I recently completed my Meditation and Mindfulness Teacher certification. After years of reading about and practicing meditation on and off I decided it was time to dig in and learn more. The benefits of Meditation have now been well researched and widely publicized so it is becoming much more accepted by “mainstream culture”. As a basketball coach and mental health professional I am very excited to teach meditation to athletes. Meditation for athletes has shown to not only relax the mind but also it increases motivation to work out so the muscles benefit too!
Meditation for Athletes
Athletes tend to be competitive by nature and that serves them well on the court, field, pool, etc. However when it comes to meditating sometimes athletes struggle because they are constantly judging their “performance”. The most important tenet of meditation is non-judgement. It is not easy to quiet the mind. We are under constant bombardment of stimuli. One of the greatest benefits of meditation for athletes is learning to attend to the most pertinent input and block the rest out. That is how mindful athletes stay calm under pressure. So as you meditate your mind will wander! That is normal! The practice is in noticing it wandered in a non-judgemental manner and to come back to the breath (see below). Below are some simple instructions for getting started with meditation. The most important step is the first one….just start.
How To Meditate
- Sit comfortably. Preferably on a chair with your feet on the floor or on the ground with your back against a wall. Do not lay down during meditation (unless it’s a meditation to help sleep) because that is called a nap. Let your hands rest loosely open on your lap and close your eyes.
- Begin with 3 deep in breaths, pause at the top and then release the breath through your nose or mouth.
- Return to normal breathing and as you breath in you can say (in your head) “breathe in, I am breathing in”. As you breath out you will say, “breathe out, I am breathing out.” Eventually you can try not repeating these words in your head and instead just noticing the breath coming in and the breath going out.
- As thoughts enter your head notice them with non-judgement, you can even name them in your head, “thinking” and then return to noticing your breath.
- Start with this breathing meditation for 5 minutes 1x/day and see if you can gradually increase to 10 min 1x/day and then 10 min 2x/day.
- Some days will be harder to sit still, just do what you can and try again the next day.
Please contact me with any questions you may have, I am always happy to help!!
