Subconscious Mind in Petanque

Blog posted and still under development.. thank you for your patience as I correct and add photos to a very long blog.

The subconscious mind is what we call instinctive actions and is part of every sport. If you had magical powers and you had to bake a pie, you would think of it and "Poof" the pie would be there. Without, these magical powers you would have to instruct the mind of all the work of gathering the material for making a pie, preparing it and even calculate the time needed to cook.   Blog stats (below) same every year.

When you instruct the mind to do an action (make a pie) it is all "conscious" instructions . In the case of a sport it is instructions to the muscles that perform the sport action. After many times doing the same action and the making corrections with  the same instruction to the mind, the athletic has began to develop what can be called "Muscle Memory". Actually we remembering how to do the action correctly and the subconscious does those actions. Braking a car is often given as an example of the instinctive action in time of danger. We don't think but when it is finished we are surprised how fast it happen.

This blog is intended for coaches whom are beyond teaching new members the sport (level 1 "Club Coach) or helping correct a fault created from wrong actions during the delivery. (Level 2 or "Corrective Coach"). As the coach's student moves into competition and works with more mental problems of stress and concentration we find a Level 3 or "Competitive Coach" with efforts to change "Muscle Memory" into productive results.  

This information does not hurt to be known by a learning athletic but a major problem in knowing about the athletic's conscious and subconscious interaction during a performance; is that the athletic must continue to allow the subconscious mind to have control and it's "Muscle Memory" to be performed. Athletics will say that this is done by allowing the action to be performed in what is a "void of thought" or a "Zen moment". It is hard to control actions done in the uncontrolled "Subconscious" time of an action or performance. But it is possible.

Every sport is different, from the wrist movement of throwing a dart to the arm movement of Petanque or Lawn Bowls or Curling. These three last sports have the same physical movement in their beginning of action; but each is a little bit different as the muscle movement change and complete the actual action. Also the time between beginning the performance's action and when finally the athletic sees the result of their action can become a major problem. For this reason, in making corrections to an athletic's performance a "Level 3 coach" must be aware that attempting a change by conscious instructions to the muscles; also comes a lost of the "subconscious control" which is so important in a correction or in doing the new corrective action.

In some sports we do not identify the actions of the subconscious mind because the sport is what is called  an "open sport"; where the actions are performing and may be more difficult to divided into two seperate mind actions. 

subconscious mind 
explained on Youtube

 In an "Open sport" like Soccer or Hockey we are always "Open" to what is or has just happen around us. We are making adjustments for those actions in our sport as we encounter them. An example is when a opponent player is approaching on your left so you move the ball or puck to your right side. In seeing the player we have a "Open Sport" awareness and the subconscious action is done instinctively as you move away from that danger. This happen so fast you did not realize you (or the subconscious mind) had done it but after years of playing and many games experience your subconscious mind knew the necessary corrective action.

 Until you are in the top percentage performancer of your sport and against similar fellow  players and involved in  a national and international competition; you may not know or even think about these Subconscious" actions. Because Petanque is a "Closed Sport" and you are alone with your performance; the rules are made to remove distractions from others players thus allowing you  to develop actions and unique "Subconscious" abilities faster. 

In Petanque, it still means a lot of practice as your self-development progress through practice of that "Shooting Takeouts" or  a "Pointing with an Effect". Finally, you become aware that each Petanque shot you perform is begans  without any conscious thought. Most of the time a "Closed" sports has a Preparation routine  for the conscious actions and a "Performance" routine which you spend endless hours of actual action for perfection. Eventually you think the shot and "Poof" it is done in a fraction of a second.

If for a minute. we look at this idea of our brain is a bio-computer which is controlling our actions and keeping us alive with breathing and even actions of preventive security; we find a good website description of (Conscious and Subconscious)  interactions during times of danger or sudden changes.  The data collected by the subconscious is so important, and it is difficult to instruct the mind to use the necessary collected data.

 When you have made a decision and finish thinking on how to do the action; these actions are done by the "Conscious mind" because you are doing that action step by step with controlling instructions to the muscles.  Your actions remain conscious mind action even as you remember the past action and your "Thinking" of the result and how to better developed the success. For an action like jogging, we decide consciously to run and instruct our feet to start running, but in time of danger while jogging, like a person running toward us; the survival instinctive, or the subconscious mind becomes aware of the need to modify the action. You step to the side while still jogging but avoid the danger.

If an object was to be thrown at you and being hit would mean death or an injury; the subconscious mind would make us move out of it path. More serious than stepping aside for another jogger. When the "Subconscious Mind" activates an action it is usually  done "instinctively" based upon previous experience or training. Call "survival instinct" the mind has developed muscles actions in response to a dangers. These actions may not have been learned from practice but the memory of a previous occurance in the past. At these times, we are always surprise how quickly we reacted or how much strength we really had at these times.  Also, after the action has finished, we are not aware of having been in a "void of thought". Emotions happen and our reactions is to analysis what had just occured. This "Subconscious Analysis" is again the "subconscious mind" collecting data so as to performed instinctively again if a similar danger occurs. If we had taken the time to think of the danger, our waste of time meant the danger would have overcome us before we reacted. 

So, we think and do actions with the "Conscious Mind"  which become memories of that action step by step; and later  when we want an action performed again  we allow the "Subconscious Mind" to do the action with a thought. ("Run")

With the Internet we can find instructions on most everything and the work of these two parts of our mind is discussed and used by  Thinkability.com  which instructs and consulting readers into a  better performance through mental displine and analysis. Theyalso make us realize the important some people may be auditive while others are visual; and each individuals will express and develop mental abilities differently, 

Myself, I think in images so in transmitting an instruction to the subconscious, I see the image of what I want done and then let the subconscious do that action. If I want to correct an performance error I don't tell myself "Don't twist the wrist", which is a verbal command (auditive) to the mind but see the action . Both types of individual  Of course, a lot of hours of practice and "Muscle Memory" building has gone into an ability of creating an subconscious action.  If we realize that these two types of thought are real and for some individuals either of the two  types of Actions performed by an athletic are possible: we begin by a development and practice of an action and then by using the subconscious mind we create the action by calling on our "Muscle Memory.

  Instinctive Performance and Mental Training are not easy but by using Conscious actions to build certain Subconscious actions we can bridge this divide.When asked by a student, "What is the most important mental attitbute of an athletic?" The answer was " Focus" and although in this blog which discuss "Muscle Memory" and the Subconscious control of those performance; we forget the many aspect of "Subconscious interferences" in our sport. The mental inbalance of emotions and mental strength. Actions of staying in focus, called "Restarts" deal with many mental strain during a game and especially major Competitions.

Instinctive or Subconscious actions, what are they?.  We have seen that when driving a car and a child runs out in front of the car, we don't have the time to tell the mind or our muscles what to do. We "think" the action "Brake" and before we know it, the car has stopped before hitting the child. The Braking action was finished and we seem to be in a "void" or unaware of our actions.  As if in seeing the "Danger", and thinking "Stop"; the subconscious mind has reacted to our thought  and we "put on the brakes".

 Do you remember when first learning to drive how hard and badly your applied the brakes. The teacher probably bounced ahead and said "Gentle". We all now  see "Instinctive " actions performed every day and think nothing of it.  This Car driving example is interesting  because  we value the life of the child, but if a squirrel or wind blown piece of paper had been the object passing in front of us, we would react differently. Ofcourse, the subconscious mind does not wait to give us the possible control and choice of stopping slowly; but analysis the situration and reacts differently if it would have been a dog or a squirrel. 

 However because we know that a "too quick a stop" would have injured  the  baby in the "car seat"; the Subconscious made a different action  as is needed. This same  subconscious action is open to a level of control in our sports. If in petanque you were throwing a "Takout Shot" and someone stepped into your line of shot; you would stop the throw or modify it direction to not cause an accident. The subconscious was not trained in these action, it is based upon "danger" or "Survival" instinct which is not learned.

 The usage of the subconscious mind in our sport is hidden from us, the athletic, because  at the finish of that performance (Ex: a "Petanque take-out" shot is immediately finished); and we can  see the actual result of the action. In other sports like "Lawn Bowls"  there may be between 14 to 16 seconds before the bowl comes to rest near the "Jack" (target ball); and the athletic sees the results of their delivery. At this time the athletic would create a routine of activities to join these 14 to 16 seconds.

 The Lawn Bowls blog of "Three subconscious mind exercise" of December 28 2012; was first, an attempts to identify the presence of the Subconscious mind in the athletic's actual Bowl delivery.  But also then offered  a sort of exercises to communicate to the "Subconscious mind" what had been expected. Also, we discover that the subconscious mind can be changed and the "Muscle Memory" modified. Through learning to communicate by a single thought, the athletic can modify the "Memory performance" if such a communication (thought) is learned and done properly.

 However, like a new employee doing work for the boss, the subconscious mind with too much instruction can become confusion and create results that are not wanted. To some referred as "Conscious/Subconscious conflict" because we don't often try or have success in modifing the Subconscious actions.

Searching through my150 blogs about Lawn Bowls and the use of the Subconscious mind, that December 28, 2012  blog is interesting because the "Three Subconscious mind Exercises" can be applied to any sport to identify the subconscious mind. However,  the idea of concentration and occupation of thought for several seconds as is done in Lawn Bowls can bet creative in the changes in the performance especially if apply it to any other sport. 

 Recently, as I was working with a Petanque player who was "in" and "out" of the "Subconscious Zone" with his successful "Petanque Take-Out Shot"; I had to accept that this player was not interested in elite  classification  (Gold, Silver). His  only want was a satification in Social Petanque. "Acceptance by peers"  Too much information and even to suggested his method of communicating with the subconscious to inprove his performance was not his expectation or want to change his "Take-out" shot. Like getting a driving license, some only want to drive a car and others go to a Level 4 or 5 and drive an large Van. The player who wants to don international level competition has a greater expectation of his performance.

 This blog is intended to help athletics in their personal development of "take-out" Shots and after being aware of the Subconscious mind's ability; to be able to advance to the next level; of using the "Instinctive Zone" of the mind in being aware of the Subconscious presence.

In every sport the subconscious mind is present in our performance but in Petanque, your shot action is so fast that immediately after the release of your ball; you see the result. In Lawn Bowls and even Basket ball the delay between the action and the result can allow the athletic to feel the "void of thought" which occured when the subconscious mind was active.

 So the first step is to feel or be aware of when your subconscious mind is doing it thing; and expand your ability to give control of your actions to the Subconscious. Then as per the "Three subconscious Mind Exercises" blog; learn to communicate and even change those action of the subconscious mind to a better working result..

In the Petanque "Take-out Shots", the successful strike of the 3 1/2 inch "target" ball is usually self-ego  satification that the player does not feel the presence of the "Zone" void. In order for the precision in the "take-out" shot to be developed, the Petanque shooter needs to be precise. If the target ball is 3 1/2 inches large you can miss by 2 1/2 inches on either side and still have made contact. Also if your line of Shot is correct you can miss the distance by several inches and still remove the target ball.

  When I say "Precision Shooting" I refer to decision to strike the "target" in such a way that the resulting damage of  the target ball leaving from the pointing area; has not distributed the other balls. Unlike Lawn Bowls or Curling where each team delivers a bowl (or stone) to the pointing area in alternative sequence; in Petanque the opponents continue to play if they do not have the closest ball. In such "take-out" shot also removes your own ball as "shot"; they you must play again.

 "Precision Shooting" means communicating to the subconscious mind of the angle of contact and expecting that the subconscious will success. Otherwise, each take-out shot requires two balls. (the shooting shot and the replacement ball to recapture the shot). The game becomes the success of not leaving the opponents a surplus of balls to play after you  have played all your team's balls.

Secondly, if your "Take-out Shots" of the opponent's ball has resulted in your ball leaving the Point area or gain the point; they you again must play a second ball to have the "Point". Shooting to hit the "target" ball at an angle and to allow the thrown ball to pass without a contact with any of other balls is largely "Precision Shooting".

That article stated: 

"In sports, a lot of actions happens so fast only the subconscious has the ability to control how we react and then produce the final wanted result.  If a baseball player in throwing the ball and is losing his balance, what would happen if he was to think.. "I am not properly balanced and must throw to the left because I am falling as I throw"?  All of these thoughts, our conscious mind interference with our actions,  would result in the pitched ball being badly thrown as he lose the time to adjust his throw... The subconscious mind  can feels the off balance action in his throw,  and  also knows to achieve the  needed action wanted  to result in the adjustment of the action and force of the thrown of the baseball"

In Petanque the "Take-out Shot" is much like a baseball player out in right field who after catching the ball and beginning to throw it  to Home plate. The whole action of the throw is done so fast that the athletic does not know their Subconscious mind has been involved.  Unlike, Lawn bowls which maybe  nearly 15 seconds between start and finish of the Lawn Bowl delivery and performance; the near split second throw of the baseball ball or Petanque ball is finished before we are even aware of perfroming  the action. A total Instinctive action where a " Subconscious" action and "Muscle memory" was done as a rapid action. This is the same action of  a car driver finding their foot coming to the brakes, without thinking,  as a child runs into the street. We don't think, we just do it instinctive.

 In December 2012, as I started writing this blog, I was afraid that this subject would be miss-understood. But now, after more than 10 years the 140 blogs written, it has receied over 90,000 reads with the early spring volume always above the average. With still 10 days in April (2024) (the volume is now 2,123 blog reads, this month. The "Read Stat" chart on the right, is the last 7 days since prior to starting to write this blog; and has already had 851 readers visit).

The December 2012 blog read:

  This blog speaks of a old saying that "A wise man and a fool appear alike until either one of them  begin to speak"  Why even express yourself in something, which others don't understand and  which may be so controversial to have readers view your teachings as Poppy Poop...

Last Month, while watching Ryan Bester, Canada's best Lawn bowler, on streaming Australia Bowls at  the World Bowls 2012,  in Australia.; I saw  the smooth flow from Conscious to subconscious actions in his bowl delivery. 

This young man has done what I had taken over the last 40 years of personal learning in several sports for me to develop(Archery, Petanque, Lawn Bowls) ,,.  With great teacher like the french instinctive traditional archer,Jean Marie Coche, and his book "La discipline du tir a l'arc instinctif souple", I have learn  to relax during the(se) action, and let the subconscious do the sport.

  I believed in the development of these abilities, "to be in the Zone" and if not for the recent video of Tiger Wood on the subject in Youtube, I would have just continue to work on it myself.  This smooth flow of mind from conscious to subconscious, creates what some people will call an out-of-body (experience)

On December 02 2013, Golf Digest  has a 18 great mental

 tips from golf greats and one was by Tony Jacklin who said " When I am in this state, everything is pure, vividly clear. I'm in a cocoon of concentration"

Another golfer , Mark Cslvsbrvvhis said it another way in that article. "When I'm in a zone, I don't think about the shot or the wind or the distance or the gallery or anything; I just pull a club and swing."

Likewise, Al Geiberger said  "A great round of golf is a lot like a terrible round. You drift into a zone, and it is hard to get out of it."

 This Zone is when the  Conscious mind release control to the subconscious, and you stand back and watch as you are performing the actions.  The actions and results is best defined as being " totally in the zone" because you have learn  it is possible to give total control to the subconscious. "

 Tiger Wood's coach in talking about Visualization in Tiger's Perfection  ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1mSMDoVqcg) said

 "The athletic in the Peak Performance Zone,, is really in a heighten state of awareness., an absorbed focus. There is an element of Relaxation Response, that goes on in there. And they are always in the Here and the Now, with a clear uncluttered mind.  Just absorbed in the moment."  and most important.. "Letting the performance happen rather than thinking or helping the performance to happen"

We understand that our thoughts and instructions that we give to our muscles are a "Conscious" control of our body. However, "Muscle Memory" which often happens in sports, is the balance of muscles which after months of perfected movements are repeated. Through a detailed practice over hundreds of repeative movements; we reach a point that your  "Subconscious Mind " know and performs it.  

My first incounter with "Muscle Memory" was when doing archery. I discovered a perfect release requried that three small neck muscles had to work together on my raised Shooting arm. What I discovered was that one muscle was performing while two others were not.  It was difficult to change the habit but eventually I changed it so all three muscles worked together. Muscle Memory mean each know what they must do and it is done perfectly.  When all is correct, we say that instinctively we did the action. But instinctive does not require thinking to do it.. but "think it" and it happens. But "Think it". Communication to the muscles is to let the subconscious mind perform by not attempting to tell the body what to do. Conscious thought or instructions are us trying to do the correction our self.

The previous blog helped the Lawn Bowler reconize the feeling of  release of control by the conscious mind to the "Sub-conscious mind". These three exercises can be adapted so as to identify for the Petanque player the presence of the subconscious mind. To understand and know when the transfer of conscious mind is made to the subconscious mind requires looking for that "void of thought". From there a player can do a short communication which is needed to tell the subconscious  which actions  modification is to be performed. And then let the subconscious mind  perform the action with total subconscious liberity.  Not an over-night development but with work the potential and control is possible. 

Editing to be continue soon...

"Whether, in a Lawn bowl delivery, Archery shooting an arrow or what ever (a petanque Take-out shot).  If we think about what we want to do we lose it..  Because the subconscious mind requires you to not think about your action; you must learn to think about nothing for that few microseconds." (and let the action happen)

... (after a lot  of blog discussion about Lawn Bowls, the blog continues)

   "In my first sport, Archery, I was shooting beer bottle caps at 30 feet off the wire fence.. Just turn and shoot instinctive.. Trick shots , yes a bit , but skill use of the subconscious mind in a split second of action.  If I had taken the time to aim I would never have been able to do it.  Just that quick action of turning and shooting... no thinking... just doing.   You can do the same in Bowls and Ryan Bester shows this in his delivery and shots."
.
"Without saying too much more but with these three exercises,  listed below, which allows the Commanding of the Subconscious; you can  apply it in your  personal Sport.  Again to some,  I will seem to be an idiot, but to others I can be a teacher."

"Like a neuro-computer, our mind works on our thoughts and commands. But like a computer with a operating system a lot of what happens in our life are controlled by a subconscious part of the mind."

 "Daily, in driving a car we Brake to a stop without thought as we do many (such) tasks instinctive. We live our lives with the subconscious doing for us. The subconscious mind is always busy , But never do we allow it a total control, and so it is hard to later develop it as part of our sport.  Maybe, it is now time in our personal sport development, to engage, and develop, this aspect of mental control. Let things happen and be less of a control freak as we watch our self giving more control to the subconscious mind. ( And see the difference it makes in our performance)."

During the winter months, I play  Petanque which is similar to Lawn Bowls in principle of throwing or rolling a ball to a target ball. (jack in Bowls and 'Cochon' (Pig) in Petanque). However, the major difference in the two game is that in Lawn Bowls each team take alternate turns (like in Curling) in  delivering their bowl until none are left to play; while in Petanque if the team doesn’t have the closest ball to the "Cochon" then they  continue playing until you do or have no more balls to play.  This is a situation where after one team has played all of their balls; the opponent may have three or four balls yet to play and convert  into points.

There is also a difference in distance. to the  'Target ball', where  in Lawn Bowls, the distance to the 'Jack' could be between 21 meters and 30 meters from the 'Delivery mat'; the difference in Petanque is always between 6 meters and 10 meters from the 'Cochon' unless it had hit and moved it which time  it could go up to 20 meters. (Unlimited Gaming Surface).  Also, because of the difference in distance; in Lawn Bowls, the bowls must be rolled while in Petanque we very often find the opponent doing a through the air throwing ball  as a 'Take-out Shot' to remove the opponent's ball. 

Editting of dictation needed from here on..

In both Lawn Bowls and Pat down (Petanque) there are rules that suggest that when the individual is in the petanque Circle or on the Lawn Bowling that the opponents are required to respect their effort to do a good delivery or shot and not be carrying on a conversation.

However because the Petanque distance is so short 6 m to 10 m often Give me up in a communication between the skip and team player is verbal and to often not necessary. In Lawnbowls with a jack on the centre at the green had 25 m. There is some communication with signs and verbal, but not to the point of Petanque.

Because the distance in Padon is short very often just get will hear the conversation of his teammates After he has made a decision which I disagree with or has not performed the proper shot. At the International level of Petanque there is more discussion between the Skip and his team players as they walk back-and-forth to the night in the head. And Lawn Bowls the player on the mat is only permitted to go up and up the Green to the head after having played his third bowl.

Recently, during my petat don’t visit to the blood drawn. I was talking with a curling enthusiast, and he was surprised to learn that curling is the Canadian adaptation of Lawn Bowls. They seem to be quite different in nature, but there’s a lot of similarities, which would suggest that the Canadians having started curling on frozen lakes with coffee cans full of cement we’re practising there Lawn Bowling draw during the winter months.

Similarities between Lawn Bowls and curling is that the previous method of a backswing and that slide Delivery has all the same movements as a Lawn Bowl delivery. Also the new release line for the delivery is 21 m from the centre of the curling house. The same as the minimum distance to Lawn Bowls.

Talking to the Subconscious mind 2/2

 Why would we want to talk to the Subconscious? If you are talking to yourself, or hear your words, then you're telling the conscious self what to do. You are controlling your muscle's movements. When the subconscious mind is involved there is an absence of communication. You are in a "Void of thought" with the action just happening. (Instinctively) But because of this "Void" when the action is being performed; it can only be modified by a visual image before starting the action. If it is necessary to communicate to the subconscious mind before and after the action it must be an image seen or thought. So you transmit a thought and then let the subconscious mind do the action knowing that the thought is going to influence the result of that action.

This blog is 2/2 on "Talking to the Subconscious" and if you have not read the 1/2 where I discuss advance topics such as "Muscle Memory" and "Tags" and "Tells" as subconscious actions having influence on your delivery or sport performance. Therefore, I suggest you read it first.  To refresh this previous information.

 "Muscle memory" is the ability of the mind to remember muscle performance routines developed over many hours of practice. A competition athletic progress to a point of personal development where the subconscious mind is performing their bowls delivery or sport routine. You send images which become the communications to the subconscious.

During this time the athletic is often in a "void of thought" as the subconscious mind (or his instinctive actions) are performing the action or routine. In a Youtube video with Tiger Wood, he saids "Between the swing and seeing the ball in flight, I have no memory of what just happen" which is his comments on his performance. His perfection is now to the point he thinks his shot and then lets the subconscious do it.

"Tags" and "Tells" are signs of the athletic's talk or subconscious communication. A "Tag" is an action inserted into a routine which does not affect the performance but distracts the subconscious mind (break the continual action of the "'Muscle Memory") or suggests something is different.. As an athletics expands their mental perfections they will allow more subconscious control over their performance and we see their movements as  a "Tell" of their communication with the subconscious before their release the subconscious to  perform it..

Dogs Playing Poker by
 Cassius Marcellus Coolidge,

 Like in poker where a professional player may make a facial action following receiving a good card; anD this small thing is telling others of his satification with the card. The "Tell" is often seen during a performance delay as the individual communicates with the subconscious.. The athletic's subconscious commun-ication may be to indicate the raison for a change from normal routine or to assure the subconsicous that it will perform correctly. Yes, the subconscious mind, like a child, can be confused because of a change in action and will began to doubt what the athletic is requesting to be done.

Lets look at three similar sports. Curling, Lawn bowls and Petanque. All three roll, slide or throw an object to a precice distance. Curling is the easiest because it is one constance distance from a "Release Line". Petanque is a shorter distance as the "Cochon" or target is between 6 meters and 10 meters to be legal. In lawn bowls the "Jack" is short at 21 meters and at it maximun at 33 meters or 31 meter if starting the game.

"Muscle Memory" developed with practice shows how to perform for that fixed curling distance and after much practice; the curler becomes natural to draw his stone to the centre of the house.

 In petanque, the player can throw his "Petanque ball" and hit the target. Usually another ball which is counting and is between 6 meters and 15m ( can be behind or have a displaced "cochon"). But he is throwing a 2.5 inch ball at a 2.5 inch ball and how the mind gets to measure the distance of his target is important. However, Lawn Bowls has the large distance to be played and with the fast playing surface that distance is even more important. To have properly calculated the distance where one more roll of the bowl means being shot (point) or not; means even the flick of a finger can mean two feet to far.

So lets look at "Muscle Memory" and using "Tags"  to communicate to the subconscious an idea to improve the performance. Think we all have seen the game show "The price is Right" and understand the "Find the price" where the individual guess the price of a product and the game host says "Higher" or "Lower" as the player attempts to find the right price.

In the same way, there are only two methods for the subconscious to know the distance of the Petanque Thrower's target (for a take-out) or the Lawn bowler's Jack distance for a "Draw" to the jack.  One is practice and practice and the mind feels the distance, and some time very precisely. But this take years of practice to arrive with that proper feeling and the surrounding can influence it.  Example, a club house behind the "jack" make it seem closer to you because of the big object; as also a open field or space behind the jack makes it seem farther away.

The second distance calculation is more like the game show host above, giving the actual price as we tell ourself "Farther", "farther" as the subconscious works to find the proper distance for the Petanque take-out or the Bowls roll to the Jack. Lets start with Petanque because in petanque most players doing a take-out have developed the feeling of distance quickly. But as with all sports, when you have a "Muscle Memory" for an action it is fixed and hard to change later.

So as the Petanque player's subconscious mind goes into the void of doing the shot, the player is just looking at the ball to be hit and feeling it's distance. And some players just go to the shooting circle (mat in Bowls) and do a single swing and throw their ball and hits the target. (The first method of distance) But like in Bowls, the Petanque player has more precision at certain distance and seems to miss more often at other distances. The lawn bowler learns to know his "Natural Distance" where if he does a relax performance his rolled bowl goes a certain distance. Of course, he gets to read distance as a marker on the side boards is 21 meters and half way from there to the back bords is 5 or 6 meters farther.

In the blog of December 2016 "Muscle Memory and The "Zen" Zone" I mention  "the Petanque video of Mark Wildeboer where he taps his toe.. (his tell of pre-visualizations )  in the video  before his actual action of throwing his takeout shot. At the time of his shooting he is in a "Void of thought" and we say he is  "In the Zen Zone".  This blog was remade and updated in February 2023 and may contain new material.

 In the video what we see Mark doing is "seeing his shot mentally" and using a memory of having done a similar shot in the past. Because he has chosen the wrong memory for that distance he has gone back to retreival another memory of a longer distance.  Once he has the proper distance he will do his take out shot. This is call memory retrevial projection or Previsualization of his shot. Each time he is communiating to the subconscious an effort to define the distance. To those of us who do this type of previsualization we feel the correct distance and then do the throwing of the take-out shot.

In this video the "Tell" during his previsualization is showing his mental communication with the subconscious.  In that same blog are two Lawn Bowlers,  Angela Boyd or  Laura Daniels, at the 2016 World Bowls Finals who are like wise doing this sort of mental communication with the subconscious as they find the distance needed  to roll their bowl to the jack. 

But to understand the use of a "Tag" we must return to the first method of mental judgement of the distance for the Petanque player. The "feeling and the doing" action which was developed through hours of practice.  How do we teach this player to communicate to the subconscious and do those shots which often they miss because the subconscious mind can't feel the distance. Remember, distance is calculated by the eyes and if you are playing indoors near a window with outside sunlight; your mind will confuse the distance.

Some how we want to tell the subconscious mind that we have to think of the distance a bit farther than what the feeling is.  To night, I was talking to Frank a good Petanque Shooter who has this "one swing take-out" method of distance knowing. I gave him a "Tag" or a suggestion thought with words which will talk to the subconscious and make an adjustment.

I said to him "When the target ball is "Quite Far" Look at the "Reflection on top" and when "Quite Close" look at the "Shadow" under the ball. So the "Tag" is two parts - an look at something and words "Quite Far" I did not have time to tell Frank to not "shot at the reflection" or "shoot at the shadow" which is what beginners do.

Frank has his feeling for distance and when he goes to shoot his subconscious action will be done in a void of thought so he must let his subconscious do it action. But if prior to release his mental thought to the void of the subconscious he looks somewhere the words "quite far" will be heard for the first months of using a "Tag". The subconsicous mind will modify it shot by a little because of the thought or action of looking and there by improve the shooting ability. It is important that the "Tag" does not change the subconscious action which it would do if we were to think words. To look just prior to releasing the mind's thought to the subconscious does nothing but improve the performance.   Like wise, with the above example of the sunlight window near the indoor playing field. If the shooter just glances or thinks of the window before his shot it will be information to the subconscious and allow for it to be corrected.

To finish this blog I must warn you that the subconscious mind was developed for survival and prevention of danger and sometime we end up doing things which we would never think of doing because the Survival Instinctive (subconscious) does it for us.

Several years ago, maybe 20 years or more, I was showing the precision of the subconscious mind to a Petanque athletics who was practicing and was expected to go to the World Petanque Competition within weeks. Because of my own experience in Archery where I was an instinctive shooter (no sights) I learn that you can't always believe what the subconscious mind send you as information.

The Petanque "cochon" or jack is about 1 1/4 inch in size and in shooting to hit it at a distance of 6 meters as many Petanque players do; is precise. But even  more precise is for the subconscious mind to be able to see that you had hit it on the side and not in the center at such a distance (about 40 feet). To show this to Alex who was asked to hit the "Cochon" which  was behind the 3 inch petanque ball. His object shot was to pass over the top of the petanque ball and hit the jack. A shot he and may at his level had done many times. However,  I had removed the "Cochon" but Alex had not seen me remove it so he thought it was still hidden behind the petanque ball.

His first shot was too high and he knew he missed it but on the 2nd shot; his shot was exact, and if the "cochon" had been there he would have hit it. But he did not know it was not there so he expected to see it go flying into the distance as happens when this shot is made successful. His subconscious mind could not show him that it went flying (as if he saw it) so the subconscious mind took a memory of when a "cochon" was hit on the right side and is send flying to the left; and shows that to Alex.  Alex walked to the area of his shot and excited with a hard shot said he had seen it fly to the left and we went there to look for the "cochon". After some time I show him I had it in my pocket and explained the reason for this exercise.

Because we do not see everything with higher speeds, sometimes the subconscious mind supplies images or actions for our mental survival or fitness.(We would probably go crazy if our sight or seing was to shut down for a few seconds) In this case the subconscious showed a memory of  what should have been seen. But what is important is not the memory replacement; but that the subconscious was able to see within a fraction of an inch at over 30 feet away where the ball would had hit the "cochon" and where it would have send it.

A 1/8 inch precision at 0ver 30 feet. The precision of the subconscious  is amazing and makes the point to not be too sure what you think you see.

The raison for this exercise was to teach Alex to let the subconscious mind do it work. Too often we feel we need to analysis and then change things.  Just have confidence and let it happen and be surprised that you can do so well. Pressure at a World Competition may force an individual to try to take more control when all that is needed is confidence in self (subconscious self)

Tags in Muscle Memory

Recently while sitting outside of the club's Green Fence watching a Major Qualification Lawn Bowls game; an interested passerby began asking questions about the sport. The reason I was sitting there outside the club was a lawn bowls rules which does not allow spectators behind the players "line of play" unless more than 3 meters which meant on the other side of the club's fence. 

Stats of blog for 1st week of September 2024

The fence is at 1 meter from the ditch and behind the player's bench and I was studing players strategy and post delivery focus and evaluation.

After several minutes, the passerby asked an advance sport question. " The game appears to involve a lot of muscle memory and mental  development ?" I discovered that he was a serious Basketball athletic and he explained a bit of the "Memory Recall" exercises his coach had educated him. Many basketball coaches advise their athletics to mentally practice their basket shooting skills in idle time even if during a bus trips or simply sitting and relaxing.

"Muscle Memory" simply defined is the mind being conditioned during a lot of practice to know the muscle movements needed to perform the correct basket shooting technique. Or in Lawn Bowls the correct delivery techniques. Others will say that a child learns to throw a ball and catch that ball by simple instinctive actions. Yes, Instinctive subconscious actions are involved in most sports.

  This blog is more for those Club Coaches doing the three or four week Club's "Introduction to Lawn Bowls" course to new members. This advance information is usually given only by Level 3 or Level 4 coaches dealing with helping competition athletics or international players; but as a learning bowler, it is important to know. 

In the photo (left) we see a screen capture from a Youtube Petanque video of Mark Wildeboer as he does a Petanque "Takeout" shot. In his previsualization of his shot we see  his toe tapping (a "Tell" of his pre-visualizations ) before his actual action of the doing the takeout shot. Athletics working with a Level 3 or Level 4 coach have moved from "Muscle Memory" to doing their performance in a "Void of thought" which allow the subconscious mind to perform the actual action. Often called  "Being In the Zen Zone", this is the exact action when we quickly break the car because of a child running out into the street. Watch the video and see the "Tell"

 Unless you are certified Club Coach or with five or six years experience; these ideas and this information may seem strange. There are various levels of mental development in sports and that is why National Coaching organizations have sport neuropsychologists hired full time. These ideas are part of mental development and control. Angisity and Competition Stress at the international level can become  a major problem in every sport and how we understand our mental aspects of our sport we are missing a major aspect of it.  As  now, in the summer of 2024, we finish the Paris 2024 Olymapic Games we now hear more televised interviews of  how these  olymapic professionals have helped our athletics.

Muscle Memory is something you know and understand or some people hear mention and don't know if they believe it all. It is like we hear how some people have an insistance on  "Angels" and as they speak they explain how they believe  that angels guide them in life"; Muscle Memory and "Being in the zone" or "Zen" are such things. For now, as you develop in   your sport treat it like "angels". We can suggest " just take it or leave it", but still to know there is such knowledge  is not harmful. Don't worry within  years of play and practice in your game,  your level of development will slowly reveal several new and strange things.

However, where this may matter to a new members to Lawn Bowls and the Clubs, is that because we were involved in a previous sports, we bring "Muscle Memory" we had  developed competitively in that sport. For example, Curling, uses the same muscles to deliver the stone up the ice and often a coach finds that these new members have heard their coaches or other players talk about  during their development and performance. They have maybe not used the term "Muscle Memory" but talked about how your body know how to do those deliveries.  

This year, I will turn 80 and I changed clubs to get more competitive game play and practice with players of a higher performance level.  Because I have been doing less coaching this increased competition will allow me some time before age forces me  to leave this sport I so "love". This year, I was surprise to discover that this new club has an extremely large number of "Curling" members who now have turned to Lawn Bowls as their go-to summer sport.

There are two aspects of "Muscle Memory" for a new or novice lawn Bowler. First, until one has a few years experience in a new sport, it is best to understand that we have in our performance a memory of muscle movements. It is therefore that we build these new performance memory by watching always your bowls as they roll to their finish. Yes, you will be disappointed with a delivery; but don't step of the mat until your bowl has come to a stop. And if you are lucky to have a coach or skip which know of their ability to do "Memory Imprinting" as you learn; you will not only learn the correct delivery actions; but also develop important memories.

"Memory Imprinting" is an action or event which makes that memory stand out from the hundred of other delivery memories of the past years. A skip of experience standing in the head can see that the "Deliveery Line" of the player on the mat is good and that the weight is going to result in the bowl coming to a stop near the jack.  If the skip does a hand-clap while the bowl rolls from the mat to the jack, this sound and you, the player watching your bowl; will imprint that memory of your delivery as an important memory. A good coach knows that such a stored memory and the retrevial of it by the competitive player from another sport; will only increase the speed with which that player adapts and learn their lawn Bowl delivery. 

In December of 2016 blog on "Muscle Memory to the Zone" there are a couple of exercises to help explain how the in Bowls the subconscious mind interacts with our delivery performance through "Muscle Memory". The blog is long but explains the need for the athletic to be in what some calles "The Zone" or a subconscious "Void" during their performance. That blog talks about Tiger Wood who on a "Youtube video" says that  often during his performance; he has no memory of his swing and hitting his ball. He is in a void of thought. Also with the Youtube video of  2016 World Bowls Women's Pair (Christchurch New Zealand); which is still available now in 2023 thanks to the VIMEO streaming. This blog show the two different styles of "In the Zone" performance of these two great Lawn Bowl athletic as they perform. In the above example we are using the "Tags" to inform the subconscious mind that this is not a similar " Muscle Memory" action to another sport's delivery action. In the mention blog the two leads are evaluating the jack distance as part of their pre-delivery routine and "Memory Retrevial" of having seen a bowl rolled that same distance. Each flip of the bowl is a refusal of the memory and a retrevial of a long (or shorter) jack distance.

 Although the "Muscle memory" may include similar actions in the two sports; there is no stopping the "Muscle Memory" from completing all the actions in the old sport when a Bowl's Delivery is done. This is what makes learning a good lawn bowl delivery difficult for the athletic as each time they leave the mat they must return and redo all your previous perfect "Pre-Delivery" action or routine. (I had a tennis player who had the same problem with the squash swing)

 The "Tag" when given to the student, should be a simple action like a toe tap; and should also be accompanied with the words "This is Lawn Bowls" when the tag is first time shown and explained. Do not ask the student to think the words, or do not repeat it to the student more than one time, as the "Tag" loses it invisible nature which is simply the words. The Tag, which a non-productive action and accompany with words should  not a corrective action like "Don't turn your wrist" because the student thinking to correct something is not in the "void". Once the "Tag" has been incorporated in the student "Delivery Routine" and some students will  hears the words. during those first years of the bowl delivery.  As "Muscle Memory (being "in the zone") develops and the conscious mind will no longer  attempts to do the delivery. (The "Tag" is just a note to the subconscious and in time the student will not even hear those words during their action of delivery.

The "Tag" is not a corrective action but just something added to the delivery which the student must remember to perform because if the student was to  begin thinking of a corrective action they will lose their focus and "Delivery Void" will be missed as part of the action.

A "Tag" which is visiable to an experience coach is called a "Tells" because this extra actions during delivery is just used for a "Timing" or like the above example, to pass a remainder to the subconscious. When we are viewing a video like in the above mention blog of the 2016 Pairs in Christchurch; we see  the two leads at they have a "Tell" action which is performed during their delivery. Something  the subconscious needs to be remained before the delivery, especially during the early return to bowls season. In that mention blog we see the Petanque player with the "Toe-tap Tell" which probably developed as he evaluates the distance to the object target. In the actions of the two two lawn Bowl leads delivery, they are probably do a "distance memory retrival".  A "distance memory retrival" is seeing a previous delivery memory and because it is not the correct distance we drop it and go get another memory of a longer jack. If we look closely, we will see the many "Tell" whiich were not intended to be visual, but  because of a mental interaction of the player's communication to the subconscious mind has become a part of their the actual deliveery performance.

 If one looks at a teaching video on curling you will see that part of the delivery is a small wrist movement as the stone is made to slowly turn as it goes up the ice. One would think this is such a small action and can be overlook. But remember "Muscle Memory" is executed when you are in a "Subconscious Void" and during that action of delivery; when started as a memory of the delivery, it does everything until the action has been complete. So if "Muscle Memory is from start to finish; it is hard for the subconscious to remove a part of the action of a "Muscle Memory". Yes even that little wrist turn of the stone from 11 o'clock to 12 o'clock during the curling delivery will  causes the student (from a Curling sport) to have a bad lawn bowls  delivery. Even if the student was using a "Stick Delivery" in curling it is still a turning.

Solution is to give the subconscious mind a thought during the delivery routine (a Tag) to change the start of the delivery and then allow the delivery action (of lawn bowls) to continue to the different and until it is a complete action. What sort of thought ?. Centainly not a verbal instruction as these comands are from the conscious mind and the "Muscle Memory" is from the instinctive or Subconscious mind. A "tag" is an action added to your delivery preparation which does nothing to influence the bowl but it communicate with the Subconscious mind.

In this case because in both Bowls and Curling the athletic starts their delivery from a standing position the tapping of the foot does not influence the bowl's delivery. When the "Tag" is given by the coach it has to be accompany with a verbal which the studentwill hears when he does the "Tag".  Why ? Cause the student hearing the words, when he does the "Tag", is a thought which his subconscious mind also hears. It should be only once spoken and  the coach should not explain the choice of words such as "This is Lawn Bowls".

The student could be told to think the phrase but it is hard to think an action and not try to do it because thinking is a conscious mental action. Also, the coach needs to know the student is doing the "Tag" as part of the Delivery routine and it being a physical action it can be seen by the coach. A physical action as seen during a "Muscle Memory"  is called a "Tell" (like in poker where you can read your opponent by their facial movement when they got their card) and if done right in coaching it does not affect the Bowl's delivery. 

Talking to the Subconsciousn mind 1/2

Posted during the development because the thought is there and later I will add photo and examples (like there is a blog of a alley bowler who discuss his modified his Muscle Memory); but for now this blog to be finished later will suggest other similar blogs written and to be remove made easlier to understand. To the normal lawn bowler, even this blog and material is hard to follow.

 The subconscious mind is a lot like a young

child who wants very much to please their parents. If you learn to communicate with the subconscious mind what you wanted it to do with your bowl;  you will be surprised what you can do. Strange but true.

First we must understand that the subconscious mind is always aware of what is happening and if asked it will use what it has seen previously in your game. As an example, you have just rolled the jack up the rink and spotted it and picked up your bowl and are ready to bowl. What was the last thing important action  that the subconscious mind watched?. The jack roll, which takes time depending on the distance and if these  memories are recalled, they can be used to improve your delivery to the jack.  Yes, there are things of little important such as the jack centering or your walking and picking up the bowl; which are best ignored.  Of course, I hope that these two actions are done as they are required by the rules. 

Now the jack roll is different. You watched it. I hope you did.. some players turn away from the jack roll and go get their bowl while it is rolling up the rink. This is not a good habit. The jack roll time is like a song in that it is continual until it has stopped.

As the jack roll took time and you saw every second of the roll, thie memory is stored like "memory Data" which you (or the subconscious mind) can recall and use. Some athletics actually do a retreival of this memory to improve their calculation of the jack distance. If you close your eyes and remember this action; you can see the memory of how the jack rolled and what happen. With training you can actually see ever second of it rolling time and the subconscious mind can use the time it took to calculate the jack distance.

Here, as example of world class athletics communicating with their subconscious and allowing it to do the "Muscle Memory" actions I am using the 2016 World bowls Finals of Womens pairs which was in Christchurch NZ. These are great athletics (in photo right) and are fine examples of "Talking to the  Subconscious Mind". In the video, you will hear the announcer's  comment on the long "Delivery Routine" of Angela Boyd. (If you watch a few end of play). But Angela in her routine, although long, has various parts of communication with the subconscious which some of us never know or develop. Her rocking and swing of  delivery arm is similar to the  Youtube Petanque video of Mark Wildeboer as he does a Petanque shooting "Takeout" shot and  is judging his distance "takeout" by a previsualization of the distance to the target ball. (seen in his toe tapping, a "tell" his mental effort is to judge the distance)  

The use of the word "Talk" in the title is intentional as we too often think of "talk" as words spoken and surprisingly we even think in words.  A child in its first years hears sounds and sees images and process everything very fast until they begans to talk. Then as the child learns words, the images and memories are lost and replaced by thinking in words. With the subconscious mind, the words are an enemy to "Muscle Memory" because it is thought (conscious instructions) we use to instruct muscles on what we want to do and thinking does allow for instinctive (subconscious) actions.

When we "talk" to the subconscious mind we use images and like a computer going into a file and getting that picture or other information, the subconscious mind can recall and use these images to do for us what we may want done with the next delivery. Yes, we do remember in images which are memories of previous actions but by thinking about our next action (conscious) we have stopped  the subconscious mind  developing and processing a memory images of previous saw actions. Using collected memories to judge the distance to the jack.

Above we have the New Zealand Angela Boyd in the 2016 World Bowls Women's Pairs final doing her first delivery of the match. This match of  December 11^th Women`s Pairs Finals of World Bowls (Streaming); can still be watched. We see Angela go to the mat and after what the video announcer describes as "Half a dozen motion of the arm then look down at her feet, look back up and now delivery". A "Delivery routine" which includes subconscious evaluation of the jack distance before the release.  Although the Wales Pairs Lead, Laura Daniels has a faster "Delivery Routine"; you can see her "Tag" and "Tell" with her finger tapping the bowl a couple of times.

So the next time you are on the green and as lead or in "Single" game and throw the jack up the rink to be centered try this exercise which can be added to your Delivery Routine. As you are standing on the mat with your bowl ready to deliver; recall that memory of the jack as it rolled up the green. This is a mental "Tag" for the subconscious mind telling it to remember the roll for to know the distance.

While writing this blog I was suprise to discovered that my 100,000 reader has passed. Blog stats to right. (If you have been following my blog for the past 10 years or more plse leave a comment and thank you for your interest)

In the above video (if you watched it) we see both leads with "Tells". as their "Tags" inform the subconscious of the expection action. (judge the distance) However, with a mental tag is used like the exercise with the "Jack roll" tag; it may not be possible for an observator watching to see any body movement which would be a  "Tell". However, when we included a "tag" the subconscious mind see the body movement as an action becomes a part of the "Delivery Routine". With the "Tag" as part of the bowler delivery routine it is talking to the subsconscious.

First, you must see the roll all the way until it stops. which is a memory collected when you watched it. You did watch it closely, I hope else it is not a Memory which can be used constructively. Now if you  do it again a second time it is a mental part of your delivery. Your subconscious mind can judge the distance to the jack by being instructed to use this "Memory Data". If you were to bounce your bowl in your hand as your remember that jack roll so the subconscious would know the distance; your actions would be a "Tell" to an observator that you are doing mental communication.

 With this "Tag" or mental action added to your delivery you will be surprise to find that you have bowled right to the jack. (if your line was right) and after the "Tag" you have allowed the subconscious do the delivery and you feel your "Void" of thought. If you were thinking, do this, or don't do that, when you were doing your delivery, then the subconscious was not give the chance to perform "Muscle Memory" and "Memory retrival" and bowl to the exact distance of the jack.