Chapter 1 - Welcome to Zoneville

When I was eight years old, I became an addict. As these things often happen, I got my first “taste” while playing with a group of friends behind the elementary school. The snow plow had cleared the parking lot and left a nine-foot-high mountain of white fluff that was a perfect battleground for a game of “king of the hill.” As I stood at the base of the snow pile, preparing to attack, a wonderful feeling came over me. All at once I was joyful, energized, and intensely focused. My charge up the hill was a blur of snow pants and mittens and I toppled the current king effortlessly!

For the next few minutes I defended my mountain throne from a mob of determined boys with the grace and power of a pint-sized, kung-fu monk. If they grabbed me, I slipped loose. If they went to push or strike, I was not there. When they attacked as a group, I became a whirling storm easily tossing four or five opponents down the hill as if they were nothing more than empty snowsuits. When the battle ended, I alone stood on the mountaintop with my exhausted foes sprawled about its base. But my victory was secondary to the magnificence of the experience itself. It was my first, memorable “peak experience” and I was hooked.

Today we have a name for this amazing state of unbreakable mental focus, remarkable physical power, and unshakeable emotional composure: We call it the “zone.” Finding the fabled zone, however, can be more elusive than sighting Elvis. Even the most gifted players have to go to great lengths to get its zip code. Golf great Tiger Woods learned to transform mind power into superior firepower with the help of psychologist Jay Brunza. Brunza taught the then 13-year-old Woods how to use hypnosis as a tool to self-induce this special mind/body state. And it is not just elite athletes or serious king-of-the-hill competitors searching for the zone experience; business leaders, moms, and students are all finding that life is better in an ideal performance state. At high-end mind-body boot camps around the country, flabby Fortune 500 executives, hard-bodied housewives, and 10-year-old tennis stars on their way to Wimbledon fork over as much as $4,000 for a three-day program designed to sharpen their mental edge. Think four grand a little steep for a weekend seminar? One year of personal, “peak state” training with master motivator Tony Robbins can cost you $1,000,000.