Phil Jackson's "Meditation Practices"

[opi@unesco.org]

Just doing my small part to help Greg surf the Web with Way Way's
departure. In the (excerpted) article below, the Washington Post's
Rachel Alexander has interesting things to say about Phil Jackson. Read
it, and you'll know this guy is the perfect coach for La La Land.

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"ZEN AND NOW"
copyright Washington Post

Phil Jackson wants players to learn the "tai chi of basketball," a
theory he has devised from his studies of Buddhism.

"It's about working against the pressure instead of going at it
directly, and it's a concept a lot of young minds have trouble with,
because it's not a mano-a-mano type of an offense," Jackson explains.
"It's an offense that says, 'We'll pick you apart by making you overplay
us here and then cutting you up on the other side.' It's a subtle thing
these players are learning, and it's going to take some time."

He wants players to learn to meditate. In Chicago, Jackson once held an
entire "meditation practice" to encourage players to think about their
game, and even do a little yoga.

And he wants them to read. He likes to distribute more fiction than
philosophy, although he did give the 10-page "Primer to Zen" to each of
the Bulls.

"Don't tell Phil, but I used to only read the introductions to most of
those," said longtime Bulls star Scottie Pippen, now with Portland. "But
I do still have the books at my house in Chicago, and I'll read them one
day."

Still, to some degree the coach with the bagful of team-centered
philosophies was fighting the perception that his success was all
because of one transcendent player. Jackson knows that if he can win
with the Lakers, he will wipe away that impression completely. If he
can't, he will tarnish his NBA-record .738 career regular season winning
percentage.

It's a sizable gamble. But Jackson seems willing to do it because he
just doesn't care very much what other people think of him, as long as
he's doing something that makes him happy.

"I don't ever expect to emulate what's happened before," Jackson said.
"Yeah, it's a risk, but it's a wonderful risk to take."

When Bill Bradley saw his old teammate leave coaching, he offered him
the chance to step into politics as the head of his campaign in the
all-important state of Iowa. Jackson considered the offer, even
traveling the state for a few days, but in the end, it was basketball
that called him. As much as he supports Bradley by speaking at
fund-raisers and making a financial contribution to the campaign; he
felt he had more to accomplish in his own world before trying to conquer
anyone else's.

"Measuring the height of the Pacific Ocean, that'll be my job when Bill
is president," Jackson joked. "Really, I just felt I had some of my own
personal goals left to accomplish."

Now that the season has started, Jackson is fully immersed in basketball
again, constantly reminding the players to be a team, to be together, to
have one heart. He is drilling them in fundamentals, passing and
shooting exercises they haven't gone through since junior high school.
And, yes, he is even asking them to meditate a little; and because he is
Phil Jackson, they are doing it.

"I'm still not sure exactly how it's going to play out, exactly what my
vision for this team is going to be," he said. "It's still coming along
as I get to know the players, the limitations of who they are, how they
play best, what they are actually going to look like in their movement
on the floor.