A Little Sports Psychology: Mindfulness
by Teige West
This is the first of several articles that will give you sports psychology techniques that you can use to enhance your performance and your life off of the track. The other articles will cover negative thought patterns, visualization and relaxation.
Mindfulness is a practice that has gained popularity not just in our wider culture, but also for athletes of all competitive sports, from hurdling to basketball to snowboarding to swimming. The best thing about mindfulness is that it can positively impact ALL areas of your life, not just your hurdling performance.
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Mindfulness is being aware in the present moment, whether your awareness is focused on thought, senses, surroundings, breathing, or a creative project, but this article will cover thought & sense awareness. This may sound too New Agey for you, but present-moment awareness is used by health professionals, such as sports psychologists, doctors (this technique is widely used for chronic pain management), and physical therapists.
You may read this article and think that you have enough in your schedule (Another suggestion! Something else for you to do!). And yes, you have drills, strength training, competition, school and/or work, friends, family, hobbies, interests and obligations. But it is precisely because you have so many commitments in addition to your sport that you need a mindful practice to keep you centered and focused.
The good news is that mindfulness is a practice that doesn’t always require time to be set aside—yes, there are exercises that you can do with your downtime (there will be one at the end of this article); however, you can use this technique at any time, no matter what you may be doing. Really, you should look at mindfulness as a way to perfect your ability to focus deeply on the present—and in a world where there is so much information everywhere, focus is so necessary to become a better person and athlete.
What are the benefits of thought awareness? As an athlete who often juggles multiple responsibilities with a demanding schedule, you may sometimes (or often) feel overwhelmed, tired or stressed. Present-moment awareness can help you:
• More effectively manage the physical symptoms of anxiety (i.e. pre-race jitters)
• Stay present and focused during a race, or right before a race
• Feel present in the moments when you’re not training (training and competition may saturate your thoughts, even when you’re doing something else)
• Sleep better
• Feel more in control of your life with a sharper focus on the present
• Acknowledge your fears so that you can realistically evaluate your worries and begin to reduce the power of those fears
Observe Your Thoughts
The first step in present awareness is to think about your thinking, which most of us don’t do. We’re often so engaged with our stress, or we are trying to get everything done, and we get lost in the forest of our minds. If you’re walking to class or work, you’re probably lost in the expectations for your day: what you have to do, when you have to be here or there, something you forgot to do yesterday, etc.; you’re not aware of your thoughts—you are your thoughts.
So, for a few second, pull back from this article right now. What is going through your mind? Work? School? You didn’t train hard enough today? You’re hungry? Are your thoughts predominantly negative, or are you focused on something positive that happened?
Being aware of the thoughts that come and go is the first step of mindfulness. Instead of being your thoughts, you should try to find a separation between yourself and those thoughts and become an observer.
For the rest of the day, observe your thinking when you’re doing something that doesn’t require concentrated focus. If you have to write a paper or a report or you need concentration for your job, give your complete focus on those things. But if you take a break to get a glass of water or to walk around and stretch (or if you have trouble falling asleep at night), observe your thoughts. At first, you may forget because thinking about thinking is not yet a habit. Have something to remind you to step back and observe. You know how they say to tie a ribbon around your finger to remember something? You don’t actually have to do that. You can draw a circle on your hand, tape a note on your computer screen, etc.
As you go through your day, are there certain topics that dominate your mind? What are they? Do you repeat a specific thought on a loop? See if you can observe your thoughts without responding to them because actively working with thoughts will come later. Right now, just practice being aware.
(A quick note: if you’re going through a difficult life situation, such as a break-up, sickness, a loved one’s illness, etc., this exercise may not be representative of your daily thought habits, and that’s ok. You can still use the rest of this activity. If you are going through an uncommonly stressful time, talk to someone, whether you meet with a friend, a professional, your coach or any other trusted person.)
Accept What Comes To Mind
When you begin to observe your thoughts, you will notice patterns: the same joys, the same fears, the same topics, and the same people may continually come to mind. Don’t fight your thoughts. Let them roll by like sheets of paper. Because here is the hard truth: much of what runs through your head is placed there without your permission.
Consider how much information comes at you every day, all day. You see advertisements everywhere—on cars, on the side of the road, on your phone, and on TV. Your loves ones make suggestions, give you advice, or tell you their concerns. At work you’re bombarded by the tasks you have to perform, and by your manager’s opinions or demands. Your teammates may share their triumphs, their worries, or their criticism. Much of this information will be unsolicited. There’s absolutely no way to control what other people do, and we don’t come with a shield that we can use to bounce off unwanted information and protect ourselves.
The purpose of mindfulness is to first be aware of these thoughts in your head, and second, to be able to accept, to observe these thoughts without reacting to them. Like when you’re nervous about a race, your heart pounds, your stomach flutters, you sweat, your mind isn’t focused—those physical symptoms are the worst part of anxiety, right? (Or if you have to give a presentation and you momentarily forget your opening line because of stress) If you could just have the thought, “What if I fall down in front of everyone?” with no bodily reaction to that fear, you’d be a lot more confident, right? That’s the purpose of mindfulness: to observe your thoughts through practice until you realize that a negative thought is simply a thought—you can choose to give it power or not. You will also realize how much energy you spend judging yourself, and after the race or big training day, you will often find that your fears are usually not realized.
The Connection Between Mindfulness & the Senses
Once you begin to practice mindfulness, you can go a step further and learn how your thoughts affect your body. You’ve probably heard of the Fight or Flight reaction. The first humans encountered far more life or death situations on a daily basis than we do, and so their bodies developed a quick response where the body released chemicals to aid in getting away or defending oneself. And while you won’t see a tiger on your way to competition (hopefully), our bodies are still programed to react to stress and release chemicals. Like in the above example, when you’re nervous you feel stress physically in your breathing and heart rate. Sometimes you may be so stressed about something that the physical sensations become really frustrating; throwing up because of nerves can affect your race, causing fatigue and dehydration. You may feel like your reactions are controlling you, but your thoughts are causing the reactions.
When you explore the connection between your mind and your body, you will know 1) what thoughts are problematic (this will be dealt with in a separate article) and 2) how your body reacts to those thoughts, and you can learn ways to moderate those reactions. If you know your shoulders get tight, you can consciously relax. If you breathe shallowly, you can remember to take deeper breaths. Try the exercise below to begin to notice the mind and body connection.
Performing this next exercise in a dim, quiet space during alone time is the most effective way to do this work, but if you’re waiting for the bus, have a some time to kill before a class, or have any other relatively quiet, calm moment, go ahead and give this a try.
While you do this exercise, try to take deep belly breaths.
Relax for a few minutes and observe your thoughts again, like you did in the above mindfulness work.
Now that you’re thinking about thinking, notice your body. What do you feel? Are your legs sore? Your neck? Is there a part of your body that’s tense or tight? Concentrate on different body parts, evaluating how each part feels.
Now bring your awareness back to your thoughts. When certain thoughts come to mind, do you feel a reaction in your body? For example, if you have a big race coming up, or a major work project, do your shoulders tense when you think about being in the starting blocks? Does your heart pound? Do you breathe harder?
Even if you don’t like your body’s reactions to your thoughts, at this juncture, try not to judge or edit your thoughts. Right now you should simply observe how your thoughts create physical reactions.
Work with this exercise for a few days and make a list of reactions that you observe and want to work through. And if you can connect specific thoughts to specific reactions, write those down. There will be an article coming on how to release those thoughts.
For tight muscles, try clenching the muscle and then releasing, focusing on relaxing the muscle. If you’re frequently stressed, the muscles that carry that stress are often tight. You can also apply heat or try a warm bath, or swimming in the summer. For stomach issues, be careful what you eat pre-race or before a stressful event. Choose protein and slow-digesting carbs. To calm your breathing and heart rate, remember to breathe from the diaphragm, not from the chest.
Be Patient With Yourself
Mindfulness takes practice. In fact, awareness is more a way of being, everywhere and at all times, no matter your environment, mood or immediate task. You won’t do one awareness exercise and find your life has changed completely overnight. But after a week, you will see a difference. And as you continue to stay present, you will be able to pass over thoughts far more easily than before. So remember to be patient with yourself. Keep practicing.
A Daily Exercise For Mindfulness
After you’ve read through this article, here’s a 15 minute (or longer—that’s up to you) exercise you can do each day whenever you have downtime. Ideally, you should do this on your sofa where you can be comfortable and quiet, but considering your schedule and life circumstances, that might not be possible. Wherever you can find alone time (on your work break, in a park, your college’s quad) will work. You can set a timer if you need to do so.
Step 1: Find a comfortable place to sit where you won’t be disturbed.
Step 2: Close your eyes. Take deep belly breaths until you feel your body relax. Focus on your breathing.
Step 3: Bring your focus to the present moment. As your mind conjures images or thoughts, observe them and let them pass by. As each new idea comes to mind, try to see the thought objectively. Your task is to stay observant, rather than becoming reactionary to the thought.
Step 4: Let go of judgments. If you have a thought that is usually reactive, such as “I sprint too slowly.” Do not agree or disagree. Only passively observe that thought and those that follow.
Step 5: When you reach the end of your allotted time, bring your focus back to your breath, continuing to breathe deeply.
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