Getting Things Done

I haven't been blogging much in the last couple of months, and with good reason: a new job, complete with learning curve and travel, and consequently a paring back on other activities.   A good friend told me that getting settled in to a new job typically takes three to six months, which sounds about right.

Anyhoo, as part of my drive to get more organized in my new gig (and generally), I finally picked up a copy of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen -- perplexingly re-titled "How to Get Things Done" for the Australian edition -- something of a "sacred text" for the geeky Lifehacking movement.

Here's an article from Wired magazine Getting Things Done Guru David Allen and His Cult of Hyperefficiency that delves into the somewhat colorful background of the author.

A synopsis of the approach, given at Google (46 minutes):

What I hadn't realised previously, and what the video and the book make quite clear is that GTD is in many ways an application of a few martial arts principles to the very modern problem of having too much on one's plate.  The author claims past experience as a karate instructor, and builds much of his approach around working towards an ideal state of having a "mind like water".  Rationalism plus martial arts: what's not to like?

For those not ready for the somewhat daunting transformation that an approach like GTD entails, there is the highly amusing structured procrastination, which I recommend reading, but would counsel against adopting!

Lessons in Character

Some excellent writing on courtesy, humility, and example-setting from Charles C. Goodin's Karate Thoughts blog.  Start with these:

1. Character 1-2-3
2. Domo arigato sensei

These lessons don't just apply to karate, but (hopefully!) to all martial arts, and to living a good life.

The Three Levels of Judo

From Mind Over Muscle: Writings from the founder of Judo, pp94-5:

The Three Levels of Judo
We have now established judo's three aspects -- training for defense against attack, cultivation of the mind and body, and putting one's energy to use. We have also affirmed judo's highest goal as self-perfection for the betterment of society. For the sake of convenience, let us place the foundation -- training for defense against attack -- at the bottom and call it lower level judo. Let us call training and cultivation, which are by-products of training for defense against attack, middle-level judo. The study of how to put one's energy to use in society comes last, so let us call it upper level-judo.

When we divide judo into these three levels, we can see that it must not be limited to training for fighting in the dojo, and even if you train your body and cultivate your mind, if you do not go a level higher, you truly cannot benefit society. No matter how great a person you are, if you die without achieving anything, as the proverb says: "Unused treasure is a wasted treasure." It can be said that you perfected yourself, but it cannot be said that you contributed to society. I urge all practitioners of judo to recognize that it consists of these three levels and to undergo their training without undue emphasis of one aspect over another. -- Jigoro Kano, founder of Judo

Since the passing of the founder of Judo in 1938 can it be said that mainstream judo has truly honored Kano's aims? I think that it's fair to say that modern "Olympic" judo prioritizes victory in sporting contest as its main goal.

Now: With this in mind, which judo would you rather study? Modern "Olympic" judo, or Kano's classical judo?

Hard stuff

Both stylistically, and by temperament I tend towards the softer end of the spectrum in my martial arts. Sure, when I throw my partner hits the mat hard and when I apply a joint lock it hurts, but I aspire to use leverage and whole-body power, rather than the "brute" force of local muscle.

That said, lately I've wondered whether a teensy bit of "hard" practice might do me a bit of good. So I've picked three training drills that have a hard element and have added them to my personal routine: 2-5% hard, leaving 95-98% soft.

1. Horse stance with tension: Just stand in horse stance and tense every muscle, all at once, increasing the duration over time. Warning: If you try this do not allow pressure to build up in your head, as it can be dangerous.
2. Low forward stance: The front knee should be in line with the toes; the back leg braced straight. Sound hard? It is.
3. Circular punching: This should actually be fairly relaxed, but my shoulders and upper arms don't understand this, and tense up, making me want to stop.

Note that the former two exercises are static hard exercises, not dynamic. There's some virtue in exploring what hard feels like, as opposed to adopting it as a normal state of movement.

For dynamic I still want soft. The latter two drills are primarily hard in the sense of difficult, and this leads to hard in the form of unwanted tension. Certainly, the punching should become softer with practice.

What exercises do you find hard, in either or both senses? How do you balance hard and soft in your training?

Mastery is ...

From Carmen  Matthews's Amazon review of Mastery, by George Leonard:

Mastery is:

1. The process where what was difficult becomes both easier and more pleasurable; 
   
2. Long-term dedication to the journey - not the bottom line; 
   
3. Gaining mental discipline to travel further on your journey; 
   
4. Being goalless; 
   
5. Realizing that the pleasure of practice is intensified; 
   
6. Creating deep roots; 
   
7. Knowing that you will never reach a final destination; 
   
8. Being diligent with the process of mastery; 
   
9. Your commitment to hone your skills; 
   
10. After you have reached the top of the mountain, climb  another one; 
    
11. Being willing to practice, even when you seem to be getting no where; 
    
12. Making this a life process; 
    
13. Being patient, while you apply long-term efforts; 
    
14. Appreciating and even enjoying the plateau, as much as you do the progress; 
    
15. Practicing for the sake of practice; 
    
16. Winning graciously, and losing with equal grace; 
    
17. Placing practice, discipline, conditioning and character development before winning; 
    
18. Being courageous; 
    
19. Being fully in the present moment; 
    
20. Realizing that the ultimate goal is not the medal, or the ribbon, but the path to mastery its self (The "I am" stage); 
    
21. Being willing to look foolish; 
    
22. Maintaining flexibility in your strategy, and in your actions; 
23. A journey; and, 
    
24. Determination 
    

Apply this to everything in your life, to claim your authentic self.

I think that that material would make a great inspirational poster, in the spirit of How to be an Artist.

Feldenkrais's recipe for genius

Moshe Feldenkrais was a physicist and pioneering judo black belt (under Kawaishi) who invented what later became known as the Feldenkrais Method of movement education to fix his knees -- which he had wrecked playing soccer -- in the days before reliable reconstructive surgery.

His books are fascinating and at times perplexing, but always thought provoking.  Many of his students have written more accessible derivative works -- e.g. Hegge's "Running with the whole body" and Hanna's "Somatics" -- but for sheer depth it's hard to go past Feldenkrais himself.  I recommend "Awareness through Movement" as the most accessible. 

Ruthy Alon shows what it's all about:

Here's a quote that I have been puzzling over for a few years:

"Find your true weakness and surrender to it. Therein lies the path to genius. Most people spend their lives using their strengths to overcome or cover up their weaknesses. Those few who use their strengths to incorporate their weaknesses, who don't divide themselves, those people are very rare. In any generation there are a few and they lead their generation."

Recently it occurred to me that Feldenkrais was in-part referring to something that I have believed for a long time, but attaching a greater significance: 

By finding something that you are weak in, but keen on, you can embark on a great journey -- from weakness to acquired strength -- not merely a path to competence, but also one of learning, insight, and challenges.  By taking such a path not only will you gain personally, but also be in a position to help others on their journeys, far more so than if you had merely stuck to your strengths.

In my case, it is the things that I am passionate about, had to work hard at to get somewhere, that I not only value a little more than the things that came easily, but also which I feel best equipped to teach. 

This applies to my experience of martial arts as a whole, but at other levels too.  For example: As a beginner I struggled to learn our 2nd hip throw -- kubi nage (neck throw) -- and yet today it is one of my favorite techniques.  Furthermore:  My students seem to acquire its nuances quite quickly -- certainly much faster than I did -- presumably because having struggled with it in so many ways over such a long period, I am now well-equipped to teach it.  

Taking this example further, I am happier with how I execute kubi nage today than I am with other throws that came to me more easily: Weakness has overtaken strength; the tortoise has outraced the hare.  Now the challenge is to integrate what I have learned in struggling with kubi nage to improve in other areas.

There's still more to Feldenkrais's recipe -- including "finding your true weakness": How do you do that?  How do you verify it?  More food for thought ...

P.S. Feldenkrais's judo books are also great, but largely out of print.  Happily, Irene Gutteridge has pointed out that Higher Judo: Groundwork is available from www.feldenkrais.com.

P.P.S. The classical judo that I practice comes via Mikonosuke Kawaishi,  who was dispatched by Judo founder Jigoro Kano to spread Judo to the Europeans after Kano met (and throttled!) a then young Feldenkrais in Paris.  Who was the first European black belt in Judo? Feldrenkrais.  His teacher?  Kawaishi. 

Compassionate thinking

One of my principal teachers, Kyoshi Adam Bradshaw, teaches that the martial arts can and should develop critical, creative and compassionate thinking.

• Creative thinking engages the imagination to see more than one option (most of the time)
• Critical thinking includes dispassionate evaluation when choosing a course of action
• Compassionate thinking biases us to prefer actions that prevent or reduce pain in others and ourselves

If it seems paradoxical that martial arts, whose subject matter include detailed and systematic study of methods of violence and inducing pain and injury can teach compassionate thinking, read on!

At one extreme consider the compulsively angry person who, when provoked, responds violently. Not many options there, and not much compassion either. This person is failing to use all three forms of thinking; (s)he is merely reactive.

At the other extreme is the avowed non-violent person who believes that violence is unacceptable, always. Such a person is not prepared to use violence to stop a violent aggressor even to stop serial acts of violence, and must find other means, or be reduced to being a victim or by-stander. If other means are found all is well and good, but if there is an insufficiency of creative thinking, or simply no viable alternative, (s)he may hold true to non-violence yet greater evils may result.

By contrast, the trained martial artist, familiar with the ways of violence has the option of using it as a positive action, as when Vladimir Putin -- Russian Prime Minister and 6th dan in Judo -- saved a camera crew from a charging tiger by nonchalantly picking up a tranquilizer gun and shooting it. Sure, the tiger felt some pain, but far greater suffering was averted.

Here's another story: Tai Chi instructor Arthur Rosenfeld explains how he neutralized his own road-rage by doing something nice for a guy who was stupidly honking him in a take-out line. Instead of getting into an altercation and teaching the guy a (painful) lesson, he simply paid for the guy's coffees (without telling him), and drove off. The feel-good bit is that the guy then paid for the next customer, clearly prompted by Rosenfeld's creative and compassionate action, and from there the chain continued for several hours, cheered up a lot of people, and even got reported in the media.

* * *

By training in the martial arts we can lessen the negative effects of fear and anger on our actions. We train to enable us to perform at our best -- in every sense -- in difficult and even life-threatening situations.

The power of example

From the afterword of an outstanding book by scientist turned Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard:

The good fortune of meeting with remarkable people who were both wise and compassionate was decisive in my case, because the power of example speaks more forcefully than any other communication.

There is something deeply affecting about such people. As I work to follow the example of my own role-models I find that my admiration for them doubles (and re-doubles) as I begin to better appreciate the scale of their achievements and -- by inference -- of their sustained effort.

The more you know, and the further you get, the more there is to learn and to do. This should inspire both humility and dedication.

Developing Personal Qualities 2: Self-Discipline

I see the exercise of self-discipline as a composite of the following personal qualities:

• Drive
• Patience
• Persistence
• Imagination
  

Exercising self-discipline requires and strengthens these qualities.

Self-Discipline: Who Needs It?
If I find an activity pleasurable or interesting then I have no need of self-discipline to persist. It is when an activity is painful or boring that self-discipline comes into play.

Of course there is another option: Avoidance. A fair question to ask is, "Why am I doing this?" If the answer is "For a greater goal" (e.g. future pleasure, avoidance of pain, financial reward, ambition, helping out a friend, raising a child) I might just need to call on self-discipline to help me.

So I need self-discipline with respect to an activity when:

1. The activity is not pleasurable
2. I nevertheless have good reason to carry it out
   

Getting Smart about Self-Discipline
The first trick is to make the new activity part of your routine. For example, I brush my teeth after breakfast and before I go to bed. You can piggy-back other non-pleasurable activities onto existing routine. This makes them seem "nothing special" and you relieve yourself of the burden of "making time" to do something unappealing.

The second trick is to apply one's creativity to minimize the boredom or pain, and increase the interest and pleasure.

A third trick is to take advantage of the social effects of positive peer pressure. For example, in taking up a martial art such as jiu-jitsu, the major initial act of self-discipline is making it to class regularly (routine!) and applying yourself diligently. Once you are in class you will be swept along by the example of the instructor and senior students, and motivated to do your best by the desire to improve and to help your fellow students.

Case Study: The Horse Stance
In Jiu-Jitsu formal stances are typically used transitionally, and are learned in the context of actual application. For example, in this photo I am applying a reverse-armbar -- a restraint and control technique -- from a horse-riding stance:
From here I could take Adam down to the ground or move into a more mobile lock to better escort him to the local police station. Either way I would not need to stay in this position for very long.

By contrast, in training in a Chinese martial art such as Hung Kuen Chinese Boxing (a Southern Shaolin style) stance training -- i.e. holding stances statically for significant periods of time -- is a core part of training. Of all stances, the horse stance is generally regarded as the most fundamental.

Here is Adam in the orthodox Hung Kuen horse stance:

Now, anyone who has ever tried to hold a horse stance for a period of time will know that it is not pleasurable! In fact, folk law has it that the horse stance is a device best used by cruel martial arts teachers to test a student's commitment or punish him (or her) for misdeeds.

But: I have it on good authority that learning to hold a horse stance for long periods will significantly improve several aspects of one's martial art. [Apparently, it used to be the case that students of Hung Kuen first had to learn to stand in horse stance for half-an-hour before being taught any other forms or techniques!]

The Twenty Minute Horse Stance Challenge
So I have recently set myself the slightly more modest challenge of learning to stand in horse stance for twenty minutes. Given that most people will wilt in under a minute the first time they attempt a horse stance, this is a substantive goal which cannot be achieved by will-power or bravado alone. In fact, I aim to get the most out of the challenge by not purely increasing my pain-tolerance and will-power, but by learning how to stand more effectively and relaxedly in horse stance.

So this challenge fits the bill of not being pleasurable, but something that I wish to do in the service of a greater goal (developing as a martial artist). The exciting bit is that there will be other benefits that I will discover through the course of the journey.

Update (January 2009): For a different spin on stance-holding see Dojo Rat's post on standing meditation. He discusses somewhat less physically demanding stances, but longer durations. This comment by Jose de Freitas is particularly informative.

My approach
Most mornings I get up very early and do around 45 minutes of solo Chinese Boxing practice before breakfast work or family time.

While engaging in the challenge I do the standard warm-ups and then sit in horse stance for "a period of time". I do this immediately after the warm-ups to get straight into it and avoid the temptation to not work on the challenge today. It also contributes a degree of stability to my routine and allows me to feel purposeful (and a little bit virtuous).

At first my plan was to count a standard number of breaths to help estimate the time-in-stance and ratchet up the number of breaths on a weekly basis, but interestingly I found that with daily practice my breathing rate slowed down considerably. First benefit: Improved awareness of breathing and increased relaxation under the stress of holding the stance.

Every week or two I plan to time how long I can stand so that I can quantify my progress.

After completing the stance I do some other training activities -- typically empty-hand or weapons sets -- and intersperse these with other horse-stance related exercises, such as punching in a horse-stance or "holding the ball". I am also careful to train other stances a bit, such as cat-stance and forward stance. Second benefit: The other stances seem to be getting easier without particular effort.

You see, although I want to succeed in this challenge, the challenge is not an end-in-itself. I am interested to see how working my horse stance is affecting the other parts of my training, and what I can bring from other parts of my training into the crucible of the horse stance.

Although I have set a quantifiable goal -- a very Western thing to do -- the ultimate benefits may be more qualitative.

Pain
After sitting in horse stance for a while usually something starts to hurt. Having gotten through the simplistic "pain bad - avoid" attitude through years of martial arts training, I now distinguish between pain as a sign that something is wrong, and pain as a warning of imminent structural damage. In the case of horse stance it appears that the pain is telling me where I am holding tension and need to subtly change my posture. Third benefit: I am becoming more aware of habitual tensions and starting to work them out.

Update (September 2008): I have found that working with my breathing is a great help here. See my article on breathing, especially the part about breathing through your feet.

Boredom
Sitting in horse stance has started to feel less boring. By simply accepting it as part of my routine -- like brushing and flossing my teeth -- I do not give myself the option of avoidance. As my familiarity with the stance increases I am becoming more attuned to my body while in the stance. It is no-longer boring because there is so much to observe and learn.

Conclusion
Hopefully more benefits will ensue. I am enjoying the challenge aspect, and am looking forward to consolidating the benefits that I am already experiencing. In fact, horse-stance training is starting to look like a super-efficient exercise.

Finally, having blogged about this, I have made the challenge more real, and feel honour-bound to give it my best shot, but sensibly, and on my own time-table.

Hmmm, I think that I had better stop writing now and get back on the horse!

Developing Social Qualities - Part I: Trust

Kancho, the grand-master of my style said: "The Martial Arts begin with trust".

I had just given my first martial arts seminar on The Science of Judo, in which I likened the training hall to a laboratory for personal experimentation, and it was generally well-received. But Kancho was making a fundamental point: Without trust between student and instructor, and between training partners, there can be little learning.

When you first step into the world of martial arts you need to make the decision to trust your instructor. This is critical, not only to learn, but for your own safety and that of your training partners.

Training in the martial arts involves learning deliberately dangerous techniques which must be practiced safely:

• There are throws: You need to learn to fall safely as quickly as possible, and to learn how to throw your partner safely
  
• There are strikes: You need to learn how to strike safely so that you are learning proper technique and distancing, without damaging your partner when (s)he fails to evade or redirect the strike
• There are joint-locks and strangles: You need to learn to apply these techniques slowly and gently, and when receiving signal submission when the technique takes effect and not be a hero by "toughing it out".
  

Maybe you are a skeptical person who thinks that trust must be earned and cannot be given. Then you should observe closely before joining a new class and ask yourself,

• "Is this instructor trustworthy?", and
• "Do the students trust each other?"

If the answer to either question is no, you should not join the class. If the answer is yes, then you can trust your own initial assessment and begin by trusting the instructor and your new class-mates.

Through on-going training, your trust for your instructor and training partners -- and their trust of you -- should grow, as you all practice in a sincere, safe and trustworthy manner.

Developing Personal Qualities - Part I: Resilience

Personal Development is a a fairly fuzzy concept. As a notion, I like it. Develop yourself in deep ways. But what does it mean?

We can make the concept more substantial by formulating a list of desirable qualities, and then look at how these can be developed in concrete ways. In doing so I will explore how the martial arts can act as a vehicle of personal development, not just in physical skills, but in mental, emotional, social, and -- I have to be careful here! -- spiritual dimensions.

The key idea is that the physical and social aspects of martial arts training lead in to the other dimensions.

Training physically, observing etiquette, and working with others act together to develop the individual as a whole.

Desirable qualities
If -- like me -- you are a parent of young children an easy way to come up with your own list of desirable list is to think about what qualities you would like your children to develop. [Be sure to include ones you would like to develop or further in yourself to avoid an exercise in narcissism.]

Other approaches are to think about the qualities that you admire in others, especially friends and your own role models. You can even make a game of it: What are your the top three admirable qualities?

You may wish to construct your own list independently at this point, before reading mine. Leave a comment if I have missed a quality that you hold in high esteem.

Here is my working list, ordered mostly according to whim:

1. Resilience
2. Perceptiveness
3. Decisiveness
4. Patience
5. Humility
6. Perspective
   
7. Compassion
8. Loyalty
9. Honesty
10. Reflection
11. Scepticism
12. Love of learning
    
13. Sense of humor

Resilience
This is my number one quality. Resilience, especially the dimension of mental toughness, is what gets you through when external circumstances conspire and you are hit with more than you you can handle. You may have all the qualities and skills in the world, but sometimes you just cannot hold your ground or get out of the way, and you get knocked down. In the words of the old and much-covered song Pick Yourself Up:

Now nothing's impossible,
I've found for when my chin is on the ground,
I pick myself up, dust myself off, and start all over again.

Life, with its slings and arrows, is kind of a school for resilience. Just wait for disaster to strike, and see how you cope. It will happen! "What does not kill you makes you stronger."

But can resilience be learned in a less chancy fashion? Organizations such as Outward Bound have quite a good recipe: Put people into new circumstances and give them challenges outside their comfort zones, but within their capability, and do it in a social group with competent leadership.

This description also applies to martial arts training:

• The initially unfamiliar setting is the traditional training hall
• The challenges are the physical techniques
• The social group are the other beginners
• The competent leadership is the instructor
  

Additionally, there is a physical metaphor for resilience in learning to fall correctly (an essential skill in martial arts that use throwing techniques). Each time that you are thrown to the mat you literally -- and repeatedly -- need to pick yourself up and start all over again. This is a metaphor, model and practice opportunity all rolled into one!

And there are many other benefits to learning correct falling technique.

* * *

I will look at how the other qualities listed are developed through martial arts training in future installments. Which reminds me of one more:

14. Persistence

What's Om got to do with it?

The popular image of meditation goes something like this:

Seated in lotus position, eyes closed, hands forming esoteric signs, the adept repeats the mantra Om mani padme hum and seeks oneness with the Universe.

This all looks and sounds very passive and peaceful (and more than a bit New Age); almost the exact opposite of the stereotype of martial arts as active, violent and blood-thirsty.

But there is more to meditation than passivity and navel-gazing, and there is more to martial arts than beating people up. A significant component of meditation is a state of mind that is essential to the mental side of martial arts, and one that is of great value in everyday life.

So I hope you will join me on a brief tour on the nature and relationship of meditation to the martial arts:

What is meditation?
In reality, the meditative state is almost the exact opposite of being oblivious or pre-occupied. My working definition is:

A state of relaxed concentration on the reality of the present moment.

In other words, it is about being really awake, alive and tuned in to what is going on in and around you. I consider it to be the same as being "in the zone" or in a state of flow.

Anything that leads you to this state can be viewed as a form of meditation.

Note: While it is true that there are many types and techniques of meditation with varying aims and extensions, I take the above aspect as the common foundation. (At least, it is the aspect that I am going to stick to for the purposes of this article!)

Martial arts = Moving meditation
Clearly, in a life-and-death situation, such as being under attack, or needing to take quick action to save someone else in danger, being relaxed, aware, concentrated and undistracted is gold.

So rather than getting a huge adrenalin rush -- the fight-or-flight response -- and going berserk, the martial artist trains to enter a meditative state in which his (or her) every action is swift, accurate and efficient.

The Samurai called this state mushin or no mind, and it is characterized by the absence of fear, anger, pride and cogitation; a feeling of calmness and clarity; and the ability to act swiftly and decisively.

For this reason, any form of martial arts training which seeks to train the mind in this respect can be seen as a form of moving meditation, albeit one with extremely practical application!

So where the practitioner of a sitting meditation technique seeks to extend the meditative state into day-to-day life, the martial artist trains her- or him-self to be mentally ready for life's toughest challenges.

Explicit connections
Legend has it that the Indian monk Bodhidharma brought Zen Buddhism to 6th Century China. Furthermore, he is alleged to have introduced the then-puny monks of the Chinese Shaolin Temple in martial arts techniques to build them up physically and mentally to be able to withstand the rigors of hard-core meditation practice!

Similarly, the traditional aim of hatha yoga is not to become a contortionist and run off and join the circus, but to prepare oneself for advanced meditation techniques.

It is possible to regard meditation as a useful practice to "bolt on" to one's martial art, as a somewhat esoteric form of cross-training, but I believe that it is much more integral than that.

The Inner Game
The most accessible book on meditation that I have found is Tim Gallwey's classic, The Inner Game of Tennis. Without mentioning the M-word, Gallwey gives a compelling introduction to what are effectively moving meditation techniques that work on the tennis court.

Gallwey starts by asking a perceptive question about self-talk: When you criticize yourself for mis-hitting a shot, who is talking to whom?

Side-stepping more loaded labels such as mind/body, left-brain/right-brain, conscious/unconscious, Gallwey calls the vocal critic Self 1, and the listener Self 2. He suggests that Self 1 is a bit like an incompetent boss, while Self 2 is like a harried, but potentially highly able underling. Gallwey's introductory techniques aim to get Self 1 off Self 2's back by giving him something more useful to do.

Gallwey's classic introductory exercise is called "bounce-hit", in which the player is asked to say out loud "bounce" when the ball bounces on his or her side of the court, and "hit" when the racquet strikes the ball. This gives Self 1 something to do actively (say "bounce" or "hit"), while incidentally providing useful sensory input to Self 2 (about the location of the ball).

As a meditation, bounce-hit forces the individual to stop worrying about the past or future and instead focus on the location of the ball right now. It is a great exercise and most people get immediate results. (Maintaining the improvements as Self 1 starts to get self-congratulatory is the next challenge!)

I have personally adapted some of Gallwey's other techniques for teaching martial arts, I think with some success, but that's a subject for another article or -- publishers please note -- maybe part of a book. ;-)

Conclusion
Martial arts, meditation, yoga, excellence in sports, flow: If you are deeply interested in one, research the others. There is a common core that cuts through the lot.

Further notes on Gallwey and the Inner Game
Translating Inner Game techniques to other areas is not all that easy, even for Gallwey! There are several sequels to The Inner Game of Tennis including the follow-up Inner Tennis and the variations: The Inner Games of Golf / Skiing / Music and even Work. However -- for my money -- the original book is the best. (Interestingly, the current boom in life-, business- and executive-coaching has its origin with Gallwey.)

Going in the other direction, Gallwey seems to have derived his techniques from particular Yogic teachings brought to the USA by controversial Indian "guru" Prem Sawat (also known as Maharaji). The consensus seems to be that the techniques taught are real enough, but Sawat himself gets mixed reviews.