Page 144 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book
P. 144

wandering,  he just released the tho ught  like  a cloud  gl idi ng  by  and  retur ne d  to
                his  breath.  For  beginners,  this  meditation  may  seem  frus trating     be caus e  the y

                notice  their  minds  racing  all  over  the  place  and  feel  that   they   are  do ing  ba dl y;
                but   that   is   not   the   case.   The   retur n   to   br eath   is   the   key   to   thi s   form   of
                meditation.    There   is   no   doing   bad ly   or   well,   jus t   being   with   your    br eath,
                releasing  your  thoughts  when  you  notice  them ,  and     coming    back  to  br eath.  I

                highly recommend such techniques. Not onl y is the  retur n  to breath  a gl immer
                of  the  zone—a  moment  of  undistracted  presence—but   the  ebb  and  fl        w  of  the
                experience  is  another  form  of  stress  and   recovery  training.   Fi nal ly,   if  the re  is
                nothing  in  your  life  that  feels  serene,   meditation  is  the  perfect  ho bby   to  he lp

                you discover a launching point in your  search for a personal ized rout ine .
                    Dennis  has  had  a  light  snack  and  done  some  breathi ng  exercises.  After  the se
                twenty-five  minutes,  the  next  step     woul d   be   a  ten-minut e  stretchi ng   rout ine
                from   his   high   school   football   days.   I   asked    Denni s   what    ki nd   of   mus ic   he

                listened  to.  He  had  eclectic  taste,  everythi ng   from  Metallica  to  Bob  Dylan  to
                classical.  I  told  him  that  I  loved  Bob  Dylan  as  well.  We  decided   on  “Sad- Eyed
                Lady   of   the   Lowlands,”   a   beautiful ,   mellow,   long   Dylan   song;   but   really   any
                music    would   have   worked,   dependi ng    on   the   indi vidual ’s   preferenc e.   After

                listening to the song, Dennis would  get his son, and they would go outside and
                toss  around  the  baseball  as  they  di d  every  day.  I  told  Denni s  to  treat  the   catch
                like any other catch, j ust to have fun.
                    So we created the following routine:



                    1.  at a light consistent snack for 10 mi nut es
                    2.  5 minutes of meditation
                    3.  0 minutes of stretching
                    4.  0 minutes of listening to Bob Dylan
                    5.  lay ball



                    For   about   a   month,   Dennis   went    thr ough   hi s   rout ine   every   da y   be fore
                playing  catch  with  his  son.  Each  step  of  the  rout ine  was  nat ur al  for  hi m,  and
                playing ball was always a joy, s o there was no  strain to the ex per ience.
                    The   next   step   in   the   process   is   the   critical   one:   after   he   had   ful ly

                internalized  his  routine,  I  suggested  that   he  do  it  the  morni ng  bef ore  go ing  to
                an  important  meeting.     So  Dennis  transpl anted  his  rout ine   from  a  pr elude   to
                playing   catch   with   his   son   to   a   pr elude   to   work.   He   did   so   and   came   ba ck
   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149