The inner game of (table) tennis

There is an art to learning, that has nothing to do with efforting, or perhaps education-as-we know it.  
A small anekdote proving this while playing table tennis...

​Learning new skills: I am pointing at about the built-in intelligence in our bodies, that - when left to its mastery - can perform things never done before. 

The spontaneous experimental, childlike part of us, learns by copying things. This has an outer component, the visible world and circumstance, and an inner component: the trust that you have in yourself, how you ‘speak’ to yourself.

There was a little book written in 1974 (!) by W.Timothy Gallwey about this principle. It’s called The Inner Game of Tennis. It highlights how important it is how we let our mind talk to our body consciousness. He calls the mind Self 1, and the body consciousness Self 2. 

When we judge or doubt our actions, for example when learning a new skill, what we expect to happen, generally happens.
But also: when you get your mind out of the way, the body can kick in with its mind-blowing technical intelligence. In fact the book is about the proper use of the mind (IQ).

Watch this video for a short explanation of the book by Brian Johnson. It’s only 10 minutes and worthwhile!

THE POINT PROVED WHILE PLAYING A PING PONG MATCH

One thing that can make me super excited and happy is playing table tennis with a challenging opponent.
In the shared garden where I live in Utrecht, there is a pingpong table, where I play as often as I can.
One time I was playing at the end of the day with Alice, my super sportive girlfriend, and we just couldn’t stop. Dusk set in.... At some point it got too dark to see the ball, yet we kept playing.

To our surprise it went extremely well, better than ever. It seemed we were sharper.  We didn’t miss a ball! The fact that we couldn’t see hardly at all, made us more relaxed and perhaps more intuitive. 

Our body wisdom (I call it BQ, Body Quotient)  seemed to be in control, and just knew what to do, before our minds could intervene. I registered this and thought of the booklet.
For me it proved the point.

I figured: the more relaxed my mind is in its focus (which is it’s primary task, just to vision), the more I surrender to my BodyQ (trust its intelligence), the easier things go. 

I like to apply this to everything. 

To physical challenges, such as horse-riding, physical work-outs, my work, or things that I want to come into manifestation. 

I invite you to experiment… it’s fun to play with!