Are you much too self-conscious when practicing your sport?

This is something I read yesterday and made quite an impression. It's taken from the book Flow in Sports, by Susan A. Jackson and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Human Kinetics 1999). The subject of the book is how to achieve flow for optimal sports experience. Flow is all about focus but it is also a harmonious experience where mind and body are working together efortlessly. Here's the text:

"Part of being totally absorbed is not having any mental space for worrying about one's self. Letting go of concern for what others are thinking of you is freedom from self-consciousness".

Have you ever managed to achieve flow while practicing your sport? Do you think winning is an important enough reason to practice any sport or is the flow experience more important? I tend to incline towards flow. I suggest you take a look at this book. Your practice AND your performance will never be the same afterwards.


Flow in Sports

Spyridon Katsigiannis
Systema Russian Martial Art & Filipino Kali instructor, San Shou coach.
http://naturalfighter.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/spyrokatsigiannis
http://www.fighterszonecentral.com