The Four Minute Mile - Shattering Psychological Barriers

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In 1954, Roger Bannister ran a mile in less than four minutes. It was hailed as an "epic human achievement." The world record of 4:01.4 seconds had held for over 10 years, and some wondered if it was humanly possible to break that 4-minute barrier. Yet six weeks later Bannister's record was broken by John Landy. Today, running a mile in four minutes is considered the standard for all male professional middle distance runners.

Whether we realize it or not, we all struggle with barriers in our practice. To what extent are these barriers purely psychological?

Shuji Maruyama Sensei, is a role model for me in this way. In his lifelong practice of aikido, he has not been constrained by concepts of what "should" be possible. He does things that shouldn't be possible, and makes them look so easy that it takes an effort to recognize how remarkable they are. Sensei is slight in stature, and yet he throws big, strong martial artists - people he has trained to resist him and others - sometimes throwing them to the ground from a standstill, sometimes even lifting them up so their bodies are horizontal before they fall. Often, quite high-ranked students will try to do the same thing and can't. This isn't a reflection of their lack of ability, but rather an indication of how extraordinary Sensei's ability is.

The jazz pianist Chick Corea demonstrates similar qualities. Like Sensei, Chick has been called a "pioneer." His biography is full of "firsts" and superlatives. Yet Chick makes this amazing music seem easy. I found out first-hand how hard it was:  I thought I'd try to transcribe a relatively simple tune, Celia, so I loaded Chick's version into my "slowdowner" app. I didn't expect to be able to reproduce the whole thing, but thought I could get the hang of the "head" or main part of the tune. After more than an hour I was only halfway through the introduction.

Often I think something is impossible for me, simply because I don't know anyone like me who has done it, or I don't know what path to take to do it. There may be a lot of hard, focused work involved, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's impossible. Maybe the question I should ask isn't, "Can I do it?" but, "How much do I want it?" If I assume it can be done, then I just have to find out how.


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