Brush aside for a moment any opinion you have about your body and think about what it does.Īs you read these very words your body is performing a remarkable piece of coordination.

Stop sitting in judgement over self 2 and its actions, and appreciate the processes by which it works. The first skill to learn is the art of letting go the human inclination to judge ourselves and our performance as either good or bad. The key to better tennis lies in improving the relationship between the conscious teller, self 1, and the natural capabilities of self 2. For clarity, let’s call the teller self 1 and the doer self 2. Most players are talking to themselves on the court all the time.īut who is talking to who? I’m talking to myself, say most people. Neither mastery nor satisfaction can be found in the playing of any game without giving some attention to the relatively neglected skills of the inner game that takes place in the mind of the player, against such obstacles as lapses in concentration, nervousness, self-doubt and self condemnation. The inner game is played to overcome all habits of mind which inhibit excellence in performance. The outer game is played against an external opponent to overcome external obstacles, and to reach an external goal. Every game is composed of two parts, an outer game and an inner game. The sole aim of each stroke is to fulfill these two requirements with consistency and enough pace and accuracy to provide maximum difficulty for the opponent. The tennis player has only two requirements for success: hit each ball over the net and into the court. Maharaji A brief explanation of a game and the simplified external requirements of a tennis playerĮvery game involves at least one player, a goal, some obstacle between the player and his goal, field (physical or mental) on which the game is played in the motive for playing. “What is the real game? It is a game in which the heart is entertained, The game in which you are entertained.

The inner game of work timothy gallwey