ARTICLES & COMMENTS
Peak Performance
by John Dritt
A few words about peak performance to everyone who'd
like to improve in Isshinryu karate or any aspect of their life.
People are finally starting to realize that "the right
stuff" isn't something you have to be born with. The fact that we
can learn to tap previously unexplored potential has been quickest,
to take hold in the world of professional sports. However, the
principles involved will work just as well for karateka.
One of the best-known techniques, for what sports
psychologists and counselors call "performance enhancement," is
visualization. Now, visualization is simply a form of mental
practice. It's doing your sport over and over again in your mind,
with all the right moves and the desired end result. You can do this
with your eyes closed in a quiet room, riding the bus, in the
shower, while you're waiting to see the dentist -- virtually any
time.
All that's required is that you see yourself performing
- executing the perfect technique in sparring, performing the
perfect kata, manipulating weapons perfectly. It doesn't matter what
the action is, as long as you are doing it perfectly. There is one
other important aspect of visualization, emotion and feeling. Not
only should you visualize yourself doing things perfectly, you
should also feel the feelings that you would have while doing things
perfectly. Most memory is a feeling or emotion associated with an
event. Those experiences that have a powerful emotion attached are
the ones we remember most. Because, you see, your subconscious
doesn't know the difference between a vividly imagined picture with
emotion and the actual event. And while mental practice can't
replace the discipline and hard work of physical practice, in some
ways it's even better. It guarantees that you are practicing
perfection, and when you practice perfection, you are far more
likely to perform perfectly.
~John Dritt
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