The Active Zone of High Performance
This zone is the spontaneous way we deal with the world, our life, and people when we are close to the source. There is only one zone, but we can connect with it during active and inactive moments. In active times there are three levels of energy expenditure that correlate with different access points to the zone and their difficulty, which ranges depending on the depth, and length of the zone. The zone is a thoughtless way of reacting to the circumstances in the moment without using the ego or mental discrimination, which in turn creates the right response. To get into the zone it's like being in an active meditation, or what is refered too as ' The Wltness' in spiritual texts.
The high level Active zone is what sports refer to as "being in the zone": That is making the right move at the right time without having to think about it, and making it look effortless and easy like it was predetermined. This is not using the ego despite the spectacular moves it may produce, because not a purposeful decision was made in the process. It just happens, and even the player may feel astonished and amazed that something like this happened to him. It's like he was watching the move take place from a distance, like something took over that new what to do, so you handed over the reigns. This can happen to anyone at anytime during an activity, you may recall a time in your own life when everything was going right for you, and you raised the bar to a new level, which you thought could never be reached. You were unstoppable and even the errors were going in your favor, you could do no wrong. The zone feels effortless, decisionless, efficient, smooth, easy like you're in rhythm. The zone is a state of excellence with ease.
The energy output determines the degree of difficulty in finding the zone, the more energy or the lack of energy makes it more difficult, while in-between it's easier. Such as dance and other slow rhythmic movements which are considered an easy way of tapping into the zone, while really active sports zone is a relatively hard to access and takes a lot of practice. You may recall at some point while dancing when a sort of trance takes over and you're in tune with the music and the environment at that very moment. Marshal Arts, Tai Chi, Sufi's and the Whirling Dervish all use this easy accessible zone to further their spiritual development.
We have the high level, medium level, low level and the extreme level zone for emergencies, which is the fight or flight mechanism also taps into it. The fight or flight scenario are both survival techniques, but it should really be called; the survival or surrender mechanism, because it works in the inactive state too. You may recall a time in your life when you surrendered (inactive) to the powers that be as in a car accident and the adrenaline surge slows down time, due to the rapid processing rate, and you sit as the pure witness to the event in total acceptance. In this case the zone is achieved by the use of adrenaline, and in the active and inactive zone can be reached without the adrenaline surge, creating a smoother more efficient ride.
After the medium level output is the low level zone that is associated with Art, Music, Yoga etc. and can be considered a harder zone to master, similar to the same level as the high sports zone. But all the different ways take a person who can let it all go and let it happen without doubt, second guesses, inhibitions, decisions, or care for the results. Any thought like; I’m on my game, or this is unbelievable would take you out of it. You have to remain distant, aloof, unconcerned, unperturbed, just doing what needs to be done and letting each moment decide for you. You should remain emotionless and in the moment waiting for the entrainment to happen between the environments, peoples immediate actions and your natural instincts. Looking for a detachment within that steps back away from the pin point focus in front of you and sit back in a sort of peripheral vision that spans out wide.






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