Episode 13
Old Way New Way

Broadcast 6.30pm on 18/9/2002

			Dr Harry Lyndon

GEORGE NEGUS: If this week's optimistic innovator is right, even the worst of sporting habits can be fixed.

Dr Harry Lyndon has pioneered what's known as the Old Way, New Way technique.

		Swimmer off the blocks

DR HARRY LYNDON, INNOVATOR: We're going to be working with Ashley today?

MAN: Yeah, we'll be working with Ashley, who's a middle-distance freestyler, and he has a bit of a problem with his starting technique.

DR HARRY LYNDON: The Old Way, New Way technique is a method of changing habits quickly. The conventional approach, really, aims at teaching them something new... and it doesn't address the fact that they already know how to do it their way.

Old Way, New Way approaches it in a different way. It says what you already know is actually more important than the new skill that you're trying to achieve.

"The technique we're going to be looking at today is your starting technique. Once we've worked out what the old way feels like for you, and that's something you have to get into your head... You know what you're supposed to do. We'll then go into a mediation between those two ideas."

What we mean by mediation is a special kind of practice. Mediation is practise of the difference between what you already know or understand or, you know, looking at your old habit or skill, and then looking at how it differs from the new one and practising the difference, which is the essence of mediation. So it's actually a very powerful process of changing the way your brain reacts to new information.

Jason Gillespie, being one of the most prominent people that I've worked with, and in his case, we were able to help Jason change his bowling action within a very short period of time. At the time that we were working with Jason, Dennis Lillee had been appointed Jason's skills coach... and it was Dennis's opinion that it may take up to 12 months to help Jason change the bowling action that he had. With our assistance, he was actually able to change a very major part of his bowling action in about 20 minutes.

"OK, that was a very good old way. We're going to try the new way now."

As part of the normal professional development, we get international visitors, and one of those is Professor Yuri Hanin from Finland. And Uri has taken the program up with a vengeance and has worked with 13 different Olympic athletes with tremendous success in fields ranging from javelin throwing through to swimming.

GEORGE NEGUS: All those old problems ironed out in one session – piece of cake.