The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance

by W. Timothy Gallwey

change of attitude.

What is the native language of Self 2? Certainly not words! Words were not learned by Self 2 until several years after birth. No, the native tongue of Self 2 is imagery: sensory images.

“feelmages.”

Getting the clearest possible image of your desired outcomes is a most useful method for communicating with Self 2, especially when playing a match.

Letting go of judgments, the art of creating images, and “letting it happen” are three of the basic skills involved in the Inner Game.

In short, if we let ourselves lose touch with our ability to feel our actions, by relying too heavily on instructions, we can seriously compromise our access to our natural learning processes and our potential to perform.

Bottom line: There is no substitute for learning from experience.

We may need to learn how to feel again and learn how to learn again.

“No teacher is greater than one’s own experience.”

understanding the swing, and remembering its feel, is like remembering a single picture.

simply observe

It is much more difficult to break a habit when there is no adequate replacement for it.

It is not helpful to condemn our present behavior patterns—in this case our present imperfect strokes—as “bad”; it is helpful to see what function these habits are serving, so that if we learn a better way to achieve the same end, we can do so.

Groove

Because these patterns are serving a function, the behavior is reinforced or rewarded and tends to continue.

It is a painful process to fight one’s way out of deep mental grooves. It’s like digging yourself out of a trench.

A child doesn’t have to break the habit of crawling, because it doesn’t think it has a habit. It simply leaves crawling as it finds walking an easier way to get around.

Fighting the fantasy of old habits is what causes the conscientious tennis player to strain and tighten unnecessarily.

In short, there is no need to fight old habits. Start new ones.

Starting a new pattern is easy when done with childlike disregard for imagined difficulties. You can prove this to...

Making a Change in Stroke, S...

Awareness of what is, without judgment, is relaxing, and is the best precondition for change.

Ask your serve how it would like to be different.

Not trying does not mean being limp. Discover for yourself what it does mean.

Both positive and negative thinking inhibit spontaneity.

The more you let yourself perform free of control on the tennis court, the more confidence you tend to gain in the beautiful mechanism that is the human body. The more you trust it, the more capable it seems to become.

Give Self 2 the Credit

the instant I try to make myself relax, true relaxation vanishes, and in its place is a strange phenomenon called “trying to relax.”

Relaxation happens only when allowed, not as a result of “trying” or “making.”

Self 1 should not be expected to give up its control all at once; it begins to find its proper role only as one progresses i...

But even if the reader is wholly convinced of the value of thus quieting Self 1, it may not be found to come easily.

What works best is learning to focus it.

Strangely, even when one has experienced the practical benefit of a still mind, we continue to find it an elusive state.

To still the mind one must learn to put it somewhere.

It cannot just be let go; it must be focused. If peak performance is a function of a still mind, then we are led to the question of where and how to focus it.

Relaxed concentration is the supreme art because no art can be achieved without it, while with it, much can be achieved.

The seams focus awareness more exactly in space than merely the ball itself does, and as you add awareness of one element of the game of tennis after another—from the sound of the ball to the feel of each part of each stroke—greater knowledge is gained.

The greatest lapses in concentration come when we allow our minds to project what is about to happen or to dwell on what has already happened.

One nice aspect of tennis is that before long you or your opponent is going to hit a ball, and this will summon you back to the present.

Since the mind seems to have a will of its own, how can one learn to keep it in the present? By practice.

All who enter even a little into that state of being present will experience a calmness and a degree of ecstasy which they will want to repeat.

focus attention on breathing.

Breathing is a remarkable phenomenon. Whether we intend to or not, we breathe.

It is said that in breathing, humans recapitulate the rhythm of the universe.

The second my mind starts wondering about whether I’m going to win or lose the match, I bring it gently back to my breath and relax in its natural and basic motion.

you can know a lot about what is not happening.

you hitting the ball without the normal interference from Self 1.

One caution about “the zone”: It cannot be controlled by Self 1. I have seen many articles that claim to provide a technique for “playing in the zone every time.” Forget it! This is a setup. It’s an age-old trap.

there is one catch; the only way to get there is to leave Self 1 behind.

As trust increases, Self 1 quiets, Self 2 becomes more conscious and more present, enjoyment increases, and the gifts are being given.