Becoming Unaware

We spend so much of our time becoming aware. Be focused on what you do, don't make mistakes. Practice, practice, practice. But the real athleticism comes when you're in the zone. When interviewing several basketball players who frequently get in the zone, many described it as not even feeling the basketball, their whole motion being instinctive.

Music can be the same way. I can count in my head, or think about the next chord. But the magic happens when I just do it. When I let go of the worry and the concious decisions and just let my body move where the music takes it. I listened to a recording of a group I played with and noticed a really cool rhythm. I couldn't tell where it was coming from. There were two guitarists and a percussionist, and I hadn't remembered hearing that rhythm. The next time we played that song, I realized I was the one playing that rhythm. I had been in 'the zone.' Completely unaware, not making concious choices, but filling the musical space.

So here's the question, how do you get there? With music I've found part of it is letting go of the technique and just feeling it, but it took a long time to get to where I had enough technique to do that. Never was much of a runner, but when I tried it, the one time I rememer finding 'the zone' I was doing math in my head and then suddenly I had run for miles. Don't know if this counts, but I've found myself lost in thought in the car, usually when listening for a traffic report, suddenly realize I was so absorbed in thought that I missed three traffic reports. How about when you think you're not paying attention to driving and then a brake light ahead wakes you up?