| Welcome to The Monk Billiard Academy. When I started out on this journey I wanted to become a full fledged Monk. I called myself The Monk because of my deep study towards spiritual enlightenment. In this pursuit I found pocket billiards to be the perfect tool. The game called for precision, strong decision making, ability trust in one self, confi- dence and eye hand coordination. This game gives you no chance to make a plea for forgiveness or ask for a second try once we fail. We miss, we go sit down. Pocket billiards does not do us any favors. |
| I am The Monk and I am now a cave dweller. This is my cave. I live here. In this cave I do my writings and am currently working on two books, along with some great material for you. These excerpts are not only about pocket billiards. I am sharing some thoughts with you because you are my friend and I pray in some small way that these writings are a help to you in this long and difficult journey we call life. I left a warm condo in Nashville, to come down here to Florida so I could be alone for a while. It was a calling in my heart that urged me to move to this place. When you come to a place where you know you belong you find a sense of peace that has been missing for so long. In fact, that peace that was missing you did not know it was missing until you 'came in to your own' so to speak. Once you are in the right place, that place that you belong, you experience the inner place where you are you and then you realize what you did not have before. It is only when you have it that you realize you did not have it. If your accountant is stealing from you and you don't know about it, the stealing is still going on. When you find out you now know what you didn't know before. So this would be the perfect forum for me to work on self mastery. In my journey I have overcome many obstacles and stared down a few mountains one to find another one right behind it. In the past thirty years I have hiked a few hills and traversed a few valleys and still. So I want to share this with you from the Cave. Maybe together we can figure this thing out. Feel free to respond. If you are a fellow Cave Dweller send me a report and I will post it in the Cave Dweller's section. Visit The Cave Dwellers I think I have one more big hurdle to cross and that is "What do you do with regret?" When you do something wrong you can ask for forgiveness and it's over. You can feel good that you confessed and wiped the slate clean. You can move forward free from your transgression. What about regret? In my life I have done thing I regret. This mistake or miss deed has caused a chain reaction that last a lifetime. For instance I did not teach my children well and they struggle with life today. I did the best I could. I gave it my all. But I made mistakes and other people are still paying for those mistakes. So I regret what I did or didn't do. Twenty five years later I regret giving up on a marriage I might have been able to save. I regret selling some land that would be worth a fortune today. I regret things that altered my life. I regret them. I am not sure I can achieve success such as running a hundred balls or playing a perfect set while I harbor these regrets. Regret will drive you to underachieve as you may feel like you don't deserve success. I talk about deserving success in my book I Came to Win. When we willfully pull the pin on ourselves we need to face the man in the mirror and find out why we think we don't deserve success and why we sabotage a fine performance. When you've lived as long as I have there are bound to be some regrets mixed in. This regret will have a negative effect on your performance in life. I am going to give up my regrets and move forward. I don't need forgiveness I don't need to block it out, I simply need to let it go and move on. Now if you will pardon me I have a rack to run. I am going to run this rack even if I don't deserve it. |
| As you know success begins with a proper set up. There has been a lot written about the stance. My thoughts are that what ever gets you in line with the target is a good stance. We all have different body types so we all cannot stand the exact same way. You must get your body in line with the shot. That means your right side has to be in perfect alignment if you are right handed. Your right thigh and your right shoulder must be lined up towards the target. When you lean over and land on the cue ball these parts of your body must be lined up. If they are off line, your brain will become confused. Since you commanded your brain to act, you will actually deliver the stroke knowing full well you are going to miss the shot. And if you are honest you could turn to your happy opponent and say, "I knew I was going to miss that shot before I shot it." So your first responsibility to making the shot is to line up properly. You need a proper set up. Somewhere on this site I have an excellent article on proper alignment. You may wonder what this article has that the other articles on alignment do not. I am not sure. I was in the training room today and came up with some more material that might be helpful. When I train, I always think of you, the pool player out there who is working hard on his/her game. We are in this together and as I give you my strength so to, you give me yours. Here is a valuable check point for you to try in your next practice session. 1. Make sure your target is lined up with your right shoulder. You can even use your cue to draw a line to the target ball from your right shoulder. When you step into the stance, check again to see that you are still lined up. 2. When you land on the cue ball, check to see if you are still in line. I actually check on the way down to see that I have not shifted. 3. Pull back in your stroke and then look out of your right arm. Pretend you have an eye in your right arm and see if you are still lined up. (This was a dramatic break through for me) 4. When you pull back with your practice stroke make sure it is a nice neat little pendulum movement. Make sure this nice neat little movement will extend through the cue ball to the finish. (I shot two hundred balls just to get this movement completed) 5. When you hit the cue ball there is a part of you that knows if it was a quality hit. Your cue ball will react to the stroke in a unique manner if it is a quality hit. Pile rocks with the focus on the value of your stroke. All of this sounds a little confusing and that is why I give lessons. All of my material is here for you and most of it is FREE. But there is nothing better than to have a coach work with you for two days to get it right. When you return you have all of this plus the Four Strokes and Cue Ball Speed mastered and you are truly ready to take your rightful place in the winners circle. Masters of Art in Pocket Billiards |
THE MONKS CAVE
| Not long ago I was interviewed by a student who was working on a thesis in college. She wanted to do a study on my theories in pocket billiards enlightenment and was really interested in my "pile rocks" exercise. Here is the interview. She is Q and I am TM. Q. You have an exercise that shows up in all your books and your DVDs. How important is the "pile rocks" exercise? TM This exercise is a vital part of the four stages of pocket billiards. At all stages we continue to work on the "pile rocks" exercise. Q What do you mean by "pile rocks"? How did you come up with that? TM I tell the story in my DVD Bring Your Game to its Highest Level. In fact, I tell that story in a Buddhist Monastery in New Zealand. Two monks wanted to experience enlightenment so they asked the master what must they do. They were told to pile rocks. You can see the pile of rocks in my DVD. In fact, I am sitting on them for part of the story. The two monks set out to pile the rocks to one side of the road. When they completed their task they went to the master to report their accomplishment in the hopes of receiving enlightenment. They were told to pile the rocks back to the other side of the road. This went on time after time. Rocks to one side, rocks to the other. Rocks to one side and then rocks to the other again. Finally one Monk told the other one he was leaving. He considered the task to be stupid and not worth the effort while the other, more obedient monk continued to obey his master. Then one day he piled the rocks to the other side of the road and looked back at the empty space and could not remember if he piled them or not. He was not sure. At that moment he became enlightened because the rocks were piling themselves. Q. How does that relate to playing pool? TM The pool balls become our rocks. Q. So what is it you want your student to learn by running balls off the table? TM Nothing. Q. Do they do this to learn concentration? I mean, if they shoot a thousand balls they would need the ability to concentrate. TM Nope. Q. Do they do this to learn new shots? TM Nope. Q. Do they learn new strokes? TM Nope. Q. What do they learn from piling rocks? TM Nothing. Q. Is it some kind of a test to see how serious they are? TM Nope. Q. Okay, tell me what they get out of piling rocks. TM Can't. Q. They why do you tell them to pile rocks, a hundred every day for one year? TM The reason one piles rocks is to reach the land of 'no thought' where the rocks are piling themselves. In this case, it is the shots shooting themselves. This is why it has nothing to do with concentration. Often the lack of concentration will cause us to miss shots but when a person reaches the land of 'no thought' he does not need concentration skills because the shots are shooting themselves. When you reach this point where the shots are shooting themselves you actually can't remember the table run or even if you ran it or not. In cases where you run out you are not even sure who you were playing. Someone might say, 'nice shot on that five ball' and you won't be able to recall that five ball. Q How long do they have to pile rocks before some sort of enlightenment takes place? TM Don't know. Q Can you guess? TM For the intellectual I would guess about forty years. Q How about for the non intellectual? TM There are not many of those in this game today. Just as there are not many non intellectuals seeking enlightenment in the Buddhist world. Many are called yet few are chosen. Q What does that mean? TM Many pool players come to me so they can move to the next level or master self as it were called. If a hundred ask for this self mastery one might be willing to pay the price. Q How much does it cost? TM (polite smile and no response) Q If one is ready, how much time would it take? TM One hundred thousand balls would impress the local house pro. Five hundred thousand balls would impress the local professional player. A million balls would impress the player himself and two million balls would impress me. Q So if he is not learning anything, not building confidence, not gaining concentration skills, what is he getting from two million balls? TM Self Mastery. 'Though you conquer a thousand men a thousand times, he who conquers self is the greatest of warriors'. That comes from sacred Buddhist literature. Q Is there a short way to this self mastery? TM Not really but there are longer ways to get there. Q Do you have any other way for a player to reach this land of self mastery? TM. There does not need to be another way. Q. What if I wanted only half enlightenment? TM Would you ever want to be half pregnant? Q After talking to you I am not sure how to write my thesis. TM That's because the answer is only clear when you experience it. Put that down on your paper and you will get an A. Q But you've written six books. There must be some knowledge involved in all of this. Don't you have to learn something before you can reach a certain level? TM This game is about skill. Knowledge applied equals skill developed. When you pile rocks for a couple of years you acquire skills. These skills cannot be defined. That is why great players can't explain why they are so great. Q What is the best book you have written? TM The Lesson and Point the Way are vital to a players success. I Came to Win would be next. Those three books are the backbone of what this game is all about. The Lesson to give you the shooting skills and Point the Way and I Came to Win to give you the inner game skills. Q. Then why can't we just get those three books and presto, we have enlightenment? TM. Get the three books and start piling rocks. Q One last question. Do you plan to retire? TM. Yes. In not to long of a time. Q. When, next year, two years, when? TM. I will know the right time. I am feeling that it won't be long. Q. What are you going to do then? TM. Don't laugh. I am thinking about writing biographies for Gospel groups.. She laughed. |
The Interview.
The Fine Art of Sighting