Free The Super Mental Training Book by Robert K. Stevenson

groove without much trouble; my conscious mind was content to let things move along at their own pace. But once I got into an actual match, my Self 1 wasn't as cooperative. It cared. It wanted to contribute, to give orders, to control. And my efforts at keeping Self 1 out of the limelight were only occasionally successful. And after a while, I stopped trying—which is to say stopped trying not to try.[13]
    Tarshis noted that "many people I've spoken with, who were initially turned on to Gallwey, have since abandoned inner tennis;" also, he observed that "most of the tennis instructors who were using Gallwey's concepts have pretty much abandoned them. . ." The main reason for the exodus appears to be the difficulty players had in allowing the subconscious (Self 2) to assume control during a match. Tarshis contends that while playing tennis one has to deal with a huge amount of information: an opponent (often unpredictable and uncooperative), the nature of the game itself (one second you are serving, the next you are hitting a volley or groundstroke, etc.), playing conditions (it may be windy, sunny, hot, cold, all of which the player must compensate for), and so on. This enormous amount of information the mind must constantly process frustrates "let it happen" attempts to bring the subconscious to the fore. Says Tarshis, "Asking the mind to disengage itself from the goings-on in a typical tennis match is asking for the moon." My personal judgment of inner tennis is that the "let it happen" approach might work during competition if the player sits down between changeovers, closes his eyes, and clears his mind (with as little effort as possible). Constant practice of the technique when play is stopped might be the key. But, employing a passive mental approach during a point in a highly competitive match does not seem to be the appropriate time for one to tune in to his subconscious.
    You cannot lose by trying out various mental rehearsal techniques. But self-hypnosis most likely will provide you your best results. This has proven to be so with me. Initially, I used self-hypnosis to study for tests while attending California State University, Fullerton. From my sophomore year through my doctorate degree I never scored lower than a "B" on any test. Before learning self-hypnosis, though, my mind sometimes would go blank while taking a test, and after a terrible struggle I would end up scoring a "C". The self-hypnosis, however, eliminated this problem. I would give myself suggestions such as "You will remember everything you study, and during the test recall all of it," and "You will be completely confident and relaxed while taking the test." These suggestions worked. My memory retention improved dramatically, and no difficult test questions could ever faze me.
    But, it was not until much later that I applied self-hypnosis to my sports. It took an extremely disappointing performance during a tennis tournament for me to become enlightened. In early 1976 I was seeded number one in the B Singles in a respectable local tournament (the Eastern Tennis League Tournament, held in Fullerton, California). I had prepared hard for it, practicing my serve and other strokes for hours upon hours. Befitting my number one seeding, I drew a bye the first round. Meanwhile, I knew my first match would be a breeze; after all, two weak players were battling each other to determine who would face me in the second round.
    Come the second round, my opponent and I were assigned the center court. A large crowd gathered to watch us play. Many of the spectators were potential opponents of mine in the tournament; they had come to size me up. This should not have bothered me—nothing should
    Tennis
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    (Kent Pagel photo)
    Already a self-hypnosis master at age 21, as pictured here, Dr. Stevenson programmed himself with confidence-building and concentration-enhancing autosuggestions before important tennis matches. This led to intense, though not tense, play on