Category: Performance Events ¤
  Author: Shirley Chong ¤
   Title: Ring Nerves ¤

   Okay, show shutdown. I have TERRIBLE ring nerves. The tale of
Chamois's second CD leg is embarrassing and memorable for all the
wrong reasons (she was a star, I was a disaster). I think I may have
a handle on the ring nerves, though!
   I was asked to do a seminar in Wisconsin this last weekend. Was I
nervous? OF COURSE! Was I disaster? I don't think so--overall, I'm
fairly happy with how I did. By the end of the first day, I was
(jokingly) asking the participants to bring out their spare dogs (and
spare bodies) so I could go on training. <G>
   Part of the reason it went well was the group--a nicer group of
people I couldn't have asked to meet. Part of it was that I was
covering things that I know well, so I had confidence in my skill
level. And part of it was that I had mentally rehearsed the seminar
many, many times. Not so much memorizing material but rehearsing
mentally how I would present. Trying to imagine as vividly as
possible how it would feel to stand in front of the group, how I
would move, how my face would feel, what I would do with my hands,
etc.
   I tried to rehearse for various questions and various sorts of
questions. By the time the seminar rolled around, I'd given myself
lots of mental rehearsals. I'd "been in the ring" many, many times.
   Even when unexpected things happened (like the roof of the
building next door coming off and hitting the building we were in), I
was able to take it in stride. No, I didn't imagine what would happen if
the roof came off <LOL> but I had imagined so many situations and
my responses to them that I had a whole variety of ways I could
respond.
   I think it's like driving a car. When you drive the car, the exact
sequence of acceleration, braking, and turns changes each time but
the skills stay the same. By practicing under many different
conditions, the way the car will react becomes almost intuitive. You
can leave the actual mechanics of driving the car to your unconscious
mind (the actual way in which you press the pedals or turn the
steering wheel) and that frees up your conscious mind to deal with
the unexpected or different.
   When I was doing all that mental rehearsing, I imagined as many
wrinkles as I could think up. I imagined myself reacting successfully.
I tried to imagine in as much detail as possible--for instance, if I
were imagining that someone was asking a question, I imagined exactly
how it felt as I turned to face them. I imagined how my feet felt on
the floor, how my leg muscles moved, how my neck muscles moved, how
my facial muscles moved. I imagined using my eyes to scan theaudience
and pick out the speaker. I even imagined the room sounds
and the scent. I made it as real in my mind as I could.
   I was most nervous for the first five minutes. Then it felt more
and more familiar, like something I had done many times before. And
indeed I had done it, many many times before in my imagination.
   As I think about it, it really isn't much different from training
a dog. If I wanted Chamois to retrieve anything anywhere, how would I
teach it? I'd have her retrieve the widest variety of objects I could
imagine in the widest array of circumstances I could contrive.

M. Shirley Chong
The Well Mannered Dog
Iowa City Iowa
tzjd72a@prodigy.com