"RIVER-SITTING" METHOD OF MEDITATION........................RELEASING AND BALANCING THE TENNIS MIND

                  It is necessary to find balance. Before
you play the game. It is necessary to overcome all kinds of fears and anxieties. Anticipatory anxiety is the special monstrosity which one must confront and conquer. 
The way to beat it is to be in the now, but this is
easier said than done.
             When you're facing a crowd of many
thousand people and a dangerous opponent,
fear does creep in. The best way to beat
anticipatory anxiety is to begin the activity that
worries you.
           In tennis, of course, preparation is necessary.
A player must bend his knees and get into the flow
of the warm-up. If you're playing at the top level,
 massage, short sauna and yoga
stretching. But nothing is more important
than a balanced mind.
          In London this week, Murray was at the top of his
game only briefly, when playing Nishikori . It took Raonic
a set to get into play in a balanced fashion against Federer. Naturally, Federer had a great start, as usual. And Fed's hitting partner, Wawrinka, went at Berdych like gangbusters
from the very onset of the match.
          It's a difficult business, achieving early balance.
But it's absolutely necessary at top level play.
Some form of pre-match meditation is essential.
There are techniques that can be employed.
If time is not a problem,  "river-sitting" method,
as I describe it, is the best way to go, for modern
people living in busy cities.
         I have written essays on this method of meditation
in other places. I will put a package together, but this will take time. 
         Two  phrases that apply to "river-sitting" are:
'not-trying' and 'no goal'. Let the river flow within
you without clinging to the images, the desires,
the sorrows that pass.
         Do not attempt to "quiet the mind" or enter into
'no-thought'. A state of  emptiness will come
eventually, but do not reach for the freedom
that emptiness implies.
         More important it is... to let the river of
mind  flow within your consciousness
without attachment to what drifts by.
         Do not attempt to reach inner silence
or quietude. There is no need for grasping.
No need to try to achieve what is already
your innermost nature, what is already
your birthright.
         Patience is required and faith in a relaxed,
determined focus. 
         Let the objects in the river be, let the
images and experiences pass by. It is useless
to try to silence the mind or place yourself in
some kind of rigid expectation.