me emphasize t hat it does n't matt er what your serene activit y is. \\l hether you fed mos t relaxed and fow sexI while raking a barh, jogg ing, swimm ing , listeni ng to classica l mus ic, or singing in t he shower, any such activi ty can ta ke t he place of Den nis's catc h with his son. T he next step was to create a four- or five-step ro utine. Dennis had already ment ioned music, meditation , stretching,
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and eati ng . I suggested that an hour before t he next time he p layed carch wi th h is son, Dennis sho uld eat a ligh t snack. We dec ided on a b lended Iruir and soy shake that he enjoyed m ak ing in his ki tc hen. T hen he would go into a q uiet room and d o a fi frcen- min ur e brearhing exercise t hat he had learned a few years before. It was a simple medi tati ve techni q ue whe re he followed his breath. W hen he noriced h is m ind wa nderi ng, he just released the thoug ht like a cloud g lidi ng by and retu rned [() h is breath . For begi nners, this medita tion m ay seem frus tra ting because they no tice their minds raci ng all over t he place and feel that rhey are doing badly; but rhar is not the case. T he return to brcarh is the key to this form of m ed itat io n . T here is nocloing badly or well , just being with your brea th, releasing your t hough ts when you notice them, and coming har k to b reath. I hig hly recommend suc h tec hn iques . N ot only is t he return ro b reat h a glimmer of the zone-a moment of undisrrarred prese nceb ur the ebb and [ low of t he experience is anorher form of stress and recovery tra in ing. f inally. if there is noth ing in your life t hat feels serene , meditatio n is t he pe rfect hoh by to hel p you discove r a launch ing point in YOUt search for a petsonafized mu rine. Denn is has had a light snack and done some b reathing exercises. Aft er these twen ty-five mi nu tes, t he ne xt step wou ld be a ten-mi nute stretching routi ne from h is hig h school football d ays. I asked Dennis wh at kind of m usic he listened to. H e had cc lccr ic tas te, every t hi ng from Mcrallica to Bob Dylan to classical . I eold him t hat I 10ve<1 Bob Dylan as well. \'X'e dec ided on "Sad- Eyed Lad y of the Lowland s," a bea ut iful, mellow, long Dylan song; b ur really a ny m usic would have worked , depending on the individu al's preference. After li.,cening [() t he song, Den nis wou ld get his
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son , and t he~' wou ld go outside and toss around the baseball as t hey did every day. r w id D enn is to t reat t he carch like any ot her catch, just (0 have fu n. So we created the followi ng rourme: 1. 2. 3. ·1 . S.
Ear a lig ht consisrenr snack for 10 m inutes I ') min utes of med itation I O m inures of st retching 10 min utes of listening to Bob Dylan Play ball
For abou t a mo nt h, D en nis went t hroug h h is rou t ine every Jay before p la~' i ng catch With his son. Each step of th o; rou tine was na tural for him, and playi ng ball was always a joy, so t here was no st ra in to the expenence. T he next step in t he process is the c rit ical one: afte r he had fully internalized h is mu rine, I sug;;ested that he d o it rhe morning before goi ng (0 an im portant meermg , So Den nis transplan ted h is routine from a prelude (0 playi ng catch wi t h h is son to a prel ude to work . H e J iJ so and came back raving t hat he found himsel f in a to rally serene state in what was normally a stressful environm ent. li e had no t rouble belllg fully present througho ut t he meet ing . T he point to th is system of crearing your own t rigg er is t hat a physiolog ica l con nection is formt-J between t he rout ine and (he activity it precedes. Den nis was always present when p laying ball w it h h is son, so all we had to do was set up a rourme t hat became linke.;! to that state of mind (c learly it wo uld have been im p ractical for D en nis to tow J ack around everywhere he Wen t). O nce t he routi ne is internal ized , it can be used before any activity and ,I similar state of m ind will eme rge. Let me emphasize rhar your personal mu-
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t ine shou ld be de term ined by you r ind ivid ual tastes. If Dennis had so chosen, he could have d one cartwheels. som ersaults, screamed into the wind, and then take n a swi m before playing catch with his son, and over time t hose acrivirics wou ld become p hysiologically conne((txl to the same state of mind . I rend to prefer a rourine like Dennis's , because it is relat ively portable and seems more conducive to a mellow prese nce, h ut to each his own . I have used rou rines bt:foEt: comperitiuns for t he last ten years of my life. At chess tou rnament s, I wou ld medicate f or an ho ur while listening [0 a rape rhar soot hed me , and then I would go to war. W hen I sta rted com pet ing in the marrial arts I already kne w how to get into a peak perfo rmance state under prlCss utt: and had lirde t ro uble dt:aling wit h less com periovely experienced op ponents. Then I ran into a new problem. In November 2000 I traveled to Taiwan to com pete in my firs t Push Hands Wo rld Championship . I had never been to an inte rnat ional marna! arts tou rnament and was awed by the c hantinp fans in t he bleachers and the elaborate traditional openi ng ceremony in wh ich thousands of comperirors marched wi th rheir cou n t ries' flags waving above. Mort: th an fi fry natio ns were rep resented, each with a uniq ue training style. Wh ile I watched the other com pet ito rs warm up, I was impressed by t heir athlet icism and obvious maste r y. T he al ie n feel i ng o f the env iron ment see med to he igh ten t he t h reat of my opponents, I was feeling offbalance so I wen t into my rouone, which at thar POint was a thirty-min ute visualization exercise. I carne out of it raring to go. It was 9:00 A. M., I was supposed to have one of t he fi rst matches, and I was ready [0 roll . T hen the waiting bega n. T he d ock passed lO:OO, then 11:0 0. I didn't speak t he
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language and no one wou ld tell me when I was sched uled to com pere. I had heard that my opponent was a Tai wanese sta r, om I had no idea what he looked like. I was h ung ry, but t here was no food available at t he arena and my teammates am] I had been u nd er the im pression t hat all first-rou nd matc hes would be early in the morn ing , so we d idn 't b ring sn a~k s-b ig mis take . r had been informed t hat contestants would be ann ounced ove r t he loud speaker five min u tes before their match be,l;an, and if they fa iled [() show up im mcdia rely they wou ld lose b}' forfei t. So I had to spe nd ho urs, hung ry, read y to go on immediately for fear of leav_ ing to cat a snack and gett ing t hrown out of t he tou rname nt. hna lly at noon a b reak In t he actio n was an nounced. Lunch boxes were served to all comperi rors. At 12 :1) I was gi ven a g reasy p latte r of po rk fried nee and d uck. f ar from id eal for the moment , b ut I was starving and had lit tle choice. So I ate. A t 12:30 it was announced that I should report im med iatel y to the judges' ta ble . I was infor med my match was starting im mediately. My opponent was a lready warmed up , in a sweat, and had clearly k nown t he exact natu re of the tou rnament schedule. r was disconcerred, unprepared, and had a sto mach full of greasy food. I go t des troyed. It wasn't even close. It was a lude bit of conso lation [() see my opponent dom inate t he tournament and go on ro win t wo co nsccu rivc World Championships, but I hated the fact t hat I had traveled all t he way to Taiwan and had not even give n m yself a c hance to com pete. Some ser ious adjustments were called fo r. First of all, t he nurrrtinnal side of t his sto ry is very impo rta nt. I shou ld not have t rusted the posted schedule and should have had something to sustain me throug hout t he wait, no ruar ter how long it lasred . I had lea rned frnm J ack
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G roppel at LGE to eat five almonds every forty-five rnin ures durin~ a long chess ~am~, co stay in a st~ady Sla te of alertness and strengt h. In rnarrial arrs tou rnaments, I now rend to snack on Clif Bars, ba nanas, and protein shakes whenever necessary. Or, if I know I have ar lcasr an hour, I might have a b ite of chic ken or rurkey, O nly you know you r own body, b ur rhe key co nurri rion in u npredic table environments like Taiwanese marrial arcs tour name nts IS to always he p repared fi lr exer tion by being nourished , bu t never to have too full a stomac h and thereby du ll your senses. T he nurn nonal lesson is an easy one: I was careless and paid for it. Bur a m uch more serious q uest ion arose: what good IS a t hirty- or forty-five-m lnure routine if you only have minutes or seconds uf warn ing before the big event? In life, after all , (h ings don't always g o according to schedule. Ideally we sho uld be able to d ick in to th e zone at a mome nt's norice. T his is where my system for condensing rhe rou nne comes m . Let 's return co D en nis . W here we left off, his routine was as follows:
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I. Eat a ligh t consisren c snack for ren mi nutes 2. 1') minutes of rneditatron 3. 10 minuces of srre rching 4. 10 minutes of liste ni ng to Bob Dy lan lie had alread y lear ned to export th is mur ine from p laying catc h with h is son Jack , and cou ld now go through t he four s t~ps before b usiness meerings or any ocher stressful event and be in a g reat state of mind t h roug hou t . De n nis loved the resu lts and now d id his routine before every meeting. H e had taken ro scheduling importa nr events righ t 19.3
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after lunch, so he had some ti me alone to prepare. l ie felt };reat, was more prod ncrive, and 100,ed t he fresh energy with which he was tackling anythi ng he p ur IlLS mind (and routine) to. T har's already pretty good. T he next step of [he" PCOC['Ss is ro g radua lly alter the rout ine so (hat it is similar enough so as (0 have the same physiolog ical effen, but slighdy differen t so as to make [he "tr igger" both lower-main tenance and more flexible. The key is ro make [he changes imnmentall). slowly, so there is more similarity than difference from t he last version of the r outine . T his way the body and mind have [he same physiological rcacrion eve n if rhe preparation is slightly shorter. Den nis started do ing his rou tine eve ry Jay befOre work, the unly difference being [hat he would eat a larger breakfast (han the light snack, and he would listen to Dylan duri ng his short d rive to t he office , Steps rwo and three wo k place at home, afte r breakfast, as ori,l;inally planned. Everyrhi ng was going beau tifully. Next, for a few days, De n nis meditated for t welve minu tes instead of fifteen . He srill came out in t he same great state of mind. T hen he stretched for eight minutes, instead of ten. Same presence. Then he changed the order of t he screech and meditation. No problem. Over rtrne , slowly but surely, Dennis condensed his stretching and medi ta tion rounnc down to just a few min ute'S. Then he would listen to Bob D ylan and be ready to roll. If he wasn't h ung ry, he co uld Jo witho ut [he snack altogethe r. H is routine haJ been condensed to around twelve minu tes and was more pot ent than ever. Dennis left it at [hat because he loved Dylan so m uch, but (he next step would have been to graduall y listen ro less and less m usic, un ril he only had to rh tn k about (he tune to d ick into the zone. T his p rocess is
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systernaric , straightforward, and rooted in the most scable of all pri nciples: incremental growr h . As for me, rhe Tai Chi medicative movements became my routine. Every d ay before t raining at my d o]o. we rook about six minu tes and "di d rbe form." T hen Push Ha nds class began, and a number of the to p students wenr at ir with the same in rensity with which we would ap proac h competi tion . I learned virtua lly everyt hing I know about Tai ChI from my years of training in chat studio on 2.3rd Street. There is no place more peaceful and energizing for me. So in addition to rhe stand-alone benefits of Tai Chi meditation, my body and mind learn ed to con nect the form wit h my peak perfor mance state because I always d id the form hefore . . rrauung In my mos t mspmng semos Bur I d id not leave it at t hat. I had learned that mart ial arts roumarnenrs are, if anyt hing, un predic table. We don't always have five ruinu res of peace and quit'! before goin); to battle. Afcer my d isconcert ing experience in the 2000 \World Championships, I spe nt a n umber of monrbs shorrcning th e amou nt of preparation I needed to be primed for the mome nt. The essence of t he Tai Chi med itative movements is the contin ued gathering and release of body and mind as t he praceirioner flows t hro ug h the va rious marriul postu res, As r in hale, my mind comes alive, and I visualize energizing from my fccr inro my fingers. W hen r exhale, t he m ind relaxes, rhe bod y de-e nergizes, lets go, winds up, and prepares for the next i ntls rion . In essence, if you ignore t he concrete strengths of the various postures, Tai C hi rnediration is the pracrice of ebb and flow, sofr and hard , yin and yang. change. So in theory I should he able (0 conde nse t he pracnce to ItS essence. Incrementally, I started shortening rhc amo unt of fo rm I
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did before sta rting my training . r (l id a lit tl e less than t he who le form, then Yo of it , ~, Y. . O ver the m orse of man)' months, u r ifizing t he incre mental approac h o f small changes, I trained m yself to be completely prepared after a d eep inhalat ion and release. I also learned to do t he form in my mind wit hout moving at all. T he visualizat ion proved almost as powerful as t he real thing . T h is idea is not w it hout p receden t- recall t he nlllli/kn f~ 'tan mill/bon. f~rlll to 'tdH fimll. and Makin/.', Smaller Cir des discussions in Part I I. At a hig h level , pri nciples can be int ernalized to t he poi nt t hat they are bare ly recognizable even to t he m ost skilled observers . I now handl e t he u nprcdictabi lity o f marria l a rts tourname ms wi t h ease. In fan, rhe more ad verse t he enviro nment, the better off I feel, because I " now rny opponents will not deal wit h the chaos as well as I will. W hen J arrive in the tour nam ent hall I ge t a roug h sense fo r when t hings wi ll begin. T hen I d o the Tai Ch i form a couple of t imes, so my bod y is loose and flowing . I relax, eat a lit t le at a time so I am ready on a mom en t's not icc, lf rbcy call my name and say I m ust repon im med iately, I go t hro ugh as m uch or as li t tle of a rou nne as J have time for, and I'm good to g o , No problem. T he ideal for any performer is flexibi lity. If you have op ti mal condi tions, t hen it is always g reat to tab , your t ime an d go t hrough an ex tendc>J rou ti nc. If thi ngs are less organized , then be prepared with a flexible state of mi nd and a condcnsed rou t ine. O f course the advan tages to such condensmg practice extend far beyond the professiona l o r comperi nve arenas . If you are (I nv lOg your ca r, crossi ng t he street, or (Ioing any ot her mundane acti viry, and are sudde nly confron ted by a potent ially d angerous situat ion , if you arc trai ned to perform
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optimally on a mome nt's notice, then you may eme rge unscathed from some hair-raising situations. Bur far more critical than these rare climact ic explosions, I believe that th is type of condensing practice can do wonders to raise our quality of life. Once a si mple inhalation can trigger a state of tremendous alertness, our moment-to-momenr awareness becomes bli ssful, like that ofsomeone half-blind who puts on glasses for the first time. Wle see more as we walk down the m eet. T he everyday becomes exquisitely beautiful. T he
notion of boredom becomes alien and absurd as we naturally soak in t he lnvel y s ubt le ti es of the "banal." All experiences
become richly intertwined by our new vision, and then new connections beg in to emerge. Rainwater streaming on a city pavement w ill teach a pianist how
to
flow. A leaf glid-
ing easily with the wind will teach a controller how to let go. A housecar will teach me how ro move. All moments become each moment. This book is abour learning and performance, bur it is also about my life. Presence has taught me how to live.
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(n,lk a thumy mad. u ~ may tl/frr /JJ n...-y imh u'ith IfdlM /If' ue fa ll //jdkf $andalJ.
Anger. Fear. Desperation . Exciremenr. Happiness. Despair. I lope . Emorions are part of our lives. We would be fools to deny such a rich element of t he huma n experience. But , when Out eruo rinns overwhelm us, we can get sloppy. If fear reduces us to tears, we m ig ht not an effectivel y in a genuinely dangerous situation. If we seet he whe n someone crosses us, we may make decisions we come to regre t. If we get g id dy when th ings are luo king up, we will proba bly make so me careless mistakes that rum our good si tua tion upside down . Competitors have d iffere nr ways of approachi ng th eir emot ions in the heat of battle. Many either fed that the ir naeural movements are irrepressible or fail to consider (he q uestion altogether. T hese are not ideal approaches-i f we don't t hink t he issue through , chances are we will be controlled hy our passions . T here are performers who recognize t he disruptive potent ial of emono ns and tr y to tu rn (he m olT, beco me
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cold, detac hed , steely. For some personalit ies this nHg ht work , al though in my opinion de nia l tend s to melt down when t he press ure becomes fierce . Then there are those el ite pe rform ers who use em otion, observing their morne ur and t hen chan nel ing every th ing into a deeper focus t ha t generates a uni quely flavored creat ivity, T h is is an inreresr mg , resilient approach based on flex ib il ity and subtle inr rospecrive awareness. Instead ofbeing bul lied hy or denying the ir u nconscious, these players let their in ternal movem ents flavor their fires. O ve r t he yea rs, ,I.{ various st ag es of my development , I have found myself all over t h is speo ru m. In time, I have co me to believe that rhis last st yle , rooted In my notions of T he Soft Z one and T he Internal Sri/Itt/on. is a potem launchi ng po int for a u nique app roach to performance. In t h is chapter, I'H focus on one of the most dec isive emotions, one t hat Gin make or break a cum pe riror: A nger. As we enter in to th is di scussion, please keep in mind the three steps I described ,IS being cr it ical to resil iem, self-sufficient performance. f irst , we learn to flow w it h divtracrion , like t hat blad e of grass be ndi ng to t he w ind . Then we learn to use disrracrion , ins piring ourselves wi th wha t initially would have thrown us o ff ou r gam es. Finally we learn to re-create t he insp iring seni n;L;s internally. We learn to m ake sandals. My own expe rience wit h anger in co mpc ti rion ocgan with beill"l; jerked around by a rival of m ine whom I mentioncd in Part I of the book . T his kid was a hugely taknttxl Russian player w ho imrnigrared to t he U.S. when we were fifteen years old. Im med iatel y he and I were the top two young p layers in t he co untr y. Boris knew how to push my b unons. H e w,IS unrestrai ned by any notion of com petit ive ctiq ucrrc or eve n by the rules. H e would d o t~·t ry th i ng it
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took to win, and would sometimes do th l1l,l;s 50 far outside rhe lines of normal chess behavior that I was t otally taken aback. Co nsider t he hilarity of rhis mome nt . We are in t he U .s. J unior Championship, lasr rou nd, playing for the ti rle. I am four or five mi nutes inco a deep thought process. This is the critical posit ion. T he ideas are corning toge ther, I'm approac hing a solution, and suddenly Boris kicks me und er the table, t wo or t hree times, hard. Boris studied karate and I k now he li ked to kick things, bur this was rid icu lous. T here were many rimes that Boris pum meled me u nder the table d u ring critical momen ts of our games, but o f cou rse not all of his racncs were so ovcr-rbe-top. H ~ would shake rhc hoard, loudly clear his t h roat in m}' face five or six ti mes a mi n ute. rap pieces on t he table while I tried to think, o r confer about t he position in Russia n with his coach. T he standard reaction to such moments is to g o tell the arbiter wha t is hap pening. The problem is t hat when th is happened Boris would feig n in nocence, insist in Russian and bro ken English that he had no idea wha t I was ralking about, and t he arbi ter would have nothi ng to go with. Even if Bo ris was rep rimand ed , he had succeeded in g~ning my mind off t he posit io n. H~ was winning rhe psychological battle. I fou nd Boris's dis regard for sportsmanship infuriat ing . People like him hurt the game [hat I loved. I men doncd in Pan I char we both traveled to a world championship in Ind ia ro represent t he Un ited States, an d several reams lodged formal p rotests against the Ameri can ream because he and his coach were blaran rly l:hearing t hroug hout t he event. T he whole situatio n made me sick T he p roblem is that ir also mad e me ang ry. Time and ag ain in cr it ical moments of our games, Boris
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wou ld p u ll Out some dirty tric k , and I woul d get irritated and make an error. To his credi t, Boris knew how [() ge t in my head. As a teenage r, anger clouded my vision and Boris p layed me like a drum. After losing a couple of games (0 him, I real ize,,] that rig hteo us indignation would get me nowhere. I deci ded (0 b lock my anger out. When Bo ris rapped pines, I took a deep breach . Whe n he talked about t he position with his coach , I j UH p layed knowi ng I would have rc bear both of t hem . When Boris shook the board, I ignored h im . T h is m ig h t have seemed a gCKKI srra [(~gy, but t he prob lem with t his approac h is that Boris d id n 't have a lim it. H e was pertl'<:t1y conten t to escalate t he situation (for examp le h}' leg kick combinati ons) and eventually I would get p issed off and have a meltdown. It rook me some t ime to realize t hat bloc ki ng out my nat ural emono ns was not t he sol ut ion . 1 had to learn to lise m y moment o rg an icall y. Instead of be ing t hro wn ofl" by ur deny ing mr irritatiun, I had to somehow channel it into a profound state of conce nrrarion. It wasn't unti l my martial arts career that I really learned how ro do this. It wok work. T he fi rst t ime this issue came u p in my comperi rive martia l arts life was in the fin als of my first Ta i Chi C huao Push I la nds National Championship in N ovember 2(XlO. f had cruised through the tournament thus far and was in t he lead in this matc h unt il my npponent head butted me in the nose, which is blaranrly illegal. T he referee did n't sec it and play contin ued. T he ru les of this parr scu lar tournament were that points were scored when someone was unbala nced and either thrown into the air, o n the g round, or out of a larg e ring . No blows to t he neck, head, or groin were allowed . About fifteen seconds later he head-butted me again, harder, and a wild surge of anger flew up through my
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bodY and into my eyes. The blood rush to the eyes that comes with a hard blow co the nose is, I believe, where the expression "seeing red" comes from. I saw red and went our of control for abo ut ten seconds. O n the video it looks like my methodical style somehow mutated into a bullish rnadress, I was over-aggn,ssive, off-balance and completely vulnerable-quire literall y, I was blinded by rage. I almos r losr the Nationals in those moments, bur fortunately I returned co my senses and was able co win the match . A weakness of mine was exposed and luckily I didn'r have to lose to learn , This experience was disturbing [0 me on a numberof levels. There is the competitive angle, bur for me there was also a much more important idea at stake. My relationship co the martial arts is rooted in nonviolence. I don't get into fights. I don 't want co hu rt anyone. I believe that our world is destroying itself with a cycle of violence begetting violence, and I don't want CO have any part in that cycle. I fi rst got involved with Tai Chi Chuan as a movemen t away from ego, away from fig ht ing. I was drawn to the experience of harmony and interconnectedness that fel t like a counterpoint to the dog-eat-dog chess world. As I gar deeper into the marrial side of Tai Chi, and later the g rappling art BrazilianJiu Jitsu, th is inner harm ony would be rested continuously. To some th is might seem like a contradiction-why step into a martial arts ring if you don't want to fight? My personal relationship to this question involves continuous internal cultivation. It is easy CO speak of nonviolence when I am in a Rower garden, The real internal challenge is to mai ntai n that fundamental perspecti ve when confto nted by hostil ity, aggression, and pain. The next step in my growth process would be to Slay true to myself under inc reasingly difficult Condi tions. 203
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For the year following t h is inciden t at t he Nationals, devoted m yself (() staying princip led when sparrin,l; wit h cree ps. I soug ht ou t d irt y p layers and gor better and better ar keep ing cool when they got ou t of cont rol. T he re were a coup le of g uys in particular who were very useful ro me in (his training. I'm su re you remember Evan , the big fellow from the Im'f'Jt mfnt i n Lim chap ter, who used ro throw me against the wall. lie wasn 't a had guy, nu t he always pushed me to m y lim it with his a,l;,I;ression . Much of our training took place du ring this period of t ime . Th e re was another fellow 1"1 1 call Frank who was m uch more of the ge nu ine article. H e had been a big Push H and s co mpetitor for a num her of years and he d idn'r like to lose . When he was having trouble , he gor dirty. lie made h is uwn rul es . H is particular met hod of cho ice was to attack t he neck . In Push H ands the target area is shoulders to waist , Bare-handed attacks to the neck can be qu ite dangero us, and it is normal training etiq uet te not to target (he neck at all . But whe neve r Fran k felt t hreatened or unstab le, he would stare jabb ing lingers at t he Adam 's apple. I had one or two ug ly experiences with Fran k doing this when I was a beginner, well before t he Nationals head -bun scene. I d idn 't like his vibe, felt he was out of con trol, and for the most part avoided t rain ing w ith him . N ow that changed. I had an issue to work on and Fran k wou ld be t he ideal tra in ing partner. The first step I had to make was {O recognize t ha t t he p roblem was m ine , no t f ran k's. The re w ill a lways be creeps in the world , and I had (() learn how to deal with t he m wit h a cool head . Gec ting piss ed off would get me nowhere in life. Once I starred trai ning with Frank ag ain , I qu ickly realized that the reason I g m angry when he went afte r my nec k
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was t hat I was scared . I didn'c know how to hand le it and rhougbt I would ge r hun . lit was playi ng outside of rhe rules so a nat ural defense mechanism of mme was anger and righteous indignatio n. J lI S{ like with Bo ris. So, first thi ngs first- I had to learn to deal with neck arracks. T here was a pe riod of mon ths that I asked a few trustworth y {min ing pattm:'~ of m int to targ er my neck in P ush H and s class. I got used to ne urraliaing these attacks. T hen whenever frank r ame into t he school, I sought him out and we worked together. W henever he felr me co nt rolling h im , he predinab ly starred go ing after m y neck. W hen th is didn't work, he'd expand his t arget area, sometim es aiming at an eye, knee, or t he groin. My goal was to stay coo l u nder increasingly bad condi nons . After a year of t h is t rarning, I went back to San D ieg o to defend m y title at t he N ati onals. P redict ably enough, in the finals I faced off w it h t he same J;UYas the year before. The opening phase of the march was similar to our previous meeting. I began by co nrroll ing h im, neutralizing h is aggression , h uild ing up a lead. T hen he g O( emot io nal and started throw ing head-butts. M}' reacnon was very different th is rime. Instead of ge tting mad, I just rolled wi th h is attacks and threw 111m Out of [he r ing . Il is tactics did n't rouch me emotionally, and when unclouded , I was simply at a m uch hig her level t han him . It was amazi ng how cas}' it all felr when I did n't ra ke the ban. T here were t wo com ponents to (h is work. O ne rclarcd to my approac h to learning , the other ro perfo rmance. On t he learn ing side, I had to g t t comfortab le dealing with g uys playing outside the rules and targe ting m y neck, eyes, g roin, ere. This involved some tech nical grow rh, and in order to make those steps I had to recojrruzc (he rclatmnship between
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ange r, ego , and fear. I had to develop t he habi t of tak ing on my technical weak nesse s whenever someone pushed m y l unirs instead of falling back into a self-prorecnve indigna nt pose. O nce that ad just ment was m ad e, I was free to learn . If so m eone go t into m y head , they were Jo ing me a favor, exposi ng a weakness. TIley were givi ng me a valuable opportunity to expand my t hreshold fur t urb ulence. D itty players were my best teachers. O n the performance side, I had m ade som e strides, but still had a long way to go. First of all, r had to keep my hea d on straight no matter what. But thi s was only the initi al step of t he pron'Ss. The fan of the matter is that we have OUT natura l responses to Situations for a reason . Feeling s of anger and fear and elation emerge frum deep ins ide of us and I t hink blocki ng rhem ou t IS an arti ficial hab it. In m y expert ence, com petitors who make th is mis take tend to crum b le whe n pus hed far enoug h . J recall reading a ,'\' m ' York Times art icle abo ut rhe New York J e ts p lacek icker D oug Brien days before the J ets took on t he Pittsburgh Secclcrs in t he 20 04 N l'l. p layoffs. Brien t alked confidently abo ut g o ing into a med itative place before every kick . lie said tha t he isolated him self from h is surround ings, anti he clai med that even under huge pressures his m ind was "oom ph-rely em p ty" before each kick . Whe n I saw thi s I fc lr suxpic ious abou t his p rocess- t he "com pler ely" bot he red me-and I called m y d ad and cold h im I was wor ried about our kick er. Su re enoug h , when t he jors took o n rhe Sreelers, everyt hing came clown to tWO critical kicks. The firs t o m:' Brien k icked short. T he seco nd he shanked way left, ln an interview rig ht after the gam e he said t hat after t he first m iss all he could t hink about was getting it lnng enoug h. O ne m iss com bined with big pl"l-'SSUT('" to jolt
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Brien ou t of his perfect calm: he fixated on his last mistake and was any th in}; b ut em pty-minded. T he fan of t he matter is that while I love meditation and believe wholeheartedly in trai ning oneself w operate calmly under p ressure, there is a diffcren<:e berwcen the p ract ice field and a hostile, ff(.'ezingcold stadium filled with screaming fans who wan r you ro fail in the bi};};esc momen t of your life. T he only way to succeed is to acknowledge reality and fun ne l it , take t he nerves and use t hem . We must be prepared for imperfection. If we rely on having no nerves, on nor bei ng t hrown off by a big miss, or on the exact rep licatio n of a certai n mi nd ser , then when the p ressure is high enough, or when t he pain is too plerC lllg to ignore, our ideal state will shatte r. T he Soft Zone approach is m uch more organic and useful tha n denial. The next steps of my g rowth wou ld he to do with anger what I had with d istraction years before. Instead of d enying my emotional reality u nder fire, I had ro learn how ro sit w it h it , use ir, channel it inro a heigh te ned stare of intensity, Like the earthquake and the broken hand, I had to t urn r ny emotions to m y adva ntage.
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• • • It has been my obse rvaeicn that the greatest performers convert t hei r passions into fuel with tre mendous ronsisrcncy, There arc exam ples in every dis<:i pline. For basketball fans, t hi nk about t he Regg ie M iller/Sp ike Lee saga. Lee is N ew York's N o. I K nicks fa n. Reggie Miller was (he' star of the Indiana Pacers fro m 198 7 ro 2005 . T hroug hout t he 1990 s, the Knicks and Pacers repeatedly met in the playoffs and 1.1'1' would be sitti ng In h is coo rrside sear in Mad ison Square G arden for every hom e game. Time and again he wo uld hec kle M iller u m il Mi ller starred to respond. At 207
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firs t t h is looked like a good siruaeion to K n icks fans. Spi ke was d isrrau in,.; Rt;.;;.;it from the ;.;arnt. S ometimes ir seemed t hat Regg ie was payi ng more attenti on co Spike tha n to t he Knicks. But t hen it became apparent rhat Miller was using Lee as fuel for h is fin.. O ver an d over, Reg gi e would banter with Spike while to rch ing rhe K nkks w it h un believable shooting. Afrtr a while Kn ick, fans just hoped Spike would shut up TIle lesson had been learned-c-don'r piss ofT Reggie. lncid en rall y, young N BA players learned t he same lesson duri ng [he Michael J ordan era. Jordan was a no torious t rash talker on the courr . H e wou ld goad de fe nders into dielogue, b ur rhc problem was that if yo u tal ked back it inspired J ordan to blow you off the court . T he on ly thmg to du was co ler J urdan talk and play yuu r g ame- Try to kee p some of the beast asleep. T hen he wou ld just score his t hirt y points and move on co t he next game. But If you woke t he beast, M ike would score fifty and then d o it ag um next t ime yo u played him . A few years ago I was calki ng with Kelch H ernandez abou t th e role of ang er in his career. for those who arc not big spons fans, Keit h was a dominant force wit h the Sf. Lo uis Card inals and then the New York Mers, playing Major Leag ue Baseball from 1974 to 1990. Keith wo n 11 G old Glove awards, won rhe ba nin}; t itle and National League Mosr Valua ble P layer Award in 1979, a nd led the Mcrs to victory in t he historic 19 86 World Series against the Boston Red So x. Hernandez is k now n as one of t he w ughest hitters in baseball his to ry. I asked Keirh how he dealt wi t h pitchers t hrowing at h im. A pitche r W ill som etimes eit her hi t a batter or come very close co h itt ing a bar ter wit h a pitc h in order to planr a psycholog ical seed. G ening nailed by a 90-mph fastball is
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not a pleasant experience, and many senous injuries have ( orne out of this dark g amesmanship. T he infam ous scenes of hirrers charging the mound and clubhouses emptying into terrible brawls are usually t he result of a barter feeling that he is be ing ta tgeted. If the bacrer is actually hit, he automatically gets on fi rst base-c-as if he wl:' re walked . T his is obviously less than grea r for a pitc her, hut it is a calculated decision, because many baerers will get psyched out by being pelted- and t hey will be scared at t he plate for the rest of the game or even for years when faci ng that pitcher. K nowing rhar the fastball might be tailing to ward you r head complicates the hitti ng experience, and many barters get in nrmdared . O r they get mad. Either way, if a pitcher feels t hat he tan get in your head by th rowing at you, in Keit h's words, "You'll he on you r butt! " For Keit h, pirchers dug rheir own graves b y targeting him. lit' explains: 'That was always a positive motiva t ional th ing for me; if a pitcher knocked me down or hit me on putpose, well by golly you've got your hands fu ll for the rest of the year wit h me, Part icu larly the res t of this game. ~ Over the yeats pitchers learned to stay away from Keit h. because they would be musi ng a gia nt by hitcing him. Keit h told me a story about Frank Robinson, one of t he all- t ime g rt'atest baseball players, an d t he only man to be M VP of both the Ame rican Leag ue and t he N a t io na l Leag ue. Robi nson beg an his career in Ci nci nnat i back in 19 SO. In those Jays p itchers t hrew at bat rcrs all t he time. The Reds were play mg a three-game ser ies against St. Louis, and in rhe fi rst game, Robinson g ee hit by a pit ch and went on to have a phe nomenal nig h t. TIle next day t he pitcher hit Ro bi nson ag a i n, and he JUSt destroyed t he Ca rd inals throughout t he whole series. A week later, t he t wo tea ms
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played another series, but before It began Red Schoendiensr , rhe St. Louis manag er-c-and Keith's first manage r-c-called a [earn mee nng and said "The fi rst pitcher who h its Frec k Robinson is fined one h undred buckst j usr leave h im alone!" Keich loves this story. It represents what a t ru ly d ominan t com peciror shou ld be all about. G uys like Mill et, j ord an. Hernand ez, and Rob inso n are so fa r beyond shakable t hat opponents, instead of playing men tal games, cower for fear of inspiring them.
• • • Return ing to my own experience, I have steadi ly worked on integ rat1l1g m y narural emotio ns 1I1 to creative states of inspirauon. O f course there were stages to t his process. As a teenager I was throw n off by emo rio n and tr ied ro block It out. T hen , in m y early rwen ries, du ring m y initial experiments with Bud d hist an d Taoist medi tation, I worked on lemng my emot ions pass like a clou d. T his was in reresri ng as it opened up a wo rking relationsh ip with m y emotional reality very m uch like how I d escri bed wo rkiog wn h t he u nconscious in the chapter S/iJldn}!, DllU ,1t Time. Instead of be ing d omina ted by or d enying my passions , I slowly learned. how to observe t hem and feel how they infused m y momen r wi th creat ivity, ffl;' shness, or darkness. Once I had a wllTking relat ionsh ip with my cmo rionv, I began to rake o n my psychological reactio n to fo ul play in rhe martial arts wit h a bi t mOT(" subrlory. I believe that at the hig hest levels, performers and anises must he Hue to t hemselves. There can be no denial, no rep ression of t rue pt'rsonallty, or else t he creation W i ll he false-the performer will be alienated from his or her inruirive voice. I am a passionate guy. T he tan of rhe matter is tha t I d on't particularly like
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di rty players. T heir relationshi ps to com pennon. [0 ego, to sport, to an, to violence, to foul play-it all rubs me t he wrong way. T he next step in my t raining would be to channel my g ur reactio n intn intensity. T his is nor so hard once you get comfortable in t hat heated-up place. It is more about sweeping away the cobwebs than abo ut learning anyth ing new. We are hU llt 1O be sharpest when In danger. hut protected lives have dista nced us frum our narural abi li ties co channel Out ener gies. Instead of running from Out emorio ns or being swept away by their initial g US tS, we should learn to sit wit h them, become at peace wirh t heir unique flavors, and ultimarely d iscover deep pools of inspiration . I have found that this is a natu ral ptocess. O nce we build our tolerance lo r rurh ulence and a re no longer upended hy the swells of ou r emotional life. we can ride t hem and even pick up speed with their slopes. For a period following that second Natio nal Charn plons hip. I worked o n myself. First I learned to Stay cool when training with dirty players, and t hen I sta rted to use m y passion to m y advantage, to use my natural heat. \X' hen wnrking wit h guys who got out of conr rol, I wou ld fed an organic chang e in my body chemist ry. Wh ile initially this may have been d isorienting , now I used it ro sharpen my game, up the inrenviry, funnel my primal heat into a penetrati ng focus. I was no long er bei ng governed by selfprotectiveness and fear, and so there was no disorie nting anger. In time, I d iscovered that instead of helllg throw n off by the li kes of Fran k, I played m y best against t hem. My next compet it ive experience WI th a dirry player was in the 2002 Pu sh H ands WorlJ Cham pionshi p in Taiwan. Early in m y first round of the tou rnament, the Austrian rep-
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resenranve, a noticeably u np leasant ma n, delive red an entirely illegal and qui te painful upper cut ro my ,.;roin. Ill" was a h ig hly skilled martial art ist and 1 was in a lot of pain- b ut it was astonishing how h is antics backfired. I sOliit'd at him, and he cursed at 01(' . I felr no anger, just resolve. As the matc h conr in ued, he kept on t rying to get in my head in every way imagi nable. lie wen t for m y g roi n, t ried to take out rny knee, con tinued to arrack well after the referee had called sroppages- I d id n't react except to b uckle dnwn. Every d irty move mad e me just a litt le steelier, and wha t was interesting was that t he less his rage atlecred me , t he more lI ustercd he got. H e became increasingly aggressive. H is failu re to get In my bead consumed h im, made him crazy, and as he got more and more hea ted he lost track of the techn ica l side of the game and I p icked apart h is overe xee nsions. T h is guy was used to rattli ng oppo nents with foul play, and by bein,!; unmoved, I turned his racrics against him . He landed one cheap shot, but I knocked hi m out of t he tou r nam en t.
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• • • Of course there is an array of emo tions beyond anger that can emerge tn pressured scenarios. Truly superb rompe mive psycholog ists are findy nrruned to t heir d iverse mood s and to the creative potential born of them. T he forme r \"orld Chess C hampion Tig ran Peu osian was known by his rivals to have a pecul iar way of handl ing this issue. \Vhen he was p laying long matches that lasted over t he course of weeks or even months, he would be}; in each day by waki ng up and sitt ing q u ietly in h is room for a period of introspection. H is goal was to observe his mood dow n to the finest nuance. \Vas he feding nost alg ic , encrgerrc , cau t rous, dreary, impas212
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sioned, inspi red , confi dent. insecure? His next step was to build his game plan around his mood. Ifhe was feeling cautious. quiet, not overwhel m ing ly confident , he tended to choose an opening that took fewer risks and led to a position that harmoni zed wi th his d ispos ition. If feeling energized, aggressive, exceedi ngly confident, he would pick an opening that allowed him to express himself in a more creative vein . There were countless subtle variations of mood and of opening. Instead of imposing an artific ial structure on his match strategy. Petrosian tried to be as true to himseJf as possible on a moment-to-moment basis. He believed that if his mood and the chess posi tion were in synch, he would be most inclined to play with the greatest inspiration . G arry Kaspa rov, World Chess Champion fo r nearl y twent y years and perhaps the strongest chess player of all time, had a different approach to his emotions. Kasparov was a fiercely agg ressive chess player who thrived on energy and confidence. My father wrote a book called Mort,,1 GdTneJ about Garry, and during the years surround ing the 1990 Kasparov-Karpov match, we roth spent quite a lot of time with him . A t one point, after Kasparov had lost a big game and was feeling dark and fragi le, my father asked Garry how he wou ld handle his lack of confidence in the next game. Garry responded that he would try to play th e chess moves th at he would have played if he were feeling confi dent. He would pretend ro feel confident, and hopefully rrigger the State. Kasparov was an intimidator over the board. Everyone in the chess world was afraid of Garry and he fed on that realiry. If Garry bristled at the chessboard, opponents would wither. So if Garry was feeling bad, but puffed up his chest, made aggressive moves. and appeared to be the manifestation of Confidence itself, then opponents would become 213
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unsecrled. Step by step, G arry would feed off his own chess moves, off the created posi tion, and off his opponents' building fear, until soon eno ugh the confidence would become real and Garry would be in flow. If you t hink back [0 (he chapter Building YOllr Tril!f:,er and apply it to t his des<; riptio n, you'll see that Garry W 'M; not pretending. lie was not being artificial. Garry was tri8};ering his zone by playing Kesparov chess. As you can see, the re are many different approaches to handling )'Imr emurions under fire. Some are be tter t han others, and at the h igh end pe rhaps your perso nality should determ ine the nuance of your fine-tuning decisions. T hat said, I highly recommend t hat you incorpo rate t he principles of B/lilding You,. Trigger inro your p rocess. O nce you arc no longer swept away by yout emotions and can sit wit h t hem even when under pressu re, you will probably notice (hat certain states of mind inspire you more than oth ers. For some it may be happiness, fo r others it may be fear. To each his own. Perrosian was very flexib le. M iller, H ernand ez, and Rob inson worked well wit h ange r. Kasparov and J ord an were intimida to rs: they inspired t hemsel ves by wilt ing opponents. O nce you u nderstand where you lie on (his spectrum , che next step is to become self-su fficient by creati ng your ow n inspi nng conditi ons. Kasparov tr igg ered his zone by acti ng confident and t he n creari ng t he condi tio ns on t he chessboa rd and a dynamic wit h his oppone nt in which he played h is best. Mi ller ta lked with Spi ke Lee until he got fired up. W hen Spike wasn't around, Regg ie still li ked to play t he bad guy. In tact he was at his very best in t he playolfs on the mad, competing in a stadium fi lled with hostile fans. If the fans weren 't hostile, he m ig h t goad t hem ineo hating him . Reggie eh nv ed as t he villa in an d u iggere<1 t hese cond itions whenever he needed a boost.
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Hu t how d o you pl ay you r best whe n there is no one around to p rovide moti vation? There is no cockie-cur ree molJ [0 insp iration. T here is, however, a p rocess we can follow to discover our u n iqu e path. First , we cultivate T be Soft Z one. we sir wir h our emoti ons, observe them, work wi th t hem, learn how to let t hem doar away if they ate rocki ng our boat, and how ro use them when they are fuelin}; uut creariviry, Then we turn our weaknesses into srrengrhs until t here is no denial of out natural er up tions and nerves sharpe n our game , fear alerts us , anger funnels into focus. N ex t we dis cover what emot ional Slates trigger our greatest perfo rm ances. T h is is tru ly a personal q uestion. Some of us will be most creati ve w hen cb ulfien r, others when morose, To each his uwn. In trospect. T hen Make Sandals. become )'out ow n eart hq uake, Sp ike Lee, or tailing fastball. D iscover what states work best for yo u a nd , like Kaspa rov, b uild condensed triggers so you can pull from your deepest reservoirs of creat ive insp irat ion at will.
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Learners and performer<; come in all shapes and sizes. Some people are aggressive, others are cautious. Some of us like q uest ions, others p rl'fe r answe rs. Some bubble wit h rn nfi dence, always hungering for a challenge , while others break into a sweat at the notion of raking on something mow. Most of us are a complicated mix ofgreys. We have areas of srabi liry and ot hers in which we are wobbly. In my experience t he greatest of artists and competitors arc mas ters of nav igating their own psychologies, p la yi ng on their strengths , controlling the tone of barc fe so tha t it fits wit h their perso nalities. W hile in t his hook I have conveyed my vision of a life of learning, it is my hope t hat you will take these ideas and make them your own. Make them fit wit h your narural disposition. I have found t hat in the intricate endeavors of co m pet it ion, learni ng, and performance, there is mo re than o ne solution til virtually eve ry meaningful problem. \X!e are un ique individua ls who should pu t ou t own Rai r in ro everything we do. T he q uestion is: How do we do this! Let's say we have become very good at someth ing , and we are capable of per-
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formi ng reliably unde r p ressu re. Il ow do we beco me excep-
rional i Ilow do we m ake t har leap from techn ical virruosit y to unique creativity? The real art in learning takes place as we move beyond proficie ncy, when our wo rk becomes an expression of our esccnce. T h is was the (hallengt' at t he center of my prep arat ion for t he 2004 C h ung H wa Cu p . the Wo rld Cham pionsh ips of Tai Ch i Chunn Push H and s. What was it ins ide cha r could rak e me to the cop? W hen l rhi nk balk on the art of m y compe ti tive Tai Ch i life, Ta iwan was always t he reality check. It was the true measure of my g rowth. T he skill level in U .S. P ush H and s events, including ou r champ ionships, d ocs n'r co mj"'ue to suc h competirio ns in Taiw an , w here Push H ands IS rhc national SpotL Med iocrity G IO be self-nurt uring, and fra nkly, many U.S . Push H and s p layers delude themselves about t heir level of p rofic iency. T he top Taiwanese fighters train for m any hours a d ay fro m child hood, consran rly com pet ing in brural reg ional a nd nano nal rournamenrs. For the summer before the biannual Ch ung H wa Cup , the elite schools have traini ng camps where fighters up t he intensit y o f the ir prepararion , wo rking six or e igh t hours a day, comb in ing inte nse condi noning w it h technical sharpening. T he stakes are very h ig h for t hese compet ito rs, and they are we ll-oiled machi nes when t hey step in the ring. Foreigners t raveling to t he Chung H wa Cup arc entering the den of t he lion. Wi n in Taiwan and the n we ca n tal k about greatness. The firsr time I traveled til Taiwan , in 2000, I was trcsh off winn ing r ny fi rst Push Hands Na t ional C hamp ionship . In more ways rhan one, I had no idea wha t I was ge t t ing m yself Into. I desc ribed in B/l ildmg Your Trigger how I got blindsideJ by the sched uling of the event. I was rold my first match wou ld OC" ea rly in t he m orn ing bur I was faced w it h
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hou rs of wait ing. I g ot increasingly hungry and had nothing to eat . \Vhen t he lunch b reak was annou nced at noon, I devoured a greasy plane r and was im mediately called to t he ri ng . I gcr blown ou t of t he water by t he guy who went on to win t he tournament. W hik- I certainly needed to take on the psycholog ical side of what happened to have any chance to com pete under these condi tions, rhe truth of t he matter is t hat it was no t th e decisive fac to r. My opponent was much berrer t han me. If I had been perfen ly poised , he would have bea ten me . I had a lor to learn. In t he rwo years follow ing m y firs t experience in Ta iwan, I really buckled dow n in my rraining.Tve d escribed much of thar work III t he early chaprcrs of Part I I, but there was also another t om ponem to chis preparation. C hinese martial arts tend to be very secretive, and Tai C hi C hunn rs a particularly en igmat ic d iscipline. If you read the Tai Chi Classics, study t he philosophical foundation, practice t he moving medira rio n, you will gain a sense of awareness, feel supple, and possibly be able to generate a lor of speed and power. Bur it is hard to t ranstarc these princi ples into via ble marrial application u m il you rest yourself Out in rhe ring and incrementall y separate the real from t he m yt hical. Unfortuna tely, many reachers haven't done th is themsel ves, and they protect thei r egos and t heir schools by clai ming to have t remendous power- for exam ple, the ability to throw someone without to uching them- but they refuse to show anyone. Often, supposedl y great mart ial artists will avoid de monst rat ing their "power" by offering the exp lanation: "If you and I were to spar, I migh t kill you." Wheneve r I hear t his I know rhar I am hste ning to a charlatan-true maste rs have control. O n the ot her hand , some very powerful skills really ca n be developed and it is tr ue rhar the g reatest secrets arc kep t for
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a very select circle. There is always the lingering question_ whar is really possible and what is hype' Until I went ro Taiwan , I had no idea whar ro expeer. And
sure enough, the rop comperirors were armed with a skill set I had never dreamed of. They were remarkable arhleres who had grown up in a cu lru re rhar cu lrivared the refin emenr of Push H ands in rh e same way rhar rhe o ld Sovie r Union had mastered rhe engineering of g rear chess players. Follow_ ing that fi rst roum amenr, I was armed with direct observa_ ri on and many hours of " ideo of rhe roughest Push Hands players in the world. That video footage of the rap Taiwanese competitors would prove [ 0 be a c ruc ial well of
information. Afrer m y fi rst t rip ro Taiwan, I saw char the g reatesr practitioners were nor m ysti cs, bur profound ly dedicared martial artists who had refi ned certa in fundame mal skills at a tremendously hig h level. T he subt lety of their unbalancing techni ques was sometimes mind -bog gling. \X'h ile an untrained eye m ig ht have seen nothing, these players were using incredibl y po ren! combinations d esigned ro provoke the tin iest of leans- and then opponents were on rhe floor. From 2000 ro 2002, I st udied t hese rapes in derail and slowly refined my game. During those yea rs much of my training was with my dear friend Tom Orrerness, who is W illiam Chen's senior st udent and one of the rnosr powerful
internal martial artists I have ever known. Tom is a sculpror who spends his days molding clay and who subsequently has hands and arms that feel like a bear's-s-ad d over rhtrry-five years of Tai Chi rraining and ir 's no surp r ise rhar Tom hies like an avalanche. W hen Tom and I fi rst started working together, he would smash me all over the ring . I felt like a rennis ball meering a wall of fo rce, and to make maree es 220
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worse Tom was also a heat-seeking missile-c-rhe re was 0 0 avniding his power. I was forced to add subrlery to m y neutralizations and to b uild up my roor" so I co uld survi.. . e his o nslaughts. Worki ng with Tom night afte r nig ht gave me rhc confidence t hat I could stand in t he ring with anyone. \V hen I went back to the Chung H wa Cup in late N ove mber 2002, 1 was ready, or so I though t. By now I had won rhe U.S. Nationals for t hree straight years. I regularly co mpered in m ulriple we ig ht careg ories , ufren gi ving up over a h undred pounds to m y opponent s and consisrcnrly winning he-a vyweight and super-heavyweight t itles. I was a m uch im proved mart ial art ist and I also knew what I was getti ng m ysclfinro. M y first march of rhar 200 2 Chung H wa Cup was agai nst the Aus trian rep resenrarive , who had just won t he Eu ropean Championship a few months before t he Worlds. I descnbed in t he prev ious chapter how early in t he ma tch he nailed me with an upper cu t to the groin. III" was a dirry player who counted. on g etti ng into his opponent s' heads, bur a large part of my trai ni ng the previous couple of years had been focused nn hand ling his ilk. I buckled down and knocked. him om of the to u rnament. My next match was against t he top srudenr of one of t he Ta iwanese schools. I II" was slippery, very fast , b ut he had a bad habi t of rooring off his rear leg when p ressured. As I mentioned in Tbe JI!JWt!lJ of the !II )'stiral. t he p roblem wit h p urring your weigh t toOfar back is that when it shi fts forward, as it must inevitably, rhcre is an opening-a flash when ' As a reminder, hy "rw," I ~m rcocmn.l( to , ht·
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you are vul nerable. I had been working very hard 011 my t hrows for rhe previous two years, and I was able ro work him toward rhe edge of the ring, make him lean on me, and t hen list' his momentum to put him o n the ground. His habit ual weight distr ihution served as a rcll and I was all over him. I won t he match easily. Now carne rhe sem ifinals and my opponent was a 1\J. iwanese star. II is name was C hen Ze-Cheng and he was t he };uy r had been most im pressed with two years before. In tau , the video footage I had focused on most closely while p reparing for rhis year's room amen r was ofChen Ze-Cheng dismantl ing his opponents. C hen has rhc phy.si(ality of a gazelle. Tall, sinewy, incred ibly st rong for his weight, and dazz lingly arhlenc, he puts opponents on rhe floor wit h a speed and rechmcal virtuosity that just baffles t he mind. He is the son of rhe to p P ush Hands teacher in Taiwan, who is also arguably t he best t rainer in t he world, and so in addit ion to his p hysical gifts C hen had been receiving t he very best instruction since childhood. Whe n the open ing bell rang, I was all charged up . O u r wrisrs met in the middle of t he ring and he immediately shot in for a throw, which I crimped. But he kept the pressure on, p um mel ing 111 wi th his hands to get an advantageous greppiing position. 1 felt dan).;er everywhere. I kept on brushi n}; him away from me, staving off throw after t hrow, but he would n't Stop com ing. H is power fel t internal, relaxed, molten, and always primed for an explosion. He was all over me, relentless-but he still hadn't scored any POints. A little over halfway th roug h t he firs t round I caugh t him oflbalance in the middle ofone of his at tacks and exploded into a huge push that sent him fl ying . It looked like Chen was going out of the ring, bur he landed wit h his toes sti ll in,
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heels hovering over t he line, and he did a matrix maneuver, head backwards nearly rn t he floor while he pushed out with his wa ist to keep h is balance and stay in bounds. Such an athlete! I charged into the attack but JUS t when I arri ved he was upright again and somehow rooted. This was a war. Playing in that rin g w ith C hen I had the feeli ng that he was in m y sk in, suc k ing out my energy. I kept on pushing him away like a bad d ream . I would unbalance him a little, weather his storms , but his conditioning was amazing and he kept comi ng back. \'(' ith about thirty seconds to go in the round , I star red to feel d rained . I have come to understand that t his is a b ig part of Chen's strategy-he pressures opponents, nag s them. He is looking for openings but really jus t goading rivals into exhausting themselves by pushing him away. H e keeps pummeli ng in, getting pushed back, and retu rn ing with an end less persistence. I felt this happening and decided to Stay in the cli nch for a minute, lee hi m in, see if he cou ld d o any thi ng . I was on the floor before I could blink . It was a st unning throw. I was up and then I was down, and I didn 't know wh at h it me. I got up shaking my head and came back at him . T here wasn 't much time left, and I was overagg ressive and got taken down again. The second round was more of the same. He pressured me, I staved him off, sea rched for openings, but for the mosr part he felr like a mani al g iant. About a minute inca the round , he caug ht me fl ar-foored and rhe next rhing I knew I was piling face fi rst into the mats. Man was he fasr! Then he just held me off, protecting his lead. [ went afrer him and was in the middle of a wild attack a desperate attempt to come back when , had the bell ra ng and rhe march was over. We hugged . He beate n me w irh grace and true excellence. My neck and 223
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shoulder were throbbmg m pain, I was wrecked . I had one more march in t he to urna ment-a fi,l;h t for t hi rd plano, wh ich I som ehow managed to w in despite hard ly being able to move the right side of m y upper body. So I took bronze in t he tou rnament and had two more yea rs to stew in m y juices until my next chance. The bar had bee n ser. After t he 2002 World Championships I was a ma n on a m ission. T he ti me had come ro take my game co a new level. I had felt up dose and perso nal wha t the best in the world was all about and I knew it was within reach. This next phase of my learning process would be about b uild ing and refi ning a competi tive repcrrnire that was uniquely my own . Im med iatel y after co m ing home to New York City, my work began. T be fi rst couple mont hs of rraimn g after t he Worl,ls were mosdy mental. Fo r one t hing , I had to let my body heal. My shoulde r was a mess and it needed some t ime before it could t ake ful l-tile impact. So I stud ied tapes, b roke down t he techn ical repertoires of Chen Ze-Cheng and t he other top Taiwanese players. Watching hours of fomage frame b}' frame I picked up on in fi nitely sub tle setu ps and plays wi t h footwork rha t really opened my eyes to w hat I was u p ag ai nst. The difference between numbers 3 andLis mo untainous. I would have to becom e a whole other kind of at hlete. St ep by step. B}' m id January I was back on t he mats doi ng soft trai ning that didn't aggravate t he injury but kept my body fluid. I worked on some new rerhrucal ideas, integrated t he movements into my arsenal by doing slow-motion repet it ions. By March I cou ld mi x it tip at full speed witho ut worryi ng about my should er, b ut I st ill wasnr playing compenrively so m uch as working on the ideas I described in th e chap te rs
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",,,king SIIM!!er Circles. Slowing Doum Time. and Thelllnsion oj the Mystical. I was sci ll in rhe "research and development' stage. I have ralked abouc style, personal raste, being true co your natu ral disposicion . This theme is cricical ar all stages of the learning process. If you ch ink abouc the high-end learning principles chac I have d iscussed in chis book, they all spring out of rhe deep, crea t ive p lunge into an inicially small pool of informacion . In the early chapters, I described rhe imporranee of a chess p layer laying a solid foundacion by studying posicions of redu ced com plexity (endg"me beJore opening). T hen we app ly the internalized principles co increasing ly complex scenarios. In M"king SIIM!!er Cirdes we cake a sing le techniq ue o r idea and practice ir unt il we feel irs essence. Then we g rad ually condense rhe movements while maintaining their power, unt il we are left with an extremely porent and nearly invisible arsenal. In Slowirig Doum Time, we again foc us on a select g roup of techniq ues and internalize them until the mind perceives them in tremendous derail , Afcer training in this manner, we can see more frames in an equal amount of rime, so chings feel slowed down. In Tbe llbaion oJthe /IlyJlic"I, we use o ur culcivarion of rhe last two principles co cont rol the intention of the opponent- and again, we do this by zooming in on very small derails co which ochers are complecely o blivious. T he beaut ifu l ching abouc chis approach to learning is Chat once we have felr rhe profound refinement of a skill, no matter how small it may be, we can then use that feeling as a beacon of qualicy as we expand our focus onto more and more material, Once you know what good feels like, you.can zero in on it, search it out regardless of the pursuit. large sca le, chis is how I rranslared my undersamd 225
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ing on to weaknesses, hi tti ng the ground , getting back up , and <:oll id in}; again like rams. Dan and I continuously pushed each other to improve. We were both worki ng so hard that if one of us Sto pped learning, he would ge t ki lled in the ring. Ir was d uring rhc last four mo nt hs of our preparation t har I came upon m y fundamenta l stl'.l(eg y fur the tou rnament- what chess playen; call prophylaxis. You see, I believe [ha t Dan, like C hen Ze-Cheng , is a more };if(ed athlete than me. For all m)' training , he can do things that bogg le my mind. So w hen working wit h Dan I developed a game (hat was based on squelching his talents. In Taiwan I would play in t he style of Karpov or Pcrrosian, t he G randmasters who rr igg ereJ my existential crisis at (he end uf my chess career. In the last months of Taiwan trai ning , instead of tr)'ing to blow Dan OUt of rhe ring, I cried to shut him down, crimp his g ame, and use the rin iesr overexre nsions to m y ad vanrage. I CTe'J-t&1an app ro ac h we called the Anaconda. I would pressure my opponenr, sti fle hi, arrar ks, slowly inch him our of t he ring while cu tti ng off escape paths. If my oppo nent breathed , I wou ld rake space whe n he exhaled. This was a };ame that relied on keen p resence and sensi tivity to m y opponent 's intent ion. Every aggressive move in a martial arts confron ranon is risky. To at rernp r a throw, you weaken your structure if only for a flas h. I would usc that flash. Whenever Dan t ried to t h row me, I entered the attack , too k space, and r ricd to si m ultaneous ly neut ralize hi s agg ression and cinch down the pressu re. Wt'ek afte r week, I g O( bette r at this. I was creating t he ar m-Chen Ze-Cbcog game. And Dan got better at attacki ng me. Some nig hts I would dom inate him , repress his every attack, and then explode in my own throws when he gilt des-
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perate. Ocher nigh ts he wou ld be e lect ric anti destroy Ole. I remember one night in particular when he felt like a jaguar. I II" was all over me, above me, behind me , on fire with an animal inspi ration, I limped home feeling absolu tely bereft, b ur th e next night I came in and locked him do wn. Fo r t he final three months before Taiwan, I record ed all of Dan's and my training sessions , T he n, every nig h t r would go home anti study the tapes . Th is was va luab le on a nurnher of m undane levels. Warl;hin).; yourself on video, you can spot rclls or bad habits. You can refine your tec h niq ues by brea king dow n what works and wha t doesn'r. Bur t he pr imary fu nct ion t he lapes had for 01(' was very d ifferent, Dan a nd I had bot h reached such a high level of presence to incoming aggression t hat u ur sessions were marked by fewer anti fewer POin ts. We knew each ot her's games, we knew what attacks we re coming, we knew how to probe without overexrending. Dan had fi).; ured out how ro play against my righ t shoulder in a ma nne r t hat neutralized most of my agg ressive impulses, and I could usually rake advantage of h is att acks to edge him our of the ring. I f you took our physical and mental ab ilities, pur the m toget her, and collided them on the mats, we were dead even. We were also performing at peak levels, so few mistakes were being made. We were in a state of d yna mic equi libri um. T he only rim es pnintv were scored were in mome nts of creat ive inspi rat ion, when one of us did something rhar transcended ou r curren t level of abilit y. T hese were t he moments I focused on in t he videos. Two or t h ree rimes in an evening, Dan and I would be in the midd le of a wild Hurry and sudden ly my body would pur his body on t he ground. J USt like rhar. And rwo or t hree ti mes, he would do the sumc ro me. W(' were playing wit h
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such a tigh t margin, that I cou ld n't t hin k about a techn iq ue and then do it to him. No way if would catch hi m offguard . Hut a few ti mes m y insti ncts wou ld find som et h ing t hat m y conscious mind d id n 't p ick up o n. When I wen t home and warched tile vid eo, I studicxI each of these moments frame by frame (0 see what happened. Sometimes I would see m yself t rig};er ing inro a throw just as Dan's blink began . Ocher t imes, my hody wo uld d irect a t hrow off to a creative new angle t hat caugh t Dan unawares. Maybe my footwork wo uld fall int o rhy thm wit h his in a m anne r t hat ope ned up a t iny gep of momentum (0 rid e, or I m ig ht catch him at t he beg in ning nf an ex hala rion . T here were man y moments like this, each of whi ch I stud ied unt il I understood . T he next day I would come into training and tell Da n w hat I discovered. We would then convert what had been c reat ive inspiration into somethi ng we understood tech nicall y. If my body svnched up with h is breathing, we broke dow n how {O d o t h is at will. If I ca ugh t a bl in k , we studi ed t he nuances of b linking. N ext t ime we sparred, D an would he aware of the new weapon I was worki ng with, and so he would create a counter in order [0 stay in the game. The n I would work against h is cou nter. T h is way we raised t he baseline of OUf everyday level, and increme n tally ex pand ed the horizo n of what om creat ive b u rsts co uld
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Let 'S t hink abo ut this met hod in t he lang uage of chess: If a chess expert were to have his most ins p ired J ay he would come up wit h ideas that woul d h low h is rnmd and the m inds of others
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way I (lid it was outside bot h ou r conceptu al schemes, so neither of us really knew what happened. T hen I went home and st ud ied t he tape. I saw, for exam ple, that my t hrow triggered from a p recise grappling position at the exact moment t hat Dan's kft foot received his weig h t from hi" righ t foot. I didn't do th is consciously- my body just did it insti nct ively. But now we have learned that in that partic ular posinon, an opponent IS vu lnerahle when he shifts his weight in t hat manner. T he next step for me is to c reate rechruques t hat f()Re the switch of weigh t. And Dan can become more conscious to avoid the trap. We both get better and bener at playing around t he split second when th e weight sett les on t he ground throug h t he left foot. We have created a body of t heory around a fleeting moment of inspiration. Now t here are techniq ues and p tlociples that make t his weapon accessib le all the ti me, We have taken OUf p yram id of k nowled ge up one level and so lid ified a higher fou ndation for new leaps. Afier seven or eight weeks of this work, we had internalizcd a very tight network of martial arts techniques rhar were all the products of Dan's and m y most inspired moments. This became our champio nship arsenal. W hat we ( onserucred was all new, hig hly personalized, and completely t rue to our indiv idua l strengrbs. And most of it was psychoIngi<:al. It was abo ut getting in th e opponent's head, catching his rhy thms, con trolli ng his inte nt io n wit h subtle tech nical mani pulation . W hen we went [ 0 Ta iwan, we were ready for war.
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CHIIPTf.R 20
T A IWA N
1()()4 Ch u ng II."" Cup
'fa i Chi Chuan World Championships
Taipei, D« ember 1-5, 1()()-I
Clo ud , moved fast, d ark and g rey, the rain corning in gusrs and t hen tapering off as Typ hoon Nanmadol surged over the South C hina Sea. I' ve always loved storms; now these fie rce winds made m e electric Ir was T h ursday even ing, forty hours from bacrle, and I stood at the peak of Elephant Mount ain look ing down on an O ld Tao ist Tem ple , the ci ty of Taipei spread OUt be low. T he smell of Ince nse wafted Up from t he tem pl e shrine, smoke swi rling in the b uilding winds. I'd be};u n prepari ng for rhi s rournament , t he \'1orld Cham p io nships, t he d ay after losing in rile semifinals rwo years before . My last th ree months of traini ng had been b ru tal. N ig ht after nigh t of pa in , pushing myself to the abso lute Iimir unnlnorhi ng was left , and t hen dragsing mysdfhome to rest up for t he next J ay's sessions. N ow I stood, b reath ing dC('ply, soak ing in the wind and rain . 11"IC sky to rhe west was a liv id red - it was corning. I felt al ive and ready.
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tournament officials had changed the rules of the compet itio n. Previous years in Taiwan , Fixed Step had been p layed on raised pedestals, each figh ter Handi ng with his right foot forward , [eft fool back abour three feer (0 allow (or a dy namic, rooted stance . I n this year's competition, t hc Ta iwanese rem oved the pedestals without any warni ng to foreign teams. "Ib is apparen rly small alrerarion in format would give a CNcial advantage to the local tea ms who hall been t rai ning under the r orrccr condirions for t he previous year. I will come back ro this surprise soon-but fi rst imagine a Fixed Srep comperirio n. T he forwa rd feet of the opponents arc lined up he'd to toe, about one foot apart. Pla yers arc very close toge t her, Wit h opposing rig ht wris ts crossed and touch ing , and left ha nds hang ing hy the left h ips like old Weste rn g u n figh~ers. In th is posture t he mental g ame begins. P layers stand sti ll , poised, vying for sub de adva nruges that will key explosive arracks. This moment is an energetic stare-down. T hen the ref says go and play erupts. T he first to move a foot loses t he point, or if someo ne is thrown to t he ground , rwo points. If a lead ever exceeds ten poi nts in a rou nd , round over. Ar fi rsr glance. it looks like power and speed are decisive. W hoever is faster getti ng h is hands on the other guy seems to wi n. But if you break t he ,l;ame dow n it becomes apparent t hat certain rcchniques refute ocher rcch niq ues. Every attack will get you th rown on the floor if met by t he right coun ter, hut moves and combinations of mows come so fast It fee ls like a guess mg garne-c-marrial rock/paper/scissors. T h is is only the hexin ning. T here is a sea of potential that fl ows from t his opening stance, an almost infiOlte numbe r of fein ts , swift attacks from all angles, psychological ploys. In ti me, wi th years of creative training and a w ill ing ness to
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invest in loss, [0 take blow after blow and get blasted off the pedestals as a way of life, the ~am~ starts to slow down. You see arracks com ing in slow moti o n and play refueaeional maneuvers in the blink o f an eye. Grear players are doi ng man y invisible th i n~s in th is ~ame. if feels like ches s. At the hig hest level of t he sport , you are l iving inside yo ur op ponen r's head and directing wha t he co mes at you wi th. Because each Fixed Step point beg ins exactly t he same way, with t wo players assum ing an iden tical ope n ing posture , com pet itors can plan attacks in advance and over t ime build repertoires of co m binat io ns and defe nses t hat t hey fi re into whe n the ref sets p lay in mo tion- i n the same manner t hat strong chess players have sophisticated open mg repertoires. Since the first ti me I wenr to Taiwa n lour years earlie r, I had been hreakmg dow n t he game and creating Fixed Step t heory that emerg es from the agreed ope ni ng posture: stand ing on pedes tals wi th the set hand posit ions. Taiwanese officials had sent us the exact d ime nsio ns of the pedestals mont hs before t his tournament. I had t hen internalized my arsenal of attacks and ncurrahzarmns, and was so comfortable wi th the game that I often trai ned with my eyes closed , allowi ng opponents to trig};er firs t. My bod y would shrug off t he arracks and explode in to instinctual coun ters. All of rl ns training was done whi le rooring on t wo small pedestals . Now, one day before th e co mpet it ion begi n<; , the news was t hat there were no pedestals and the rear ha nd would begin on the opponent's elbow instead of by the hip. This is a huge struct u ral change. T he e quivalent in ch ess would be for a Grandmas te r {(J spe nd five months preparmg an ope ning repertoi re for a World Championship match and the n, before ga me o ne, to d iscove r that the whole repe rtoire had been disallowed by a m ysterious ru le change.
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10 a minute everything had shi fted , and we had a handfu l of hours co re-create an entire repe rtoire. O n 001;' level this was infuriat ing ; on another it was predictable. Tai Ch i is an emblem of C hinese and Taiwanese greamess. In a way, this disc ipli ne represen ts t heir sporting and philosophical essence. T he top Taiwanese compecirors train since childhood, man y h()U1~ a day. If t hey win th is tou rnament, they are nationa l heroes. The}' take ho me a suhstantial rash prize and also get full scholarships to university, A career can be made in a day. Foreigners arc welcome, bu t noone wants them ro win. T he Taiwanese pull out the stops to p revent it. It is a question of nat ional pride. At 1 A .M. ThursJay nig ht Max Chen and I were up exploring rhe nuances of this new structure. Max is my reacher's son and a ve ry dose frie nd of m ine . H e has been the U.S . National San Shoe (Chi nese k ick boxing ) Champ ion t h ree t im es , and is an accom plished P ush Hands p layer. Max k nows what it's like to be on the from lines in inrernarional comperirion. \Ve made a plan . Then I lay in bed visualizing un til :3 ". M. By Friday morning it was po uring ro rrenria lly. Typhoon Nanmadol was just offshore. I've been through a number of h urricanes 011 boats in the Baham as, and something about t his type of brooding , ominous b uild up in the sky cl icks me into a highly efficie nt place. I was on fire with ideas. We had intended to rest Friday, fill up t he ta nks, but that wasn't an option anymore with the new rules. The whole ream , ten of us, gathered under a huge gazdlO-type st ructure in the park by H sinchuang Stadium, whe re the tournament wo uld be held . After living and dying 011 rhe mats toge ther for the past year, we were ,I family, a dedicared unit, with lin er conviction about our work, and yet from one angle our situation was
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surely p reposterous. We were gat hered ou tsi de in a typ hoon u ying to fig ure out how to surv ive wi t hout pedestals. Max had spent the mo rning jogging t hroug h the downpou r try ing (0 sweat off four po und s before t he weig h- in. T he wind was howling and even unJer t he gazebo, rain hit U~ horizoneally D an and I worked together refining new srra regies on rhe fl y. W h ile out teammates d id some lig h t sparring , we spent t wo hours re-creanng ou r Fixed Step theory T he key was to roll wit h t he evolving situation and con tour new racncs arou nd t he principles we had discove red back home . W hen hi t wit h such surprises, if you have a solid foundadon, you shou ld be fi ne. Tactics come easy once p rinciples are in t he b lood. I felt confide nt. H ouse ru les are almost always in effe<:t when playin}; un t he ruad -c-l knew this from the ( hess days and previous Taiwanese debacles. H and ling d iny t ricks is a part of the game.
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DAY 1
Satu rday morning. \Ve arr ived at the stadi um and weighed in at 7: ) 0 A. M ., everybody hu ng ry, b ut no eatin g until we made weight. After all t he p reparat io n, t here is no th ing like t hat fttl in}; uf icy reali t y th at h its when the openi ng bell is nca r. At the weig h stat ion reality sunk in one step deeper when we saw C hen Zc-Cheng and his team-the do mi nant school in t he world. He was t he gu y who had beaten me two years earl ier and whom I had been preparing for all th is ti me. I walked ove r and said hello, and Chen told me t hat he was competing u nder 7 5 ki los (1 6 5.3 pou nd s), t he weig ht di v ision be low me. I was shoc ked . I had spe nt two years 2.18
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Weig ht divisions were every five kilos, wit h Olen and women competing separately, O ver four t housand com pet itors from all over the world were m illing around, and t he stadiu m was mobbed with fans, ma ny of them chanting eu phonically in lang uag es I d id n 't und erstand. It was a g reat, li lti ng , hypnotic sound. Acres awav, on t he far side of rhe arena, balletic 'Iai Chi form com pe ti tion was ca ki ng place. Blood and medlcanon were coexist mg. My first match wo uld be Moving Step. T he ru les, sim p ly pm , are as follows: Pl ay begins from comccr-c-rh is is a grapp ling competitio n like wrestl in g o r jud o, so srri k ing is supposedly not encou raged . The t arg et area is from rbc waist to j u st below the neck. You canno t lock your hand s behi nd someone's back ur g rab t heir clot hes, ot herwise play is w ide open . You gai n one po int fo r r hrow ing the g uy out of ehe ring, rwo points for a d ean t hrow where rile opponent hi ts t he floor and you are standing . O ne poi nt for a t hrow whe re you go down on top of the oppo nent. Ma rches are t hree rounds, rwo mi nutes playi ng rime each . If someone leads b}" four po in rs in a rou nd, it is over. Two our of t h ree rounds wins and if rounds and points are even by the end of t hree rounds, the lighter g uy wins . T hat rarely happe ns, but if the Bu ffalo a nd I st ayed healthy and managed to m ake It into the last rou nd, it could g ive me a ti ny edge. My first Moving Step op ponent was strong, fast , and aggress ive. H is speed su rp rised me-a very g ood athlete. All t he players from the mp Taiwanes e schools have a way of putt ing the cardio 100<1 on the oppo nent and draining him wit h subtle p ressure and leverage. They have excellent pum mel ing recluuques, which mea ns [hey know how t o rake insid e position wit h rheir for ward arm in the cl inch . Im ag ine an op ponent's left foot forwa rd, lefr arm deep under
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my armpit and wrapped around my back or up my shoulder. Th at is an underhook. Pummeling is the fight for tha t position. T he inside arm tends to give more lever age and sligh tly better angles for throws. If a p layer has "double inside position -, it means that he has u ndcrhooks on both sides. Th is is considered ro be very udvanrageous in all g rapp ling arts. If you ever hear martial arris rs calking abo ut a "pum meling war" they don't mea n that t wo people a re d ohherillg one another, b ur t hat t hey are fi}o; h ring for und erhooks. It tu rns out that pu m meling would be a huge componen t of m y roumamenr strategy. You may recall t hat I hun my rig ht sho ulde r ligh ting Chen Ze-Cheng in t he semifinals of the 20()2 World Championships. Since then, t he shoulder has been rn)' Ach illes heel. Abour three mon t hs before t h is year's Taiwan tou rnament, the 2004 Worlds, Da n came upon an interesting method in training W henever I had the right side u nderhook in the clinch, he would damp dow n on m y elbow from the outside in a manne r rhar JUSt killed my shou lde r. After wee ks of pain, I dec ided co concede rhe pummeling war and rake double outsi de pos ition in training co avoid damaging t he shoulder any further. W h ile I initially fel t at a disadvanrape ).;ivin).; Dan the u nde rhooks, over ti me I became increasing ly comfcrreble. I came up wit h some subtle ways ro cri mp h is leverage an d I found t hat I ( mid make the ang les work for me. In my fi nal ten weeks of preparuno n. whe n rrairung wit h anyone other rhan Dan, I fclr completely dominant from the outside posi tion . M y weakness had blossomed into a weapon tha t would pr ove critical for me in Taiwan. You see, t he Taiwanese are lig hrm ng -
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t hey were so used to fi ght l1lg for, I rrutigarecl a large part of t heir training: the p ummeling war. T hen we would do battle in t he setup I had become expert in, and that t hey hadn't stud ied as deeply. T his hap pens all the time in chess at t he highest levels; top players d iscover hid den resources in opening positions that had been co nsidered t heoret ically wea k. The}' become maste rs ofa forgone n or und iscovered bat tleg rou nd and (hen g uide opponen ts into (he hriar parch. So my fi rst oppo nent was very a).;gressive but noth ing he brough t felt dan gerous. His pummeli ng was excellent and he came at me wit h t remendous con fidence, but once I locked d own on him fmm rhc outside his st ructure fclr a little unsou nd, like a grand house wit h a t1awcJ foundation . I knew that if I weat hered his early arracks, I'd be fine. I crimped his attempt s to use the u nde rhooks and edged him o ut of the ring a co uple of times. I went up rwo points in found one and just held the lead . Th en I warched t he Buffa lo. Wo w! f its! he blew t he other fi gh ter our of the ring . Then, Iighcning-quick. he t rappe d hoth of the opponent's arms u nder his left armp it , took the g uy's back , and fl ipped him ove r a deep leg. He manhandled the g uy, and looked unbeatable. At one poi nt after a t h row it looked as if he would fall b ut he somehow did a full split, caug ht himself, wit h heel and toe, and just pop ped back up, getti ng t he full t wo points. T his was my man. I had to find a weakness but d idn 't see it. My next ma rch was Fixed Step. Not much pmhlcm , except tOr the judges. Many points that [ won , the scorekeeper didn't record. T his Will; infu riating but also hilarious. Imag ine, the referee would signal t hat I'd won the point hut the scorekeeper would neg lect to write it d own as it be'd forgotten or hadn't nonccd. T his happe ned again and again. My
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te-am mates and father we re screa ming about it, b ut noth ing was done excep t that offici als would nod to t hem wi th placid sm iles. It hap pened to every fo reig ner in t he tourn amen t, sometimes decisively Th is was t he way they kept score here. T heir couo cry. Nmbing ro do bur SCOTe more po ints and keep the static our of my head . Against m ost gu ys the judges couldn't really hu n me. But in t he fi nal rou nds when ' we were evenly matched, there WQ ul,1he lude margin for error. I cried not to thin k abo ut it. Whcnc>Yer I had a break I warr hed the Buffalo, I II' won his poi nts e'isily. H e had fine technique b ut he was ,1150 m uch more powerful t han h is opp :menrs. I II" could blast most guys right ou r of t he ri ng In a fl urry of exp losive aggression. But I starred to sense some small vu lnerability. M aybe. H e was tech nically sharp w ith d azzli ng footwo rk, speed. and a d eep ly rooted stance, b ut someth ing abou t hi s structure teased me. In my next Fixed Step m atch I faced off with t he top guy from the schoo l from Tainan t hat is t he mai n rival to Chen zc-C bcog's ream . T hey arc fierce compet itors, like sold iers, scrong , fast, weU t rained , p ure agg ression. All signs po inted to a war, b ur we cou ched hands and I knew I had h im . You can read a lot about a marrial arrest from t he ope n ing conran . Great ones fed mou ntainous , like the earth is m ovi ng inside of t he m. O t hers ring m ore hoUow. H e bo un ced right off me on the first couple of points. T hen I scarred m ixing th ings up and he cou ld n't keep up wit h the tact ics I th rew at hu n . I won the fi rst two rounds hy a h ig marg in , no injuries. March over. I watched the Buffa lo compere ag ain in f ,xed and he was overwhel m ing ag ainst a lesse r opponent , b ur I had th is bu ilding feel ing rha r the re was somet hing a liule wrong wit h h is fou nd ati o n. H e was so physicall y
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gi fted th at It was easy to stand gap ing as he tossed t he g uy (() rhe floor left and rig ht, b u t he seemed to be cove ring something up w ith all the flash . I wasn 't sure why or how, b ur in Fixed he felt morral. In Moving Step , he seemed u nsto ppa ble. D ay one was over and I wasn 't in ju red. T his is a lo ng tou rnamen t , a m arat hon of sp rin ts . Almost all of t hese mart ia l arts compet it ions last on ly one day because players' bodies usually break down after rhar . You can p ush th roug h vi rt ually any t h ing in ~ig h t o r te n hours , b u t t he n the inj uries burrow ill overnight and you can't walk or lift your arms in t he mo rn ing. This tou rname nt is t wo days. You have to win on Saw rdar wi t hout getti ng badly hurt to have a chance ro become W orld Cham p io n on Sunday. I wen t to bed liste ni ng to the rai n outside m }' window, and I dreamed. abou t the Ruffalo .
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DAY 2
Sund ay morning, 8 A. M. W e arrived at t he stadi um in t ime for li n unhappy surprise. The Taiwanese officials had created a separate tournam ent for fo reigners and scheduled to run It befi l r~ rhe championship rou nd s. I was informed that participatio n was man da tory, r asked whether t h is could ta ke place after the m ain eve nt and was told that it was impossib le. T his abs u rd tou rnament wi t h in t he tou rname nt clearly had the fu nctio n of exhausti og and inJu ring fore igners who were sti ll com peting for medals agai nst t he Taiwanese in t he Champ ionsh ip . A time-consuming p rotest ensued w it h a t remendo us Llngllage barrie r eventually being b ridged by my teac her, who fortu nately had so me weigh t. It was agrt>t-'<:i , 244
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finall y, that those of us who were still in the main com pet it ion could take parr after our final matches. I had two fig hts left in each division to win. First was Moving semifinals, agai nst the number one fighter from the rough Tainan school. Moving was his specialty and he came rig hr at me, elbows t ig ht in the pummeling, fasr, persistenr, purr ing the card io load on me. He arracked early and I circled out bur stepped on the line. My instincts were off-I thoug hr I was well in bounds, bur was wrong. On our mats at home I wou ld have been in. Bad move. Down 1-0. We went back at it. I let him push me ro the edge of t he ring , baiti ng him , and exploded into a reversal that put him inches from the line, bur he had a deep root and wouldn't go our. Then I switched gears and went on the offensive, pressu ring him, using the Anaconda technique I had developed three months earliet -inchi ng him our, surging , tightening the noose whenever he tried ro squirm away, clamping down when he exhaled . In the final seconds I caug ht him with a beautiful throw but my shoulder got jammed on the landing. I was on my back between rounds, breathing hard. This may have had a telling psychological effect. In preparation the last few months, we did a lot of interval training, building sprint time in the ring and working on recovery. We would play one-mi nute rounds with one-mi nute breaks between, somet imes goi ng fiftee n or twenty rounds like that, four of us playing, alternati ng play and recovery. My idea was to be able ro have a wild spri nt, drai n myself completely, and know I could come back in the next round even if I felt like death baked over. Interestingly, mont hs before the competit ion the organizers told us t hat there would be thirty seconds between rounds and we found out upon arriving in Taiwan that it was 245
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concerned . Dan and I were the only guys on our team left in the main draw and we sprawled on the mats wh ile teammates massaged our leg s, shoulders, arms. I put on my hood, sat in a corner, and hoped my body could hold om fo r three more matches; then it di d n't matter. They called me up for Fixed Step semis and it took a lot to walk over to the ring. My opponem was somebody I had been watch ing th roughou t the tournament-in his fort ies, barrel-
chested, serene, and powerfu l, the man had the feel ing of a samu rai . H e was older than almost all the compe tito rs, the only g uy his age still in the competition. I had watched him dispense with you nger, athlet ic opponents left and right, and he clearly had amazing skill. What I didn't know is that he was one of the most respected teachers in the world. The stad ium was load ed with his stude nts . I heard chant ing and knew it w asn't for me. Rou nd one. Our w rists connected and before the fi rst po int began he was working on me , taking space in that strange internal way some of these rare ones can. The ref said "Go! " I attac ked fast, met empty space, and flew into it. Down 1- 0 . This g uy had the stuff, the magic if there were mag ic in the martial arts. Next point I bounced off him. Powerfu l roo t. I could n't arrack him . I tried a lateral techn ique a nd won a point. H e blasted me once and then pulled me into a black hole. I was down 4-1. I tend to feel pretty invincible in Fixed Step, bur this man understood things abou t Tai C hi I had not yet discovered . The rounds in Fixed Step are th irty seconds Stop t ime (the clock is stopped after each poi nt). This is enough time fo r 15-20 fast exchanges. Not m uch time to figure things out. I sank deep on an attack and actually moved him backw ard. M y point, but a referee came over and said rhar the pomr 247
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while pulling him down with me. I could also crank left or right with it. When applied cleanly, it is disturbi ng to have this done to you because it feels like you're falling into a void and at the same time your wrist is exploding-no choice but [0 go dow n . I let him in, bear hug , put him on the floortWO
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He was up 5-3 but hadn't ever seen the bear hug before. I used it agai n, and spun him rig ht. Down 5-4. Now the judge came over and tried to mess with my head. He told me to adj ust my left-hand posit ion on the start ing posture-just psychological manipu latio n. I smi led at the ref and kept fighting . Bea r hug agai n. it 's even. N ow my opponent stepped off th e mats and came back with a d ifferent feeling . He was beginning to understand. He changed his left arm to crap m y right if I bear-hugged . He had answers and I had new variations. We were flowing now, moves comi ng fas t like speed chess in \Vashing ton Square Park. This Fixed Step ga me is a sublime experience. A t first it feels fas t and jolty, like a painful g oessing game, but then the play slows down in your mi nd . Over the yea rs, as I became more and more relaxed u nder this kind of fire, and as my body built up enough resistance that the blows didn't bother me. the g ame became completely mental. It almost always felt as thoug h I was see ing or feeling the action in more frames than my opponents , and so I could zoom in on the tiniest deta ils, like the blink of an eye or the beginni ng of an exhalation. \Vhen our wrists connected, I usually felt exactly what my opponent would come at me with, and I learned how to app ly the subt lest of pressures in order to dic tate his inte ntion . But this g reat Fixed Step figh te r imposed his own reality. I couldn't get in his head. O r every time I got in he kicked me back out. 249
THE ART OF LEAR NI N G
I tried [he bear hug again bur he jammed it. H e'd figured it out. My own teammates hadn 't learned how to parry the bear hug in cwo monrhs of work, This g u y cook second s, I was down 7- 5. without much rim e left in [he round. I faked a hard arrack, but [hen slipped in a right und erhook
and threw him away. I was down one point with 1.1 seconds lefr. I needed ro score fast and surged hard with a fourstrike combination that scored at the bell. Round one was a tie, barely. The second round is always pl ayed w it h [he left foor forward. For some reason my opponent's structu re did n'r feel
quite as solid with the legs reversed in the opening position. I began sinking deeply on my attack s, p layi ng with fein ts, eight combinations, and misd irection. I noti ced that if I faked in my mind, wirhour even m ov ing , he felr ir and responded. He was incredibly sensi ti ve co intention, so I scarred unbalancing him with invisible at tacks [hac I pulsed inro but didn't actually manifest physically. I was g en ing in his head. H e felt it and got aggressive, attacked hard . and blasted me away, But now I had him attacking, and I knew I had a deeper roo" I starred receiving hi s blows a nd bouncing h im off-won a bunch of poinrs. Then I m ad e [he mistake of coming straight in and he threw me on the fl oor-cwo points, If I lowered rh e sophistication of my game a hair, he destroyed me. H e slipped into a zone and at tacked hard. We were even with th ree seconds co go in [he round. I uprooted him with a fou r-prong combination, most of whi ch di dn 't act ually happen. T hen I took [ he next point at [he bell with a huge su rge and won [he round . Round three, righ t leg forward aga in, this was w here he liked it, bur me [00. We starred trading poi n ts , back and forth, a war. My ream was chanei ng Tiger. Tiger Bum" Yr, 250
TAIWAN
(Bruce used ro call me Tiger in the young chess days, and ir sruc k .) The rest of [he crowd was chaming in Mandari n. They loved h im, and I d idn 't blame [hem . Then I noticed a hole. He had found [he solution to my bear hug, [rapping my rig ht fo rward elbow so I couldn'r get outside of him-bur if I flashed m y mind ro [he bear hug, in jamming it he opened up his armpit ro inside pummeling techniques. I starred raking [he underhook and tossing him left and right. Every point I was playing with invisible feints which he somehow felr , and [hen I exploited his reaerions. Trippy idea. I was using his crazy perceptiveness against him . Finally I caught a throw where I gO( the right underhook and cranked him all [he way over and around me. He hir the ground hard . In [hat momem I felr a wave of sorrow-li ke I killed [he last un icorn . The march ended and we hugged. I told him he was an • • • insprrarr on.
* * * Fixed and Moving Step finals ahead, both agai nst [he Buffalo. \Ve'd been measuri ng each other for [he past rwo days. We both knew that this mammorh internati onal compecition wou ld come down [Q our own lirrle war. In Moving Step, he was a force of nature. He overwhelmed his opponents wirh bull rush es and highly evolved throws. His p um me ling was incredible. Dan and I had broken his game down and saw that he integrated very precise trips and sweeps into most of his throws. I had to neurralize his foorwork and power, nor get steamrolled our of [he ring, counrerpunch, and look fo r holes. That was [he plan. T here was a one-hour break before all rhe final marches. Fixed would be firsr, whi ch was good- I'd seen a weakness in Buffal o's srrucrure and was hoping [Q ger in his head 251
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rhe ti ~-break if we were even. At this point it is pu re gUts. Survival. You operate on another plane of reality, second co second. re lying on your training co keep you standing. T he round began and I held him off, then gave up the double underhooks and launched into a throw I've been working on for years and hadn 't shown yet at the tournament. I n apped his right arm under my left elbow, pulsed fo rward to provoke a reaction , and then turned left, rolling over my right shou lder and his trap ped right arm, all my weight pulling down and away from his root. He flew over me in a big circle and we went down hard, my shoulder into his ribs. Perfectly execured. but the judges didn't give it to me. I was too tired to be angry about it. They said we touched the floo r at the same time. H is ribs wouldn't ag ree. a score. I didn't have much left. Wi e fel t each ot her out fo r ten seconds , then he attacked , forced a lean, and sp un me on the mat , lovely t hrow. I'm down 2-0 . Trouble. GOlia dig deep. Find something. Now he c ha ng ed tactics and decided to hold m e off, stalling ou t the round . I searched for over a mi nute, spent; on t he video it looks like I gave up. My body went lim p , then I saw a hole and exp loded into the same throw they just took away from me, but at t he end I pushed off hard (inci-
d entally aga i ns r my a nkle, wh ich was turned ninet y degrees), arched m y back , and landed flat on him so they could n't argue, My paine , 2- 1. Need one more f rom somewhere, It felt like one of t hose video games where the endurance of the fighter is gone and you have to hold the other g uy off, survive the barrage, until you've recovered enoug h to g ive him one mo re shot. That's what I had to do, hold him off until I had a li ttle b it in me, and then put every ounce of it into a t hrow that had to be perfectly timed because if it didn 't work I might JUSt collapse. 257
THE ART OF LEARNIN G
Then I found a little opening. I go t into th e clinch , trapped his tig ht arm, faked forward, and d rove my wh ole being into a bicep throw. He went down, f landed on him. shoulder [0 ribs. The tying point . There were nine teen seconds left. All J hat' to do is hold hi'" off and J u-in. Except at this moment everyth ing turned very. very strange. Once again, the judges decided not to allow my t hrow. They claimed it was illegal. N ow people rushed onto the floo r, Americans and Taiwanese officials. OUf team had cameras shooting the match and soon a gaggle of officials and players from both teams were looking into video cameras. The stadium went berserk with ang er and confus ion . The judges convened, the president of the Taiwanese federatio n, my reacher Master Chen, my wh ole team, m y opponent's team, everyone on the mats looking at the videos. T here were fi fteen minutes of mayhem. bickering, politics. Interestingly, my opponent's coac h and his whole team
considered the ruling against me an outrage-they told me this afrerward. By all accounts my th row was legal. It was asronishing that hometown referees would do this in the final minu te of a match fo r the world rirl e. After a long d ispu te, the judges said t his challenge would have to be resolved after the match, Bur for now, I was down by o ne, th e throw would nor be counted, and the re were 19 seconds left. I had ro conti nue or I would lose by fo rfeit. \Vell , in those 19 seconds I gave it my all. I at tacked h im with eve rything I had, made the sit uation tota lly chao tic and cran ked into a th row t hat would have put him down in training, bur he gave up his body, literally. H is elbow bent all the way back; it was explod ing inside, but he wouldn't give up and stayed on his feet until the bell rang , Such heart! Then I JUSt sat d own and watched chaos take ove r, W it258
TAIWAN
nesses came from all over who had seen the clock run Out in round tWO when the judge had refused to allow the woman (0 ring the bell. There was a meeting held in the center of the stadium with videos shown to the president of the Taiwanese Tai Chi Federation , to the judges, to everybody. My opponent 'S coach, Chen Ze-Cheng's father, an honorable man, agreed with the president that this was wrong . They suggested a shared championship. I went over to the head referee and demanded a clear winner. Overt ime. I knew I could take him . The opposing coach agreed to a two-minute sudden death playoff to decide the World Championship. We would have internat ional judges. They went to find the Buffalo. For twenty minutes I paced the arena, red hOt- if there is a place beyond the zone, I was there. But it turned out that Buffalo's elbow was too severely injured. The ruling was a shared title in Moving Step. In a flash, it was over. No more battles to fight. T he martial fury subsided , and in its place came pain , mellowness and camaraderie. Buffalo and I swayed on the firsr place podium togethe r, huggi ng, and hold ing each other up.
259
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AC KNO W LE D G EM EN T S
My fathe r, Fredd y Wairzkin, has had my back through it all . Pop, I can't rhank you enough for all the love, patience, g uidance, and loyalty. You've been in my corner through thi ck and thin , and we both know I couldn't have done it without you. M om , you 're rhe g reatest mother anyone could ever d ream of. Karya, my gutsy dive part ner and baby sister, I am so proud of you . I love you guys. In our crazy Waitzkin way, we keep it together, I've been blessed with some wonderful teachers in my life. My Grandma, Stella Waitzkin, whom I miss terribly, taught me to listen. Shellie Sclan got me writing, Dennis Dalton and Robert Thu rman got me feeli ng . W illiam C. C. Chen taug h t me to let go. J ohn Machado has me rolling all over •
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M y dear frie nds and teammates, Dan Caulfield, Max Ch en , 10m Otterness, Jan C. Childress, Jan L. Childress, Trevor Cohen , and the Little Warrior: Irving Yee-thank you, gu ys, for helping me create our laboratory, We've got a long way to go. As for the bi rt h of this book, I am enormously indebted to m y agent Binky Urban, who was JUSt plain great. Thank ., Binky you so much for your patience and your VISIOn, I . My fabu lous ed itor Liz Stein believed in this book from 263
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