How to Master Your Monkey Mind by Don Macpherson

Author:Don Macpherson [Macpherson, Don]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473592773
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2020-11-20T00:00:00+00:00

Case Study

Get Out of Your Head

Dr Raj – Scalpel Meets the Monkey!

I met Dr Raj Jutley when we were both working with young racers. He himself was a very fine, enthusiastic rally driver. Oh yes, and by the way, he is also one of the most eminent and skilful cardiac surgeons in the world! Raj and I became good friends, and remain so to this day. Heart surgeons are the Red Arrows of the medical profession (he told me!), although I guess neurosurgeons might have something to say about that.

Raj always works under extreme pressure during heart-bypass operations and asked if I could help him to remain calm and focused, and also to help teach his operating team to stay totally focused when the pressure is on in theatre. As you might expect, Zen Breathing featured heavily, as well as Mind the Monkey, but the main Tool in Raj’s story was Get Out of Your Head. Failure in theatre was never an option, so getting out of his head and instantly connecting to his body – especially his hands – blocked any interference from the Monkey at the most crucial times!

To be perfectly honest, I really didn’t believe in the ‘mumbo-jumbo’ of the Monkey Mind before I met Don. I soon discovered that even without me knowing about it, I was in fact practising taming my Monkey Mind – the constantly chattering, restless, largely unhelpful Monkey that would sit on my shoulder before any surgery and comment incessantly about the operation and what could go wrong with it. I realize now that this is in fact a defence mechanism of sorts, which protects humans, but at the same time, for those who work in high-stress environments it might actually make the difference between success and failure, particularly if your concentration is badly affected.

When I got to Don’s, he explained our session would be short and involve him entering my head, so off we went. I sat in a comfortable armchair with my shoes off. There was background music playing. I recall thinking, What the f**k is this guy going to do without a scalpel? Within a few minutes (I still cannot understand how), Don was in my head, explaining to me about breathing, visualization and, of course, the Monkey.

How did I feel? Certainly very cautious, and even apprehensive initially, but not long after, I was extremely relaxed – to the point that I actually fell asleep. Gone was the tension at the back of my head, the muscles in my scalp actually relaxed, and I could feel my forehead wrinkles soften. Don used visualization techniques focusing on childhood memories to trigger and deepen the session and, of course, his baritone voice was the perfect complement to what he was saying.

I consider that day a significant one in my life. A day when I embraced the importance of the mind in optimizing performance – poor concentration in my profession can have very serious consequences. Don and I spoke about my Monkey

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