What Is Mindfulness?
Before we start exploring what mindfulness is, I want you to try something. Set a two-minute timer on your phone. Sit comfortably, your back straight and close your eyes. Now just spend those two minutes focusing on your breath. Focus on how your belly expands and contracts. Focus on the feeling of the air going in through your nose. Whenever a thought crops up, just notice it. Don't judge if a thought is good, bad, annoying or however else you might judge one. Just notice it and then bring your attention back to the breath.
What did you notice after doing that for two minutes?
If you are like the rest of us, you probably realise your attention is wandering from your breath constantly. You may have become distracted and didn't focus on your breath. This is a regular occurrence for athletes and when the pressure is turned up a few notches, the more the mind begins to wander.
Mindfulness can be described simply as focusing on what is happening in the present moment, with intention, and without judgement. It also emphasises that you should be aware of your internal and external thoughts, feelings and sensations without judgement.
Mindfulness is about becoming aware of what is going on inside and outside of you. It is about not being lost or dragged around by the thoughts our brain throws at us. In sports, it is about putting our attention and focus where it is needed the most, on the task at hand.
In the book ‘The Mindful Athlete’ by George Mumford, he explains mindfulness as:
‘Mindfulness helps you to pay attention to your thoughts in an unattached manner, which can help to take the emotional charge out of them, slow down your experience of time, and reconnect you to the present moment. It is only in the present moment that we can cultivate conscious flow, achieve optimal levels of performance, and experience the holy place called ‘the zone’.
As you can see, mindfulness can be extremely beneficial for our performance.
The Space Between Stimulus and Response
George Mumford, a mindfulness teacher who worked with Phil Jackson, the legendary Chicago Bulls basketball coach who coached the likes of Michael Jordan, talked about this calm space between stimulus and response. He likened it to a hurricane, with the space between stimulus and response being like the eye of a hurricane. In the middle of all the chaos is a quiet and calm centre. Everyone has this calm and quiet centre within them and mindfulness helps to connect us to this centre space. Once we are connected to it, it enables us to experience the present moment.
In Victor Frankl's ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’, he described it this way: ‘Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.’ Go and read this book. It is written by a psychiatrist who was able to observe the way that both he and others in Auschwitz coped (or didn’t) with the experience.
It is when we stay in this calm centre of the hurricane, when the skies are blue, that we can think straight, make clear decisions, and respond effectively and intelligently. The minute we step away from the centre of the hurricane, we are thrown into chaos. If anyone has seen The Wizard of Oz, you know what happens to Dorothy!
How Is Mindfulness Helpful For Athletes?
An athlete's mind can be full of negative thoughts, expectations, worry or self-doubt. We have a constant narrative or commentary running through our heads when we are performing. This commentary can yank our attention away from doing what is needed in the moment. For example, an F1 driver might be distracted by a thought going through his head that he missed his braking point and lost time in his qualifying lap. A boxer might miss the perfect opportunity to counter as he was focused on the fan's expectations of him. There are many examples we could use here but I hope you get the point.
Our focus needs to be on the task at hand. The task at hand will vary depending on the sport you play, but you will know what you need to do in a competition or match. Mindfulness can help us refocus on the task at hand, restoring control of our attention.
Now it isn't just performance that mindfulness helps with. Mindfulness can support our well-being as well. It helps us to understand how our brain works and engage with what matters most to us. We also start to realise that the thoughts, beliefs, images and expectations (all of these things can be referred to as cognitions) that come up in our brains are not the truth. They are literally just what they are. Nothing more, nothing less.
How do I use mindfulness?
Just like any technical skills, physical aspect or tactical know-how, mindfulness requires practice. We can train and practice our ability to bring our attention and focus back to the present moment, enabling us to choose the most effective responses. Many people refer to mindfulness as lifting weights for the mind. Mental resistance training!
Just like you would for any other part of your training, set a time throughout the day that is dedicated to mindfulness practice. The practice we are going to do is so simple, yet so powerful. Simply, it involves focussing on your breath. Just like you did at the start of the blog.
Step-by-step guide to mindfulness of breath:
Set a timer on your phone (between 3-5 minutes to start with).
Sit comfortably, your back straight and close your eyes.
Focus on the breath and the feelings associated with breathing.
If anything in your mind pops up, notice it without judgement. If you become distracted or get lost in thought, bring your attention back to the breath.
Complete this at least once a day.
Key takeaways for using mindfulness:
If you become distracted or lost in thought, bring your attention back to the breath. This is the key skill to develop in mindfulness.
Don't worry about being good at it; there's no good or bad in mindfulness.
Learning new skills can be tough initially.
The goal is to train the ability to return to the present moment.
Start with five minutes a day, every day.
Gradually increase the time as you get comfortable.
Practice mindfulness during everyday tasks (e.g., driving, cooking).
Focus on the task at hand and bring attention back if distracted.
Mindfulness can be practised in any activity.
Begin with the mindfulness of breath, the fundamental technique.
Once comfortable, explore other mindfulness exercises.
Not paying attention to what needs doing, becoming distracted and losing focus happens to all athletes. Learning and practising how to maintain your focus and attention on the task at hand as well as being fully present in the moment can be extremely beneficial for your performance if trained and practised regularly. Remember, we want to be in the calm centre of the hurricane where we can think straight, make clear decisions and respond effectively and intelligently.