Chapter Seven: Seeing, Feeling, and Awareness of What Is

In the game of tennis there are two important things to know. The first is where the ball is. The second is where the racket head is. From the time anyone begins to learn tennis, he is told the importance of watching the ball. It's very simple: you come to know where the ball is by looking at it. You don't have to think, "Oh, here comes the ball; it's clearing the net by about one foot and coming pretty fast. It should bounce near the

base line, and I'd better hit it on the rise'. No, you simply watch the ball and let the proper response take place.

In the same way, you don't have to think about where your racket head should be, but you should realize the importance of being aware of where the racket head is at all times. You can't look at it to knowwhere it is because you're watching the ball. You must feel it. Feeling it gives you the knowledge of where it is. Knowing where it should be, isn't feeling where it is. Knowing what your racket didn't do isn't feeling where it is. Feeling where it is is knowing where it is. No matter what a person's complaint when he has a lesson with me, I have found that the most beneficial first step is to encourage him to see and what he is doing-that is, to increase his awareness of what actually is. I follow the same process when my own strokes get out of their groove. But to see things as they are, we must take off our judgmental glasses, whether they're dark or rosetinted. This action unlocks a process of natural development which is as surprising as it is beautiful.

For example, suppose that a player complains that the timing on his forehand is off. I wouldn't give him an analysis of what is wrong and then instruct him, "Take your racket back sooner," or "Hit the ball farther out in front of you'. Instead I might simply ask him to put his attention on where his racket head is at the moment the ball bounces on his side of the net. Since this is not a common instruction, it is likely that the player will

never have been told anything about where his racket should or shouldn't be at that particular moment. If his judgmental mind is engaged, he is likely to become a little nervous, since Self 1 likes to try to do things "right" and is nervous when he doesn't know the Tightness or wrongness of a particular action. So at once the player may ask where his racket should be when the ball is bouncing. But I decline to say, asking him only to observe where his racket is at that moment. After he hits a few balls; I ask him to tell me where his racket was at the moment in question. The typical reply is, 'Tm taking my racket back too late. I know what I'm doing wrong, but I can't stop it'. This is a common response of players of all sports, and is the cause of a great deal of frustration.

"Forget about right and wrong for now," I suggest. "Just observe your racket at the moment of bounce'. After five or ten more balls are hit to him, the player is likely to reply, 'Tm doing better; I'm getting it back earlier'.

"Yes, and where was your racket?" I ask.

"I don't know, but I think I was getting it back on time. . .wasn't I?"

Uncomfortable without astandard for right and wrong, the judgmental mind makes up standards of its own. Meanwhile, attention is taken off what is and placed on the process of trying to do things right. Even though he may be getting his racket back earlier and is hitting the

ball more solidly, he is still in the dark about where his racket is. (If the playerisleft in this state, thinking that he has found the "secret" to his problem-that is, getting his racket back earlier -he will be momentarily pleased. He will go out eagerly to play and repeat to himself before hitting every forehand, "Get it back early, get it back early, get it back early.' For a while this magic phrase will seem to produce "good" results. But after a while, he will start missing again in spite of his self-reminder, will wonder what's going "wrong" and will come back to the pro for another tip. So instead of stopping the process at the point where the player is judging positively, lagain ask himtoobserve his racket and to tell me exactly where it isat the moment of bounce. As the player finally lets himself observe his racket with detachment and interest, he can feel what it is actually doing and his awareness increases. Then, without any effort to correct, he will discover that his swing has begun to develop a natural rhythm. In fact, he will find the perfect rhythm for himself, which may be slightly different from what might be dictated by some universal standard called "correct'. Then when he goes out to play, he has no magic phrase that must be repeated, and can concentrate without thinking.

What I have tried to illustrate is that there is a natural learning process which operates within everyone-if it is allowed to. This process is waiting to be discovered by all those who do not know of its existence. There is no need to take my word for it; it can be discovered for yourself

if it hasn't been already. If it has been experienced, trust it. (This is the subject of Chapter 4.) To discover this natural learning process, it is necessary to let go of the old process of correcting faults; that is, it is necessary to let go of judgment and see what happens. Will your strokes develop under the effect of noncritical attention or won't they? Test this.