In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few. Shunryu Suzuki

Issue: March, 2004

Publisher & Editor: Diane Peters Mayer

A. PeakSpeak

Welcome readers and new subscribers.

PeakNews offers a range of information about ring nerves, the ways to conquer it, and how to really enjoy competition, plus your stories, interviews, book reviews and more.

Go Back to the Beginning is this month’s Training Tip.

Your help is needed in a Second Chances Animal Rescue Alert.

BookPicks highlights one of the most popular Zen masters who "blazed a path in American Buddhism."

We’d like to remind you that along with your submissions we now accept photos of you and your canine companions . You can email them to: sheri@virtualhelpinghand.com or snail mail them to: Sheri Huffman, 2701 Creek Valley Dr., Garland, TX 75040.

PeakNews offers a unique format in which to engage and connect with handlers from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and South Africa who, in some form, all experience ring nerves.

Your questions, comments, and stories enrich PeakNews immeasurably. Send us your submissions for the next issue by April 20.

Please join us to become the handler of your dreams. Your dog will thank you!

Enjoy.

Diane

B. We are pleased to annouce that Conquering Ring Nerves! A Step-By-Step Program for All Dog Sports is AVAILABLE NOW!

Conquering Ring Nerves!
A Step-By-Step Program For All Dog Sports

By Diane Peters Mayer, M.S.W.
Wiley/Howell Book House

Conquering Ring Nerves is designed for competitive dog handlers, from novices to seasoned veterans who experience mild to severe performance anxiety. Featuring mind-body exercises and techniques from Ring Nerve Seminars, plus chapters on Self-Esteem, Making Mistakes and Creating a Safe Mental Space, and more. Illustrated with real-life handlers stories and packed with training tips, Conquering Ring Nerves will help you to ease your anxiety and compete at your peak under pressure.

Order a copy today!

C. Training Tip Of The Month

Thinking of giving up on competing? One solution is to Go Back to the Beginning.

Last month I talked to a number of handlers who are on the verge of giving up competing because of their nerves. My anxiety is out of control . . . Competing is almost physically painful . . . I freak out and then my dog ignores me in the ring, are some of the complaints I heard. Performance anxiety and its distressing symptoms have done a number on them emotionally and physically. These handlers expressed how helpless they feel, unable to calm themselves when panic hits. And then I’m just hopeless on my way home from a show, one handler said. We haven’t qualified in two years...I don’t see an answer to this.

There is usually more than one way to solve a problem. Some handlers opt to tough it out, to keep fighting through the emotional pain of competition, to continue training their dogs, and to enter more competitions. In some cases this might work. But there is another way.

Back to the Beginning

I propose that stepping back from the problem, even if it means not competing for a while, may be the key to achieving success and having fun with your dog at shows. Struggling with and trying to force success will most likely increase your stress level and feed your anxiety. You cannot strong-arm your way into peak performance. To become a strong, confident competitor, you have to get off the path you’re on and retrain yourself.

The solution, I believe, is to accept what is happening now, and go back to the drawing board. It is surrendering to the moment, Competing isn’t working out for me now, and then setting out to find another path to the goal, What can I do to change things for myself and my dog?

In Zen Buddhism, practitioners attempt to always keep what they call their beginner’s mind. The point of beginner’s mind is to open to the flow of the world around you, instead of trying to define and control everything. The beginner’s mind is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. Open yourself to changing the way you compete.

The following exercise will help start you on your way:

Exercise

1. Don’t set up a rigid time-frame to work through your difficulties. Follow your natural pace in learning new things.

2. Find a quiet place and either lie down or sit in a comfortable chair. Do Yoga Breath for a few minutes. To begin, I want you to think back to when you first started training to compete. What was that time like? Did everything about competing feel fresh and new and exciting? Did you feel that the world of dog sports was wide open to endless possibilities for you and your dog? What were those possibilities? Did you have any expectations? What were they? Think back and try to recapture your passion for competing when you and your dog first began.

3. Now, think about what competing means to you today. What are the differences in the way you feel about competition presently from those beginning days? Do you still love training your dog? Are you still open to the possibility of succeeding, or do you feel you’ll never achieve your goals? What are the expectations you now carry into each competition? Are they unreasonable? Do you set yourself up to fail?

4. Ring nerves puts a damper on fulfillment, enjoyment and accomplishment. So,the next step is working on recapturing the enthusiasm, energy and hope for the future you once had. Sit down and objectively analyze what happens to you mentally and physically when you compete? What happens to your dog? You might ask your teacher and other handlers who you trust what they see.

5. Set up a training program to turn yourself into the handler you imagined at one time you would become some day. Attend seminars, read books on anxiety and sports psychology, get a coach. Taking the actions necessary to make changes will put you back in the driver’s seat and build your confidence.

Whatever resources you choose to use, put the same time into your own training that you put into your dog’s training and you will become the handler of your dreams.

D. Second Chances - Animal Rescue Alert

Hello Dear Readers,

The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota of getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on feed an animal in need for free. This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising.

Please tell all of your friends to tell all of their friends today! Go to http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com and click on feed an animal in need DAILY.

About The Animal Rescue Site (from their website)
The Animal Rescue Site was founded to help feed and care for some of the 27 million unwanted animals given to shelters in the US every year.

Since its launch in July of 2002, the site has established itself as a clear leader in online activism and a dynamic force in the effort to give all animals the happy, healthy lives they deserve. In The Animal Rescue Site's first year of operation, 22.9 million bowls of food were funded for animals in need.

With the simple, daily click of the purple "Feed an Animal in Need" button, visitors fund bowls of food for formerly neglected or abused animals now living in shelters or sanctuaries. Visitors pay nothing. Site sponsors pay for all funding, which benefits two leading animal welfare charities: The Fund for Animals and North Shore Animal League of America.

The Animal Rescue Site relies on its passionate supporters. Visitors increase the number of clicks, and the number of animals helped, by spreading the word to family and friends.

In addition to clicking the button, visitors can help feed and care for animals by shopping in The Animal Rescue Site Store. With each item they buy, shoppers automatically generate funds for 14 to 28 bowls of food for hungry animals, at no extra cost.

The store offers a wide array of unique and meaningful items, including The Animal Rescue Site apparel, special gifts, herb and flower wreaths, jewelry, home accents and handmade treasures from around the world."

Have a rescue story? Want us to feature your favorite shelter or rescue group? We all want to read about it. To submit, write to us at CAYPNews@aol.com.

E. BookPicks

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki, Weatherhill, 1997 These essays taken from lectures by the author explore "transience of the world, sudden enlightenment, and the nuts and bolts of meditation." The thread that holds it all together is the idea of beginner’s mind.

Be sure to check out our NEW recommended reading list.

Have a book you loved? Write a review, and send it to us at CAYPNews@aol.com

F. Announcements & Coming Events

Join our new Yahoo Ring Nerve Group

This list is a discussion forum for all aspects of performance anxiety, including: Conquering Ring Nerves: A Step-By-Step Program for All Dog Sports, the Ring Nerve Audio Program, and Ring Nerve Seminars.

We have Q&As and share ring nerve experiences and successes. We also feature chats with dog writers, competitors and others. This is a wonderful forum for talking about ring nerves!

Click to join now!

SEMINAR: Conquering Ring Nerves For Handlers and Dogs

Make plans now to attend our popular six hour seminar on
Sunday, July 18, 2004 from 9:00am - 4:00pm
Presented by Great Companions in Allentown, PA!

Learn great exercises and techniques to help you relax, concentrate, stay connected to your dog, walk smoothly in the ring, and much more.

Don’t miss it!

$125.00 for seminar and materials.
Register now, space is limited!

For more information contact Diane Peters Mayer at CAYPNews@aol.com

or Ali Brown at Great Companions

See the difference a day makes!

Can't make the Seminar? Join the hundreds of handlers who have STOPPED RING NERVES FROM HOME with our Audio Ring Nerve Program for All Dog Sports, with Training Manual.

• Great Exercises & Techniques.
• A Super Quickie Stress-Buster.
• Guided Imagery to mentally rehearse your perfect performance.
• Terrific Training Tips.

This program will help you do it!

The Audio Program & Manual is $29.95 plus $6.00 S&H in US. (PA residents add $1.80 sales tax). International add $10.00 S&H.

To read more about it or purchase by check or secure credit card online, please click here.

or call Diane at 215-348-8836.

Attend Diane’s RING NERVE WORKSHOP at Dana Crevlings’s Competitive Edge Sports Camp in Cornwall-on-the-Hudson

Five Days of Agility from June 27-July 2, 2004
(Diane's workshop date and time to be announced).
Competitive Edge Sports Camp
Dogs of Course

For more information visit www.dogsofcourse.com

Read Diane's monthly column Conquering Ring Nerves in AgilityAction.com, the new online Agility Magazine from Laughing Dog Press.

For more information email laurie@laughingdog.press.com

If you enjoyed PeakNews we invite you to share this link with other handlers who you think might benefit from it.

Thank you! See you next month.

**Note: Columns may vary from month to month.

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