The three worked together for three years in the early 1980s—without monetary success, Fine ruefully recalls—before developing the model that has had such a lasting impact on the world of athletic and corporate coaching.

GROWing From the InsideOut Shortly after Fine and his collaborators developed the GROW model, the partners went their separate ways, with each of the partners utilizing his own approach to the model. Since then, Fine has steadily refined and built upon the original model.

via ::: Digital IQ Magazine :::.

Tim Gallwey in his best selling book “The Inner Game of Tennis”, showed how visualization can be much more effective than verbal instruction. As a tennis Pro, he became aware that each pupil’s mind seemed to contain two entities. A Self 1 who observed and commented on the play, and a Self 2 who actually did the playing.

Before a shot Self 1 would issue alI sorts of commands such as “keep your eyes on the ball”, “bend your knees”, “follow through”.

Then, after the shot, would come a verbal analysis – usually critical. When asked why they did this, most players would respond, “I am just talking to myself”.

Gallwey rationalized that “I” and “myself” had to be two separate entities, otherwise no conversation would take place. He developed the theory that Self 2 would be better taught by nonverbal means, and that the “relationship” between Self 1 and Self 2 must be improved to optimize performance. Indeed he observed that an athlete’s peak performance usually occurred when the verbal Self 1 was almost totally set aside. Players on a “hot streak” almost never analyzed what they were doing -they were immersed in the physical action and played instinctively and unconsciously. As soon as they tried to exercise conscious control, they lost their fluidity.

Gallwey, therefore, taught his players to engage, or distract, the verbal Self 1 during play, by describing external events. They would say “bounce” when the ball bounced, or “hit” when it struck the racket. They alternatively would be told to say the words of a song. These distractions, left brain activities, allowed the right brain and limbic system to control the physical play and make all the highly complex intuitive calculations that are involved in assessing ball speed, direction and angle of bounce.

The importance of not over-analysing and of not verbalising an essentially non-verbal activity, was further re-inforced when `Inner Skiing’ was introduced. Small children, it was noticed, could learn to ski well in a day. Adults learn (or are taught) to depend more and more on verbal analysis and to trust intuition less and less.

The inadequacy of the verbal hemisphere controlling the subtle but essentially physical movements of skiing, is made all too obvious when you observe the jerky movements made by people who are clearly rehearsing their instructors words in their minds. The fluent skier very often cannot even describe how he or she does it – yet obviously knows on a non-verbal level. Consequently increasing emphasis has been put on teaching skiing in nonverbal ways – and the positive results can be dramatic.

via The Power Of Your Imagination.

via Why good golfers make good managers – Executive Travel Magazine.

via Success Beyond Sport for athletes, retired & current – The Inner Game of Tennis.

biking

via Skills Q&A: How To Flow Over Drops – BikeRadar.

Nic Askew has been making a series of beautiful short films that he calls Soul Biographies, each film features Nic's guitar music in the background and a poignant message from the featured subject of the film.

Nic decided to re-release this old clip “At the feet of a wise man” about Tim Gallwey's transcendent experiences when he met with a 13 year old boy from India who offered him the key to self knowledge.

I share it both in recognition of Nics work and for the wisdom it contains

Martin Dewhurst

via At the feet of a wise man – Ecademy.

via CEO 2-9-10.

via Muslim Youth for Truth: “My friends made me do it.” How to deal with peer pressure and getting the courage to finally say NO..

“Read this simple analogy and see if an alternative to the judging process doesn't begin to emerge. When we plant a rose seed in the earth, we notice that it is small, but we do not criticize it as 'rootless and stemless.' We treat it as a seed, giving it the water and nourishment required of a seed. When it first shoots up out of the earth, we don 't condemn it as immature and underdeveloped; nor do we criticize the buds for not being open when they appear. We stand in wonder at the process taking place and give the plant the care and nourishment it needs at each stage of its development. The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential. It seems to be constantly in the process of change; yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is “(p.21).

via Positive Expectations: Learning to Play Free of Judgment.

Federer

In thinking on this topic I remembered Tim Gallwey’s classic book, “The Inner Game of Tennis,” which I read a couple of years ago, and pulled it off the shelf. Gallwey has some interesting thoughts on competition, which I won’t go into in depth here, but I was struck by a quote at the beginning of the book attributed only to Maharaji, who the book is also dedicated to and I assume is his spiritual teacher: “What is the real game? It is a game in which the heart is entertained, the game in which you are entertained. It is the game you will win.” What do you think, athletes? How does competition fit in with your spiritual life?

via Thoughts Happen: Are Buddhism and Competitive Athletics Compatible?.