Page 48 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

Here I was, in a strange faraway land, sweating in the oppressive heat, trying to
find my beloved art in the figurines in front of me. Above me thousands of spectators hung

from the rafters, whispering, staring at the chessboards like Sutra—s omehow chess and
India resonate like ancient lovers. I was disjointed, out of whack, not yet settled into the
rhythm of the tournament. Even for the master, sometimes chess can feel like home, and
sometimes it can be completely alienating, a foreign jungle that must be explored as if for

the rst time. I was trying to nd my way home.
Across from me was the Indian National Champion, and between the two of us lay
the critical position of our struggle. We were three hours into the battle and I had been
thinking for twenty minutes. A curious thing happened in that time. So far I had been

grinding my way through this game. It was the first round, I had no flow, no inspired
ideas, the pieces were alien, the position strange. After about ten minutes of thought, I
began to lose myself in the variations. It is a strange feeling. First you are a person
looking at a chessboard. You calculate through the various alternatives, the mind

gaining speed as it pores through the complexities, until consciousness of one’s separation
from the position ebbs away and what remains is the sensation of being inside the
energetic chess flow. Then the mind moves with the speed of an electrical current, complex
problems are breezed through with an intuitive clarity, you get deeper and deeper into the

soul of the chess position, time falls away, the concept of “I” is gone, all that exists is
blissful engagement, pure presence, absolute flow. I was in the zone and then there was an
earthquake.
Everything started to shake and the lights went out. The rafters exploded with noise,

people ran out of the building. I sat still. I knew what was happening, but I experienced
it from within the chess position. There was a surreal synergy of me and no me, pure
thought and the awareness of a thinker—I wasn’t me looking at the chess position, but I
was aware of myself and the shaking world from within the serenity of pure engagement

—and then I solved the chess problem. Somehow the earthquake and the dying lights
spurred me to revelation. I had a crystallization of thought, resurfaced, and vacated the
trembling playing room. When I returned and play resumed, I immediately made my
move and went on to win the game.

*

This intense moment of my life was the launch ing po int for my serious

investigation of the nuances of performance psychology. I had us ed an
earthquake to reach a higher state of cons cious nes s and di scover a che ss solut ion