Re-Connecting with the Tao
To anyone who’s played basketball before, they know free-throw shooting isn’t as simple as it looks on tv. Learning how to shoot free throws takes practice, and repetition, and practice, and repetition, and more practice, and you get the point.
But that’s not where learning to shoot free throws starts. To learn how to shoot free throws, you first have to first learn how to shoot the basketball.
To do this, young people are typically taught what’s called ‘form shooting’. Without getting too technical, form shooting is basically comprised of breaking down the basketball shot into it’s core elements, and then focusing in on the base movements.
To do this, you:
- stand 4 or 5 feet away from the net,
- feet shoulder-width apart, shoulders and hips ‘square’ to the basket,
- non-shooting hand behind your back,
- basketball resting on the fingertips of your shooting hand (similar to a waiter holding a tray),
- elbow bent 90°, with
- eyes locked on the rim.
Once you’re there, balanced and ready, you’ve gotten yourself into the shooting position. And by setting the ball up and balancing it in your hand, connecting each finger to the ball, what you’re really doing is controlling all the variables that might adversely affect your shot so you can focus in on your ‘shooting form’.
Form shooting, get it?
So, you’re now standing with one arm behind your back, ball resting in your hand, forearm extending straight up from the elbow, bent at 90°. You’re ready to shoot! From here, the shooting motion begins.
You dip down into your knees ever so slightly.. and lift up in one sweeping motion, from your legs, through your waist and core, pushing your arm up, through your shoulder, forearm extending, wrist snapping through your fingertips as you lift up onto your toes, all through the y-axis, eyes locked on the rim the entire time, tracing the backspin of the ball with your peripheral vision, following it all the way as it goes through the cylinder of the rim and through the net.
Form shooting.
When you have the right spin and trajectory on your shot, the net will make a satisfying snapping, whipping sound.
If you’re a basketball player committed to your craft, you’ll practice this with both hands, developing greater muscle coordination, greater body awareness, improving your technique and using your weak hand as a learning instrument to fine-tune what your strong hand already knows.
And this is how I’ve warmed up on the basketball court for as long as I can remember. 30 shots with the right hand, and then 30 shots with the left hand. After I’m done, I’ll square to the centre of the basket, step back a few feet at a time, gradually increasing the distance between me and the basket, and begin working my way “around the world”, from left to right, in a semi-circle around the hoop, gradually increasing the distance from the hoop, making my way backwards towards the free throw line.
Now, the nice thing about basketball, similar to swimming and trail-running, other favorites of mine, is that it’s one of those sports you can enjoy by yourself: it’s relatively easy to grab a ball, find a court, and get to work practicing your shot.
Once there, not only are you getting some good exercise, you’re focusing on the repetitive nature of shooting the ball, a deeply meditative practice, and when you consider the ‘dopamine reward pathway’ element of seeing the ball go through the hoop, it becomes therapeutic in nature.
But what’s important as it pertains to this story though, is what I was thinking about before I went to the gym this particular day, before I started going through my form-shooting routine, before I started practicing my free throws.
What’s important is the mindset that I brought with me into the gym.
I had just finished talking to one of my best friends, having gone over some of the events of the past month. In a nutshell, I was going through a breakup. We’ve all been there. But not just any breakup either. This was a big one!
At the time, it was the deepest relationship I’d gone through. And so, suffice to say, the breakup was a heavy one.
Now, to be clear, in my mind, breakups can and should be good for you. I’d done my best to make this episode a great one for me. I had spent my time reconnecting, taking care of things that I’d let slip, and doing the things that one does in order to feel good about themselves after going through an emotionally taxing breakup: friends, exercise, and big goals.
This was the place that I was at the night I went into the gym.
I had been chatting with my good friend about the prior month’s events and unexpectedly, she shared a perspective that I hadn’t considered before. Prior to this, I’d felt rejected, which is always a bitter pill to swallow. And if I’m being honest, I probably was.
But, what I began through the conversation, was that it was actually me who had drawn a line in the sand.
When I had this perspective shared with me, when I was told that my boundary-setting was an important distinction in the timeline of events, when I saw it and began to think about it, I began to feel differently about what had transpired. Very differently.
I began to feel a sense of ownership, integrity, and self-respect, that had been absent in my psyche based on what I had originally perceived to have happened.
Earlier in the day, I began making myself a ‘Moving On’ playlist. I had already made the best ‘Breaking Up’ playlist. And yes, I’d also made the best ‘It’s Not Over Till it’s Over’. Ironic. But prior to this day, I hadn’t yet to put into musical form what it was that is so empowering about moving on.
So, it was the combined acts of making the playlist and talking with my friend that got me thinking about my recent experiences in a new light. I started to feel better about things.
I started to feel like I’d begun to reconnect with the Tao. That I’d began to find the way. That I’d began to walk the path.
I started feeling a sense of oneness with the universe.
I started to see the dots connecting, the cause-and-effect that I had been so blind to, wrapped up in all my emotional baggage.
I started to see connections between things that were previously floating, unconnected, through my memories, consciousness, and subconscious.
I started to feel a sense of assertiveness flowing through my mind and being. I felt at ease. Content. I felt excited again.
I felt pride and grace for having acted with dignity and respect and for having maintained my integrity. I was off to the races.
Or, rather, to the basketball court.
In order to pull this all together, there was one final thing that sat in my mind throughout that day that was key in explaining my mindset that night and in understanding where it took me — my daily Momentum quote (check out the Momentum chrome plug-in, very worth it).
“It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.” — Bruce Lee
I had been consciously reflecting on this quote through the day and into the evening as I made my way to the basketball court. This was my first time being on the court, post breakup. There I was, starting off with my form shooting. Warming up the right, working on the left.
Reducing the shot to as few movements as possible. Refining. Focusing. Working on my form. Hacking away at the unessential. I started working my way back, practicing around the world.
And then I get to the free throw line.
I’m focused. My shot had been going in pretty good that night, I’d been making more than I missed. I’d been feeling good. I had some momentum behind me. I’d done some introspecting and reflecting, I’d spoken with a close friend and had a new perspective shared with me. I’d begun thinking about and listening to songs that embodied the spirit of moving on.
Like Drake says, I was moving “On to better things”. Yeah.
Now, for me, historically, I’d never been better than a 60% free throw shooter. Best I’d ever shot before this night might’ve been 8 or 9 in a row, maybe 10 or 11 if I’m being generous.
But something was different this night. I was focused. Intent. Grateful. In a moment of reflection as I stepped to the free throw line, I realized I had too much excess in my routine.
Previously, I would spin the ball, dribble twice, spin it again, and then shoot. It was too much. Too many variables that could go wrong and mess up my shot. I realized this and decided to try something new.
I had been consciously reflecting on this quote through the day and into the evening as I made my way to the basketball court. This was my first time being on the court, post breakup. There I was, starting off with my form shooting. Warming up the right, working on the left.
Reducing the shot to as few movements as possible. Refining. Focusing. Working on my form. Hacking away at the unessential. I started working my way back, practicing around the world.
And then I get to the free throw line.
I’m focused. My shot had been going in pretty good that night, I’d been making more than I missed. I’d been feeling good. I had some momentum behind me. I’d done some introspecting and reflecting, I’d spoken with a close friend and had a new perspective shared with me. I’d begun thinking about and listening to songs that embodied the spirit of moving on.
Like Drake says, I was moving “On to better things”. Yeah.
Now, for me, historically, I’d never been better than a 60% free throw shooter. Best I’d ever shot before this night might’ve been 8 or 9 in a row, maybe 10 or 11 if I’m being generous.
But something was different this night. I was focused. Intent. Grateful. In a moment of reflection as I stepped to the free throw line, I realized I had too much excess in my routine.
Previously, I would spin the ball, dribble twice, spin it again, and then shoot. It was too much. Too many variables that could go wrong and mess up my shot.
I realized this and decided to try something new. I decided it was time to hack away at the unessential.
I decided it was time to hack away at the unessential. I decided to reduce my shot down to its base elements: one spin, one dribble, and eyes on the rim.
24 consecutive made free throws later and I realize, and “I’ve just experienced something special. Something memorable. Something exceptional.”
This was transcendence.
This was a moment.
This was me, re-connecting with the Tao.
And it’s been real, ever since.
The takeaway? Like always, it’s not what happens, but how you respond to it that matters. If you’re facing something, if something has happened, well, it’s going to impact you. That’s normal. So, what are you going to do about it? How were you complicit in what happened? Going back, what could you have done different to change the outcome to something more positive?
These are the lessons that we learn through our experiences, the takeaways and the tools we learn from our losses and failures.
But, when we’re going through it, when we’re in it, it’s natural to feel down. That’s ok. Keep it in perspective. Without losses, without failures, we don’t get the opportunity to learn, to grow, to move into becoming the person we’re meant to be.
So, next time you’re up against it, take a breath.
Remind yourself that champions are forged through discipline and effort and hard work and commitment. That nothing worth having comes easy.
And that truly, like Marcus said, and like Sisyphus taught us, that the obstacle is the way.
