January 30, 2017
To many, the idea of mindfulness and meditation training may seem to be nothing more than the latest wellness craze. For those more familiar with the practice, its many applications can provide a significant advantage in almost any competitive situation.
Many believe this is especially true in sports, even enhancing the performance of athletes in game-time situations.
Someone who came to see this early on was Phil Jackson, who first introduced the concept of mindfulness to the Chicago Bulls back in 1993 as coach. The team was coming off three consecutive NBA championship years and he was looking for a way to help players stay focused under mounting pressure.
He enlisted zen-master George Mumford to lead the team in weekly mindfulness sessions. At the time, Mumford, who’s following includes both Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, was running a stress reduction clinic at the University of Massachusetts.
Jackson organized weekly mindfulness sessions when he later moved to the Lakers and Knicks franchises, which he reportedly leads himself by starting off with a thought to encourage team unity.
Mumford’s goal is for the athletes to slow down the mind, to prepare it for game time, he told the New York Times in December: .
"This ability to step back and observe your experience in an uncritical way, you can actually understand how your mind works, how your body works, how the universe works, how basketball works,’’ he said. “And also understanding that when you’re performing at your best level, there’s usually a lack of self-consciousness.”
Derrick Rose, point guard for the New York Knicks, described the sessions to the Times:
“Rose said, the players are supposed to sit on the edge of their chairs, with proper posture, and to center their hands at the middle of their bodies. Jackson asks them to count to 10 and to count each breath, focusing on their awareness.”
The idea is to teach the players how to center themselves so they can block out distractions and perform to the best of their ability.
But does it really work, you ask?
In a Daily Burn article on the topic, Trevor Moawad, vice president of Pro and Elite Sports at EXOS, says:
"There are only so many ways we can continue to get bigger, faster and stronger." Moawad is a leading mental conditioning coach and has worked with top collegiate football programs like University of Alabama and Florida State as well as pro football teams such as the Jacksonville Jaguars. "If you change the overall mental mindset, you can see results faster," he says.
To that point, it is hard to deny the fact that while many athletes work tirelessly to train and care for their bodies, they may be ignoring the very thing that could give them an edge over everyone: the ability to exercise and gain control over their minds.
For more information about how you can incorporate mindfulness into your training, try reading George Mumford’s book, “The Mindful Athlete.”
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I hope these tips help you as much as they have helped me. I will continue to keep you posted on my health journey. Follow me for updates @christiemandia.
