Inner – Expression with Colli Christante is a international service orientated, training consultancy devoted to guiding athletes, performers and individuals to higher levels of personal fulfillment and performance through advanced techniques.
This is accomplished by providing the framework, tools and state-of-the art change process methodologies that rapidly advance quality performance and capabilities.
The result is Optimal Human Design Engineering.
To become a Champion contact me
Reality Check on difference between world class performers and average /mediocre performers - Good Read !!! The World Class Operates From Objective Reality "I’ve discovered most amateurs suffer from mild to severe delusion in relation to their efforts and competencies. In other words, most people delude themselves into thinking they are working harder then they are, and that they are more competent than they actually are.
The middle class that is most in-congruent with reality. They are operating at a high enough level to understand that higher levels exist. Although they don’t expect to get there, the thought crosses their minds from time to time. Because of their low expectations, their actions are incongruent with their desires. In other words, they want to live the life of the world class, but are unwilling to pay the price. Since this reality is too harsh to bear, they delude themselves into thinking they are doing everything in their power to get ahead. Of course, they’re not. They’ll tell you they’re putting in far more time than they are. They’ll swear they are thinking about their vision all the time, but they’re not. The world class is brutally honest with themselves, and they tend to look reality in the face. They err on the side of over-practicing and over-preparing.
Champions know that, to ascend to the top, you must first be operating from a mindset of objective reality. Self-deception and delusion have no place in the professional performer’s consciousness. " - Steve Siebold
While sitting in a New York bar watching the New Orleans Saints successfully open the football season last week, it struck me that there is one thing that unites sports fans all over the world. Whether it is the NFL here in the US, rugby league in Australia or the English Premier League (EPL) soccer, today’s sports fans want to be engaged and actively interact with their favorite sports. They satisfy that desire by playing fantasy sports or by getting involved in forecasting weekly results. In Australia we call that tipping. Technology, fast-speed internet access and our increasing use of social media is making this engagement even easier and more fun for the fan.
The connection we have with our favorite sports now runs far deeper than merely supporting your local team or purchasing a few pieces of replica merchandising as was once the case. Trash talking your colleague over your fantasy quarterback selection is a big part of office culture on a Monday morning (or almost any day for that matter). Similarly, earning bragging rights over your mates with your superior tipping skills is a big deal Down Under.
This is all good news on a commercial front. The sport rights holder extends it product, sports marketers have something else to promote and broadcasters and, more importantly, sponsors have a wider reach.
The numbers involved are staggering. Fantasy sports are recognized as a multi-million dollar business. In 2010, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association “represents more than 110 member companies in a mature industry with a market size…at 27 million adult Americans”. It is estimated that about 85% of participants play on-line. That, of course, makes large consumer-oriented companies sit up and take notice. The industry is worth approximately $1 billion a year and that may well double in the future according to analysts.
Our interest and interaction is still growing despite the poor economy and this is taking place the world over. European fantasy football (soccer) is growing and the official EPL fantasy game has over 2 million players. Tipping is big business in Australia too as tipsters predict scores in most sports including Australian Football (AFL), rugby league, rugby union and soccer.
As I sat watching the Saints’ quarterback, Drew Brees, thread another successful pass I, like many others, had more than a passing interest in who scored the touchdown as opposed to the final score.
Here we are back with Colli Christante, kinesiologist and author of the forthcoming book “In Search of the Zone”.
Q. I see in your profile you have written a book called ”Owning the Zone”. Could you tell us what inspired it?
The documentary is called “Owning the Zone”. The book is “In Search of the Zone” and was inspired from what I experienced during a performance at the age of 11.
Rehearsals went amazing yet when it came to the actual performance something was missing. That night my quest began. To experience being in the Zone. Many athletes go through this. It is an elixir for an athlete. Through all my years as an athlete and Kinesiologist I have now refined the process and I can guarantee anyone that if you work with me you will experience the Zone and have the strategies to enter at will.
Q. How long has the project taken to complete – from thinking about writing to the eventual final copy?
I am still in the process of completing the book, however, the idea for the book came prior to meeting with ESPN at Hot Docs in Toronto in 1996. They were extremely interested in my documentary and the possibility of the book to go with it.
I have had a publisher express interest and so that has really motivated me to get it completed. The creative process is a unique and wonderful experience. It is almost complete. Once it is I guarantee you that you will be included as one of the first people to know.
Q. Were there things that you wished to have included in the book? Will these things be written into a follow up / sequel?
Interesting question Brendan. I strongly feel one of the reasons the book has not completed itself is because there were things that needed to be told, wanted to be added. Situations, experiences that needed to be revealed.
Q Have you written other material – you know, training manuals, etc?
Yes, I have written other things. Articles for various magazines, articles for Ezines ( Electronic Magazines ) , Self Growth.com, concepts for TV programs. Created and wrote “Owning the Zone” pilot, a Woman’s show called “Somewhere I Belong” and I am working on another book (cannot reveal name as of yet:)
Also created, developed various programs and manuals. “The Art ‘n Science of Responsible Communication” was one such program and manual. This program and manual were used in facilitating coaches at the Canadian Figure Skating Association in Ottawa Canada. The same is true of another course and manual I created “The Art n’ Tool of the Question” taught to private investigators but cannot reveal which firm it was for.
I have also developed various other courses and love facilitating them – love sharing information.
Q. When will the book be launched? Will there be a media release of some kind that will go with the launch?
The documentary, “In Search of the Zone” has not been released so no media coverage has been done. As I mentioned, the interest is there so I am sure once it is released the media will enjoy it with a touch of controversy which I love.
Q. What are your hopes for your readers? Want do you want them to get out of having read your work?
My hope and wish for my readers is that they not only feel and hear but also see themselves in similar experiences and know that they too can reclaim the missing pieces of their life and become whole and complete. What an experience! It is the best gift one can give to themselves because it affects 7 generations in either direction. What a gift Kinesiology is. We are blessed to have had the experience of Kinesiology and to be a Kinesiologist.
Q. Inspiration is the key to so much in life. Did you use personal stories to inspire your readers?
Brendan I totally agree with you. Inspiration is key in life. Yes, I do use my stories to inspire my readers and in some way my stories inspire my clients. My clients also seem to take personal interest in how I came to Kinesiology but I have to remind them Kinesiology called me.
At some level I wanted to heal and knew that in order to do so I needed to uncover my deepest wounds – kinesiology peeled through the layers and now I bring this gift to others.
There is nothing more precious than being free in one’s own skin. What a gift. Stories run deep. My childhood was a roller coaster and life experience has been deep. Far from being a shallow person, sometimes very intense but the best of all is I love who I am and what I do.
Q. Are there any plans for other materials in the Colli Christante library? You know Dvd’s ( nearly said video’s – but that’s so 1980’s ), music or audio’s?
Yes, there are other plans for more material to be added. The other book I am writing which is my life story (so many people have told me I must write this) and Owning the Zone documentary will get made.
There will be downloads from an Internet TV show I am in the midst of creating – all will be revealed soon and again you will be one of the first to be informed.
Boy you are busy! Do you even have time to see clients lol!
Q What are your plans for the future as a kinesiologist and therapist?
My future as a Kinesiologist and therapist is very clear. I will only be working with clients that are very committed to becoming Champions in all areas of their life. This means they have to undergo a screening process to qualify to work with me and then commit in a way they may never have had to for anything else. This is the full meal deal.
I agree with you Colli that you have to have committed clients. In my practice, I adopted the mindset that I only would see ‘professional clients’; people who were dedicated to themselves, their creative vision ( and not their previous story ) and the work we did… It’s an equal transaction… “professional therapist + professional client = professional results”.
Q Do you teach workshops and speak in public? Where can people see you in action?
Yes, I do speak in public and teach workshops – I have created various seminars, workshops, talks – love to share information.
Currently in negotiation with an organization to do seminars across Canada in 2011. The best way for people to see me in action is to check my profile page and website http://www.inner-expression.com for upcoming dates.
Q. Last but not least, any plans to travel and teach in Australia or overseas to Canada?
I would love to travel and teach. I have so much information to share. This is one of my dreams, goals. To share this with other Kinesiologists and therapists. All I have experienced. The science and art behind the difference that makes the difference.
Brendan, let me know when you want me to come to Australia and I am there for you. To be part of your dream, journey and to be your first featured Kinesiologist has been a real honor.
Colli, thank you for a wonderful series of interviews. You are very inspirational and you illustrate that there are many different ways that you can lead a rich and fulfilling life as a kinesiologist other than just being ‘the traditional clinical therapist’.
When starting out, many new kinesiology people try to ‘fit the mold’ of ‘being a kinesiologist’ and forget that Kinesiology is a tool. A tool in their hands that brings more than ‘balance’ or better health… butcommunicates the therapists own unique, creative spirit to the spirit of the people that they work with.
Congratulations on providing your clients with an inspiring example that is yourself! And congratulations on ‘being bigger’ than ‘the tool’ and fitting your kinesiology work into YOUR greater expression!
To find out more about Colli Christante, see her 1st and 2nd interviews and visit her profile page.
Success or failure of a sportsman could be determined through the alphas and gammas inside his brain. This discovery has come to light through an ongoing brain mapping study conducted by a group of post graduate students of Nanavati Hospital in Vile Parle. The study states that these zones in the brain can largely have an effect on the performance of a sportsman irrespective of the type of sport.
For the purpose of the study, about 45 sportsmen — cricketers, footballers, hockey players and karate players — from national and international level have been examined. These players are patients who visit the hospital for physiotherapy sessions.
“Whenever a sportsman performed well, his brain was found in the alpha zone, which ensures optimum performance. When the players performed bad or were injured, we found out that the brain was in the gamma zone,” said Dr Ali Irani, head, department of physiotherapy and sports medicine, Nanavati Hospital. Irani, a former physiotherapist with the Indian cricket team, is heading the study.
“There have been times when a player has been blamed for bad performance and sudden injuries. But, our findings show that it largely has to do with the state of his brain,” added Irani.
The brains alpha zone is a state when an individual has the ideal functioning capability and can give his best performance in anything he is doing. Alpha zone ranges from 8-12 hertz. Gamma zone, which ranges from 30 hertz and above, has been associated with extreme stress levels when optimum performance cannot be achieved.
The procedure of studying a player involves attaching three electrodes to the sportsman’s forehead. The electrodes are connected to preloaded software in an Apple Macbook, which records the zone of the patient’s brain.
One of the examples from the study was that of a footballer, who plays for an airline team. The study showed that the footballer was in the state of alpha when he was asked to recollect his best played games. While under stress, or when asked to think about his bad performances, the player’s brain was in the gamma zone.
However, according to Irani, only knowing the zones of the brain is not enough. “We are trying to actually use brain mapping as a modality for treatment or as a diagnostic tool,” said Irani, adding that after recording the zones, the players were given alpha therapy and relaxation exercises.
Alpha therapy involves listening to a 14 minute music track with bi-neural frequency, which lowers the brain frequency and gets it to the alpha zone. The relaxation techniques involve focused breathing, practising optimism, etc. “The players were got in the alpha zone during the game and they performed extremely well,” said Irani.
Other than sportsmen, the students are also conducting studies on cardiac and neurology patients. While Irani has already introduced the ongoing study at two international conferences, it will take another year for the study to be completed.
I am so grateful to the Masters I have had the priviledge of studying and apprenticing with. Robert Dilts of NLP University and Christina Hall President of NLP Society. My life was turned around completely and forever because of NLP. My work is totally based in NLP. I will always be grateful for and to NLP and these Master Trainers who create and teach with integrity. This has been passed on to me and I honor this and embrace using these techniques when I work with all my clients.Below is an exerpt from an interview with Robert Dilts for the documentary Beyond Beliefs.
by Robert Dilts, Co-Developer of NLP
Excerpt from interview for the film"> Beyond Belief
The other thing about NLP it says there are different levels, lets call it programming. That is, to have a behavior, there is an inner mental map, a cognitive program that sort of guides that behavior. Behind that cognitive map are beliefs and values which are different than, let’s say, our idea about what we want. They are more the motivation, the permission, and then behind that is our sense of identity.
So if I say I want something, there is an “I” who wants it, and behind that “I” that’s where you get to that sense of a purpose, of belonging to something that is beyond yourself, that is bigger than yourself. This is where you get a sense of some kind of deeper vision of purpose.
People who are able to achieve things they want in their life most effectively are people who are aligned in that way: their identity is aligned with their higher purpose, then their beliefs fit with that identity and that is connected with their capabilities which lead to their behavior.
When you are aligned, when your identity and your beliefs and your capability are aligned, we called that being in the zone. A lot of NLP is about coaching what you might call the inner game. Every athlete, every performer knows that you have an outer game, which is what you are doing, what the physical activity is.
And there’s the mental game, which has to do with your mental attitude and your emotional attitude. So when those things are aligned, the athlete would say you are in the zone and a performer you would say you havepresence. So when you have that sense of confidence, the zone is what we call being in a state of effortless excellence, of flow. The idea of neuro-linguistics is you’ve got language and the nervous system. A positive affirmation is the linguistic part of the belief, but it is not the “neuro” part. To actually bring in an empowering belief, you are going to be doing more than just saying it in the mind. That’s the verbal part, the idea of the belief. In NLP we say you’ve got to get beyond the idea. to get it in the muscle. The way you are going to do that is by adding in information from the other senses and also using the body, your physical attitude, you are aligning again the words with your inner images, your memories and your physiology.
In NLP coaching we do a number of things. The first is to help people get IN the zone and the second is to find out what gets in the way of being in the zone and how to transform that. One of the ways that we’re going to coach people to get into the zone, it starts by coming present in the body, to come into the body. In fact, we say the body is always in the present, to bring the mind and the body into the same place.
“Let the bird sing without deciphering the song”, wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson.
There is such a thing about too much thinking. We can analyze everything to death. Then we create paralysis through analysis. You can think too much which is something Dante and his guide Virgil. Discovered on their outing to the Inferno. Faith begins, if it begins at all where knowledge leaves off.
Even scientists will admit that they do all the homework they can but eventually rely on an intuitve leap. They call it informed intuition, and though it grows naturally out of periods of dogged rational work-which provides the raw material it needs to go on, the bits of clothing laced with scent-reason, again, only goes so far. Intuition is the last baton carrier. It doesn’t win the race alone, but it’s the one that crosses the finish line.The more practiced it is the less likely it is to get winded at crucial moments.
Intuition has receptors that seem able to hook all manner of passing emotions, like a bus that rolls through downtown picking up passengers. The passengers are not the bus, however, they are merely hitching a ride.Sports psychologist (and former athlete) Susan Jackson, who co-wrote The Flow of Sports with Csikszentmihalyi, puts a more secular spin on the same conclusion.Though Jackson believes flow can be controllable, she would agree with Cooper that it cannot be achieved on demand.“However, we can set the stage for flow by firstly being aware of what the flow state is...and then focusing on the factors that facilitate flow for a particular athlete.”
Jackson’s emphasis on the individual athlete’s flow touches upon the interplay between spirit and an athlete’s emotional life which, in turn, it deeply dependent upon an athlete’s environment, personal beliefs, and shared cultural values.All contribute their part in creating a space in which the athlete is free to excel.
A whole industry of performance gurus claiming to know the one true path to The Zone has sprouted up in the last decade as athletes strive to reach peak performance.But in my book and documentary we discover there is no one secret formula.The Zone requires a complex intersection of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual elements that, when attained, create in the athlete a security and confidence to personally identify with excellence.Pia Nilsson, former European team Solheim Cup captain, sums up our findings when he speaks of Tiger’s female equivalent, Annika Sorenstam: “Annika has given herself permission to be great.It shocks people, being so bold.But it’s crucial that you see yourself doing something exceptional, so that when the time comes, you don’t bail out.Because you feel you belong there, you stay in the zone.”
Somewhere in the struggle to explain the seemingly inexplicable, “The Zone” became the catch-all phrase to encompass the range of athletic ecstatic experience.But “The Zone” does not explain the actual experience; it is simply jargon.Whether one seeks the explanation in philosophy, science, religion, or some combination thereof, there needs to be an open forum on the issue if we are ever to understand The Zone. My book and documentary tackles this dilemma, brings the marginal back into the mainstream, and provides that elusive context athletes have been seeking.
In the martial arts, warriors strive to reach the point where they react to their opponents instinctively, without thought to strategy or technique.This is the essence of The Zone.
Four years ago, according to Golf Digest, “a poll revealed that although elite players believed mental skills were half to 80% of the game, the majority said they spent less than 10 percent of their practice on them.”This is why The Zone has for most athletes remained elusive.
Many credit Mihlay Csikszentmihalyi and his best-seller, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Performance, with bringing The Zone into popular culture.Csikszentmihalyi’s book coincided with – perhaps was a product of – a growing interest in Eastern philosophies and a weakening resistance to discuss the emotional and spiritual side of sport.It wasn’t that athletes hadn’t experienced The Zone, only that there had been strong cultural barriers to admitting to its existence.
Though these barriers have not been entirely dismantled, many of today’s great athletes are openly sharing the joy that is The Zone and their techniques for finding and staying within it.
Though the search for the perfect technique will rightfully always remain an essential element of athletic achievement, we now recognize this must be balanced with mental techniques that allow players to access their skills regardless of the environment or the state of play.
To this end, meditative disciplines such as yoga, which emphasize extreme yet relaxed concentration as an antidote to distraction, were the first to be mined for techniques which could be applied to sport.The list has since grown exponentially and now includes hypnosis and psychology (to unlock unconscious barriers), neuro-linguistic programming and kinesiology (to create more effective mind/body communication), creative visualization, and nutritional balancing, to name but a few.These and other areas of interest are explored in Owning the Zone.
The third key element, the spirit, is finally finding its way back into the language of sport.The term “The Zone” itself, with its connotations of the supernatural (the “Twilight Zone”), is indicative of this trend.Progressively minded coaches are now putting as much emphasis on players’ spiritual health as their physical fitness.For example, legendary basketball coach Phil Jackson combines elements of Zen Buddhism with the ancient wisdom of the Lakota Sioux to create the most successful teams in NBA history.
It is spirit, in fact, that many would argue is the most important element in finding The Zone.Developing a relationship with a higher power, however one wishes to define or envision this, is essential if athletes are to step beyond the limitations of their physical selves and into The Zone.As Andrew Cooper writes, “Mastery of one’s craft...and the techniques of sports psychology can enhance one’s physical and mental abilities, but they cannot produce self-transcendence.For if there is one defining characteristic of those moments of pure intuition...it’s that it is effortless and unpredictable, a kind of state of grace...The golden moment cannot be produced through an act of will.You can only prepare the ground for it to happen.As one Zen master has said, ‘Enlightenment is an accident, but some activities make you accident-prone.’”To enter The Zone one must be open to the experience; to understand and appreciate the experience one must acknowledge, and not fear, the unseen.
F.Scott Fitzgerald declared that the test of first rate intelligence is being able to hold two contrary ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
Having read that heroism can be redefined for our age as the ability to tolerate paradox, to embrace seemingly opposite forces without rejecting on or the other just for the sheer relief of it and to understand that life is game played between two paradoxical goalposts.Winning is good and so is losing, courage and fear.One does not cancel out the other. Both are true. They may sit on the opposite sides of the table but beneath it their legs are entwined.
A similar heroic quality of intelligence is required in the face of a calling, which flings often opposing energies into our lives. One part of us wants to go on and the other wants to hide. This must have been Joannie Rochelle's truth as last week upon hearing the news of her mother, best friend and team mate passing away.
One part of Joannie must have wanted to continue with her calling to skate in the Olympics while the other wanted to run like hell.The opposing forces occupy a space, like an ecotone, a transition ZONE between two parts of us (two communities) like forest and grassland or river and desert. They compete. They also exchange. They swap information. Ecotones have tremendous biological diversity and resilience.Throughout this entire week Joannie Rochelle displayed tremedous courage and resilience.
Psychologist Robert Johnson speaks of the ground between conflicting forces as a holy place. The struggle to hold paradox is ultimately a religious experience (Zone) in the sense that the re-ligare means to re-join, to bind together, opposites, to restore them to each other. Heresy, he says is giving domination to one principle over others. "When the unstoppable bullet hits the impenetrable wall" he writes in his book Transformation, "we find the religious experience. It is preciously here that one will grow. Conflict to paradox to revelation: This is the divine progression."
Tonight Joannie Rochelle carries the Canadian flag for the closing of the 2010 Olympics. Tonight one door closes for Joannie and another opens.Without a doubt Joannie is being transformed. Job well done Joannie and life's work well done Theresa ... may you rest in peace.
On Thursday night Joannie stepped out onto the ice and entered the Zone. Having just experienced a major shock through the loss of her mom Joannie went on to do what many could not have done under the same circumstances.Joannie entered and stayed in the Zone.
There have been many terms used to describe The Zone, that place or state that exists beyond ordinary human perception, in both religious and secular languages. The late religious historian Ioan Couliano spoke of the “fourth dimension,” a term also used by quantum physicists and metaphysicists; New Age pop icon Carlos Castaneda calls it non-ordinary reality; psychologists refer to Altered States of Consciousness (ASC) or Out-of-Body Experiences (OBE); and popular culture simply calls it a “parallel reality.” Each in their own way is describing the same thing, and in this first segment we look to these other disciplines for clues as to the nature of The Zone.
In my book I intersperse my exploration of The Zone with anecdotes from athletes. Soccer genius Pele, in his autobiography, My Life and the Beautiful Game, recalls the day he experienced “a strange calmness” unlike anything he had ever experienced before. “It was a type of euphoria.” Basketball Hall-of-Famer Bill Russell, in Memoirs of an Opinionated Man, speaks of that “mystical feeling” when a game “became more than a physical or mental game, and it would be magical....it was almost as if we were playing in slow motion.” Then there are the tales of long-distance runners who recall the disturbing ability to see inside their own bodies, or the equally strange sensation of “tipping,” rising into the air as they run.
Interestingly, athletes’ encounters with the extraordinary have parallels in ecstatic experience. Tipping is similar to what the Catholic Church calls “ecstatic walking”; the sensation of seeing your insides is one of the eight powers referred to in the yoga sutras; and altered perceptions of time are associated with many forms of meditation and shamanic journeying, as is a heightened sense of well-being. On a more popular level, many of us are familiar with the image of a yogi walking across burning coals, impervious to the pain, or tales of human paranormal phenomenon such as ESP or premonitions.
But in a culture where ecstatic experience has been marginalized, athletes have been robbed of a context within which to identify, understand, and place these extraordinary moments. I truly hope that after watching the athletes at the 2010 Olympics especially Joannie that will have started to change NOW.
