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 11th 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.
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