Question 125: There is a match I absolutely want to win. I am prepared to do anything to win.

Answer

▶Improving faster than others

Assuming that an accurate image of reality is implemented as a premise, the remaining point is concentration.

As long as you enter a state of high concentration, time does not matter much.

This is why some people improve faster than others.

It is also possible to raise your tennis level all at once.

If you want to realize the content of your letter, I think you should train to cultivate concentration in earnest, along with on-court practice.

▶A "playful mindset" dramatically improves performance

However, even if I say in earnest, it is not about trying hard or making an effort, but doing it with a feeling of enjoyment.

Saying things like doing your job with a playful mindset might get you scolded in Japan today, but a sense of enjoyment is efficient, makes it easier to improve performance, and is less tiring, so you can continue for a long time.

However, playing is different from being lazy, so I will also note that point.

▶Feeling the "wind" passing through your body

What allows you to train your concentration while enjoying it is "Zazen" (seated meditation).

Clear your mind of thoughts and focus on your breathing.

When you inhale, air enters through your nostrils, tickles your nasal cavity, passes through your throat, and reaches your lungs, causing your abdomen to expand.

When you exhale, your abdomen contracts, air is pushed out from your lungs, and you feel the airflow passing from your throat out through your nostrils.

The body is a small "nature".

You enjoy this "natural phenomenon" of the wind blowing through, just as if you were witnessing the great outdoors.

▶"What is the point of doing this?"

Even if you understand the method in your head, if you don't do it, it will have no effect at all.

It is the same as understanding that running builds endurance, but having no effect if you don't run.

Instead of understanding, continue for many days so that a clear, fulfilling sense of change emerges (physiologically, your brain waves will align and your hormonal state will change).

However, until you grasp that feeling, honestly, the brooding thought of "What is the point of doing this?" will continue for a while.

▶Training inherited for 2500 years

Because it is a training method that has been carefully passed down for about 2500 years, it is as good as, if not better than, modern scientific methods, and since it can be done without spending money, it is very practical for systematically growing your concentration.

If this were just "peace of mind" with no effect, it would have "died out" in some era.

No, rather, it has been enthusiastically supported by famous companies like Google and Intel, who have incorporated it into employee training as "mindfulness", so its reliability is gaining even more momentum.

▶A high balance of "tension" and "relaxation"

It would be desirable to be able to sit for about 30 minutes at first.

Here is a simple explanation of how to do it and the reason why.

There are ways of sitting such as the full lotus or half lotus positions (there are many textbooks, and I think you can gather information on the internet), but more important than that is how you maintain your consciousness to keep focusing on your breathing.

Please keep your back straight.

This helps maintain long periods of sitting and a sense of tension.

This is because the ultimate state of concentration called "the zone" or "flow" is a balanced sense of tension and relaxation, and a straight back maintains tension, while the incoming and outgoing breath promotes relaxation.

Moderation is key, but the "full lotus" position, where both feet are placed on the opposite thighs, might seem painful and difficult, but it is the most comfortable way to sit as long as you can cross your legs for maintaining a stable posture for a long time.

For example, with the familiar "seiza" (kneeling) position, your feet will go numb and you won't be able to keep it up for very long.

▶Why does Zazen train concentration?

Why does Zazen become training for concentration?

You can understand this by looking back at why you can't focus on the ball in tennis.

The reason you can't focus in tennis is that the ball is "just an ordinary yellow ball".

Everyone focuses on interesting and stimulating content (video games, moving movies, etc.).

It is not like that; just like a tennis ball, it becomes training for concentration precisely because you cultivate the power to persistently keep feeling the "ordinary, dry, and uninteresting object" of your breath.

▶Repeating "if it drifts, bring it back"

During practice, "stimulating thoughts" will come rushing in, such as "What should I eat tonight?", "Has it really been 30 minutes?", "Is the timer broken?"

These rushing thoughts are what "The Inner Game," one of the five best books Bill Gates has read in his life calls "Self 1."

The mind jumps incessantly to anger, worries, etc., as if it doesn't care what it is as long as it is stimulating.

This is the "monkey mind."

When your consciousness drifts to those thoughts, return it to your breathing.

Concentration, which is the muscle of the mind, becomes stronger through the repetition of "if it drifts, bring it back; if it drifts, bring it back; if it drifts, bring it back; if it drifts, bring it back", just as the muscles of the body are trained by push-ups, "bending and extending, bending and extending."

Therefore, do not resent the "load" of your consciousness drifting to thoughts like "What should I eat tonight?"

Those thoughts can be compared to "weights" that help train your concentration.

▶Zazen is "physical education"

However, if you keep drifting (keep your arms extended), it is difficult to train.

When you notice that you have drifted, instead of giving yourself the space to "think"—like thinking that you have drifted or that you must return—you should instantly return to the breath that is still passing through your body.

This instantaneous power builds the muscles of the heart.

Therefore, it is truly "physical education" that you learn with your body, not by understanding with your head.

That said, it is easy to keep drifting without noticing it.

The power to notice that is what we introduce here as "Nenriki (power of mindfulness)".

▶ A "dramatic turnaround" at the crossroads of your tennis life

Although you may be enthusiastic at first, on the other hand, zazen is something that is easiest to get discouraged by in the beginning.

How you spend this period without being overly ambitious and while enjoying it is the crossroads where various paths of your tennis life intersect.

Once you have experienced a state of concentration several times, it becomes easier to enter that state thereafter.

It is like how things you are not used to become habits without resistance once you get used to them.

When that happens, even for those who started tennis late, so-called late beginners who started playing after becoming adults, you can cause a "dramatic turnaround".

Players who have been playing tennis since they were juniors are certainly at an advantage because their thinking does not reach that far (to put it bluntly, because they cannot think deeply), which is a tendency that sets them apart from those who started as adults.

However, even if you start tennis as an adult, a "dramatic turnaround" can occur due to the mechanism mentioned above.

▶ I do not reject those who come, and I do not chase those who leave

Although you have prefaced your message with "frequently," please do not hesitate to ask any questions.

This site is the final destination for those who have tried every other method and failed (laughs).

I do not reject those who come, and I do not chase those who leave.

The saying "out of sight, out of mind"—meaning that even close friends become distant as time passes without seeing each other, and the dead are forgotten day by day—may seem sad, but that is likely the healing of "time as medicine".

I hope you find it useful.

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