Calmness is a choice. You must learn to turn off the chatter (negative self-talk) and prevent the onset of unwanted drama and false fatigue. The “stop” command combined with proper breathing and listening will help quiet your mind and allow you to be calm. This is the function that helps you to connect with the sense of self that enables you to tap into your base of fitness and get back to giving your best effort.
The choice to be calm can be learned. The challenge is to do the inner-work which includes breathing, listening, and calming skills that enable you to reframe negative thoughts; manage your emotions and operate with acceptance when it matters the most. If you develop a routine for practicing these skills, they will become automatic and support you in the process of pushing through discomfort and giving your best effort under pressure and in competition.
Calmness Training: The rationale for training to be calm is based on the importance of being present to achieve a successful workout or competition. Mental chatter and physical discomfort before or during exercise is a form of resistance that serves as a distraction and keeps you from being present. Calmness allows you to operate above the line. It helps you to accept your reality, to evaluate your options (push through or take a break) and come up with the right solution for your discomfort.
Thought Power: All thoughts involve physical energy. Negative thoughts waste energy, and positive thoughts add energy especially if you are inspired and passionate about what you do. To give your best effort, you need to be able to reframe all negative thoughts, find a way to embrace the challenges and stay excited and positive about what you are doing.
False Fatigue: False Fatigue is caused prematurely by your emotions, particularly fear and pain. False fatigue can be the feeling of being exhausted prior to taking on a “steep” challenge, the burning in your muscles as you “think too far ahead” in a race, the heaviness in your legs as you start to run or pedal up a hill, or the accelerated breathing that goes with the negative emotions of fear and anger. Along with feeling tired, the feelings related to this energy can cause you to go “digital” or mechanical where you lose the feeling for what you are doing. In extreme cases you may quit or self-destruct and perform way below you standards.
Stop Command: The verbal command “stop” or “yes” can disrupt the chatter and provide the opportunity to be present, to settle into your emotions and redirect your efforts. The stop command combined with a question, “What do I need right now”? Or a psychological reminder, “Yes, just keep running?” can provide the solution and direction needed to get you back on track.
Breathing: Rapid and shallow breaths signal danger to the brain. Slow, steady and deep breaths signal the brain to relax. If practiced on a regular basis, deep breathing can condition the brain to relax in the face of events that would normally create anxiety. By following a strict program of deep breathing, it’s possible to condition your mind and body to relax in the time it takes for one complete breath.
Coaching Tip: Practice breathing in the following fashion: take a slow, deep breath, inhaling through your nose, push the tip of your tongue against the front teeth and the roof of your mouth; shove your abdomen out as you breathe, allowing your rib cage to expand while you fill your lungs to their maximum capacity; pause at the top of your breath, and then exhale through your mouth, make the “t” sound and drop your jaw and let any tension go. Pause at the bottom of your breath and then roll your head forward and tuck your chin on your chest. As you inhale, lift your head as you extend your chin forward and look up as high as you can. Pause as you hold your breath and focus on the tip of your tongue. As you exhale, drop your jaw and roll your chin forward. Note: If your need for oxygen does not allow you to follow this routine, just breathe normally in a deep an mindful way which will give you value as well.
Listening: The act of listening provides a change in focus. It helps you to be present, and it keeps you from thinking. As Eckhart Tolle points out in his book, STILLNESS SPEAKS, “Any disturbing noise can be as helpful as silence. By dropping your inner resistance to the noise, by allowing it to be as it is, this acceptance also takes you into that realm of inner peace that is stillness.” Experiment with listening as a way of quieting your mind and finding the stillness and being calm.
Present Moment: The inner-work-- breathing, listening, and calming skills will enable you to settle into your emotions and operate in the present moment. From this vantage point, you can make an informed choice that is consistent with what you want to have happen. As the saying goes, “10% of the quality of your life is based on what happens to you and the other 90% depends on how you respond to what happens to you.”
Keep it Simple: The inner-work can help you to quiet your mind, be calm and respond to that 90% of what happens to you and maybe more in competition and in life. At this level of focus, you will be able to build the fitness and the physical skills needed to give your best effort. That’s HiLevel!
