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`My action is my
possession
My action is my inheritance
My action is the womb that bears me
My action is my refuge’
From an early Buddhist text
My accommodations in Bhutan were no less than spectacular.
Called Villa Italia, it is a condo-like complex owned by one
of the most respected men in the country, Lyonpo Ugyen
Tsering, the Minister of Labor, and his animated, beautiful
Italian spouse, Patrizia.
In trade for use of the internet router (a real luxury), I
offered to teach their children while they were here on
vacation for a week from school in Thailand.
Ugyen Palden is 15, a very bright young man, but not what
you would call athletic. He had learned the basics from past
Bhutan Youth Golf Association instructors, enough to get by.
Our sessions were 2 hours in length, for 5 days straight.
All of this was to be done on the golf course.
The obstacle for young Ugyen was his past sports history. He
had labeled himself `unathletic’, and got by with reasoning
and intellectual powers, not motor skills.
In the beginning, Ugyen was self conscious, and a little
frustrated. He kept missing the ball! As a teacher, I needed
to call on all my experience to help him relax, and not try
to impress me. He was one step removed from `playing’, and
instead was `trying’.
As I said, Ugyen was a very bright boy, able to converse at
a level beyond his years. It was obvious that he was
thinking too much, about the wrong things; I had an
intuition that proved to work incredibly well in his case, a
view I have used to great success with many others who
struggle with the game.
I spoke with Ugyen about the relatively new science of
General Systems Theory, a discipline that takes essentially
the same premise of Buddhism. It is a set of principles that
describes how systems live and grow. A system could be an
individual, a tribe, a business, a country, or even a golf
game.
It seems, systems are self-regulating, taking in information
in the form of feedback, and changing when it benefits the
system. A system is alive, always changing, totally
dependent on the world around it. It gives and takes, always
making those corrections that will enable it to grow in
positive ways.
What that meant to Ugyen; if I could get him to `let it fix
itself’, without his conscious interference, then the system
of his golf game would grow into a thriving game-system.
After explaining the principles, and was sure he understood,
I simply repeated to him after every mistake, `let it fix
itself. The game will figure out a way to be played. You
just be patient’. I am reminded of Jack Nicklaus, telling
his caddy Angelo, to repeat `be patient’ to the great player
over and over during the game.
What we had on our side was time. There was no rush. The
days were bright and crisp, with nobody else on the course
at that time. Unlike a 40 minute private lesson, where I
have to get results quickly, here I could allow the precious
space for growth. And did his system ever grow! He was
hitting long and straight for the most part, and when he
didn’t, there was no thought of failure, or negativity in
any way. He was hooked into the self-correcting system view,
understood that change can only come from feedback that
prompts it (bad shots), and that those bad shots were the
only way to get fresh air and dynamic movement into his
game-system. Another Nicklaus statement; that the game is a
series of constant adjustments, not a static, solid,
unmoving thing. Jack seemed to be more interested in the
`playing’ than the `player’. Thus his incredible career.
An important systems theory principal, is that action
creates the individual, not the other way around. Bucky
Fuller said, `I seem to be a verb’ . It seems to be all
about the action, and the actor is formed from that. The Zen
master said `when I eat, I just eat. When I sleep, I just
sleep’.
What that means to me, is that if the thought of ME doing
something, is replaced by `just doing’, with less ME, the
action becomes efficient and direct.
My young student began to swing with freedom, confidence.
The only occasional technical reminders I gave were `abu up’
(abu is rear-end in Dzongka. He was standing too erect), and
`sweep the ground, (opposed to `hit the ball’).
I cannot remember a more satisfying teaching experience in
27 years. Thank you, Ugyen. |
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