Many are familiar with the original Star Trek TV series and the Movies. The intriguing character Spock could read the mind of another person by placing his fingers on their face and concentrating. This was called the Vulcan mind-meld. Recently I’ve transitioned from a slower table tennis rubber to one that is relatively zippy to me, although not very fast by industry standards. It has seemed to have a bit of a mind of its own, and I have been trying to tame it since my purchase three months ago.
The rubber in focus is the Stiga Mantra Sound. Mantra, hmm….Scholars disagree on the definition. One refers to a word or sound that is deliberately repeated over and over. I can relate to that when I constantly hit the ball off the end of the table and whisper expletives over and over. It is stated that there is no generally agreed upon definition. That gives me great liberty to choose or create one! So just to give myself greater credibility, I will throw out the following from the yogantfoundation.com which I will paraphrase: A mantra’s power, like any other tool, is unlocked not merely by owning it, but by using it. Hey, I grip this tool maybe more than any other, er…even my remote. And believe me, a paddle can be a bit of a tool sometimes.
So my Vulcanized Mantra has gone through a bit of a mind-meld, (and yes, most table tennis rubber is vulcanized). Now, three months in, and I can do things with this that I couldn’t achieve with my prior weapon.. I’ve loosened my grip, and it seemed to loosen its grip on me. I’ve closed my bat a bit and I seem to be in control. The sound of the ‘Sound’ is now sweeter. We have become ‘One’.🖖
Kobra
