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Meditation in sport should not only be an addition to training, but also its permanent element. It affects the improvement of mental, emotional and physical he alth and increases training achievements, which are just some of the advantages of meditation in sports. Wondering how to get started? Fortunately, there are quite a few meditation techniques that you can successfully adapt to your abilities and expectations. Check the invaluable effects of meditation in sports on your own skin!

Contents:

  1. Meditation - what is it?
  2. Meditation in sport - physiological benefits of meditation in the context of sports performance
  3. Meditation in sport - how to start? Examples of techniques and types of meditation
  4. Meditation in sport - how long should it last? When to meditate?
  5. Meditation in sport - is it possible not to think?
  6. Meditation in sport - how to combine it with physical activity?
  7. Meditation in sport - psychological and he alth effects

Meditation in sport- sounds puzzling? For many athletes, not anymore. More and more physically active people are expanding the area of ​​he alth care in which they move and adding work on mental he alth to it. Without it, our body will not function as it should, because it is the head that directly determines the body. The awareness of athletes is increasing, and training or physical activity today is much more than just lifting weights in the gym or pointless running on the treadmill.

Meditation or its derivative, mindfulness (i.e. mindfulness training) helps athletes to achieve better results - these are the conclusions of many researchers and scientists around the world. Scientists during the 125th Congress of the American Psychological Association put forward the thesis that in some sports, the psyche may be responsible for the success of a given athlete in up to 90%.

Dr. Keith Kaufman has created a program consisting of six group meditation sessions during which athletes prepare mentally for their profession. The sessions initially started with sitting meditation and ended with moving meditation and mindfulness training.

The author of the method emphasizes that mental factors such as concentration, relaxation, freeing from thoughts and emotions - especially negative ones,of great importance for achieving good sports results. Working on mental strength brought surprising results to the respondents!

Research conducted among 81 athletes showed that those who participated in the experiment significantly improved their results and reduced the anxiety associated with competition. There has been a lot of research like this.

Interestingly, the mental analysis of preparation for sports competitions carried out at the 1984 Olympics showed that working on mental condition brought the players the best sports results.

Meditation skills translate into better sports results, but how to properly understand this statement? Let's take a closer look at this issue!

Meditation - what is it?

It is difficult to clearly define what meditation is. Like everything spiritual, the definition of meditation is elusive. To understand what meditation means, a few sample definitions are used by people all over the world depending on their culture and religion.

  • Meditation is an ancient method of connecting the mind with the body.
  • Meditation is a mental exercise that trains mindfulness. It is practiced by focusing on an object inside or outside of us, or by keeping our attention focused on the dominant experiences going on right now.
  • Meditation is awareness without involving the mind.
  • Meditation is the observation of your thoughts without judging and determining them.

Meditation has been practiced since ancient times as part of religious traditions and beliefs. It was used especially in yoga and ancient Eastern religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Jainism. Elements of meditation can also be seen in Christianity, more specifically in Hesychasm.

Currently, meditation does not belong to any religious system and is recognized as a universal spiritual practice that can be used by a follower and practitioner of any faith and culture.

The practice of meditation can be done in any position, but the most common position is sitting or meditation in motion. Meditation, apart from exercising mindfulness and acceptance, can also trigger a specific emotional state in order to analyze it, e.g. anger, or maintain and develop a given mental reaction to various stimuli, e.g. compassion.

Meditation calms down and directs all attention inward to achieve the practitioner's goal - total awareness. This is called "being awake within without being aware of anything but awareness itself."

Meditation in sport - physiological benefits of meditation inthe context of sports performance

Thousands of thoughts arise in our head every day. Research shows that as many as 70% are negative thoughts and 80% are past or previous day's thoughts.

How is an athlete supposed to achieve good results or how are we to progress in a gym or fitness room, if our brain is not where our body is, and is also full of negative thoughts about ourselves and the world?

An athlete who has mental and spiritual problems will never reach his full potential if he does not start working with his head. Moreover, meditation has a real effect on our body!

The benefits of meditation in terms of athletic performance are truly invaluable, here are some examples:

  • decreased blood pressure and heart rate
  • decreased blood lactic acid
  • higher levels of dopamine in the brain
  • brainwave frequency change
  • increasing the electrical resistance of the skin associated with deep relaxation
  • decreased cortisol levels
  • increasing the concentration of gray matter, responsible for learning, memory, perspective, self-awareness and emotions
  • increase beneficial gamma brain waves
  • faster information processing thanks to the increased number of brain folds
  • better immunity of the body
  • better metabolism and greater insulin secretion
  • decreased PMS and negative menopausal symptoms
  • reduction of heart rate and respiratory rate, better oxygenation of the body
  • slowing down cell aging
  • greater resistance to physical pain
  • more efficient engagement and recruitment of muscle cells

Meditation in sport - how to start? Examples of techniques and types of meditation

Meditation in the context of physical exertion can be practiced before, after or during the activity, which is an advanced meditation technique that athletes who take advantage of meditation strive for.

However, that's not all - you can meditate properly every day and several times a day, so you do not need to combine spiritual activity directly with physical activity, because if you meditate regularly, you will feel the effects of this spiritual practice during sports.

Meditation, despite its basic and unanimous goal - working with the mind, can be divided into internal and external.

Inner meditation is turning to yourself and delving into your personality in order to calm down or strengthen its various aspects. It is usually performed with your eyes closed. And meditationexterior is about increasing alertness, concentration and spontaneity. It allows you to live more intensely and attentively in the present moment. For external meditation, you usually do Zen techniques with your eyes open.

Do you want to try your hand at meditation, but don't know where to start? Here are the basic techniques and variations of meditation to start your meditation adventure with:

  • Concentration - focuses on a single object, such as a flower or a candle. You can also concentrate on breathing or relaxing music. This art of meditation comes from Buddhism. The most famous technique of concentration is Pranayama, a breathing control technique used in yoga.
  • Mindfulness meditation - this is a Buddhist meditation technique based on careful observation of a given moment, i.e. one's own experiences and inner impressions, without evaluating the observed facts.
  • Visualizations - they consist in consciously directing the mind towards certain images that are intentionally related to our person. This can be done with the help of visualization techniques taken from psychotherapy, for example, imagining a pleasant moment or a positive solution to a troubling situation. Visualizations can also be practiced with the technique of Tibetan Buddhism, then we will be dealing with the three-light meditation method, which will include visualizations of buddhas or gurus.
  • Asanas - meditation can also be done with specific asanas derived from yoga. It consists of taking a given asana and trying to meditate in that specific position for the body. This can be through breathing or attention training.

Start with the first sample meditation technique and move on to the next one if you feel ready.

Meditation in sport - how long should it last? When to meditate?

Some say it can only be five minutes a day, and some say half an hour is the bare minimum. Ultimately, it all depends on you: your needs, skills and subjective feelings. The universal meditation time is 15 minutes each day.

When to meditate? Here, too, you have the freedom to choose. Some meditate in the morning just after getting out of bed, when the brain has not yet fully awake and overwhelm us with a million pieces of information, and some in the evening to cleanse and regenerate.

How does this relate to training? You can do a meditation session either before or after training - decide for yourself which pattern suits you best. Watch your feelings and sensations carefully - it's also part of meditation.

Meditation insport - is it possible not to think?

Of course, it's impossible not to think about anything. Our brain produces thousands of thoughts all the time, not always conscious and intentional. However, meditation does not seek to lack thoughts, but to ignore them and lack dialogue with them. What does that actually mean?

When we prepare for meditation and close our eyes, we probably have a thought in our head in the first second. Our job is to listen to it and not continue. We can then imagine that thoughts flow to us like waves and let them drain freely.

Another technique is to imagine that when a thought appears, enclose it in a frame, make a picture out of it, and set it aside. Advanced yogis who practice meditation every day are able to completely clear their mind and deprive it of almost every little thought - this is what we strive for, but we do not require it from ourselves.

If such a skill is to come to us, it will come by itself, if not - just watching your thoughts is a proper meditation.

Meditation in sport - how to combine it with physical activity?

You already know about meditation as much as you need to start practicing it. Now you are probably wondering how to implement techniques and methods that you have learned or will learn to your sport. During meditation, you got to know yourself, looked inside yourself, listened to your thoughts, learned peace, patience and increased the art of concentration, these are just some of the effects of your regular practice. How does sport relate to it?

When we practice a specific sport, lift weights or run on a treadmill, all we need is an efficient nervous system that steers the head without mistake, which in turn sends signals to our motor apparatus.

If your inner life has changed, your body's work will also change. In meditating, you have certainly learned to be patient and not to appreciate the facts you observe. This will successfully translate into the sport you practice.

If you are a runner and previously you were nervous that after 20 minutes of running you get out of breath, which made you mentally scold and criticize, and it did not help you continue running, now you can use the art of mindfulness in a beneficial way .

Thanks to it you will distance yourself from your progress, stop judging yourself and give yourself more freedom and opportunities to learn freely without judging negatively and cutting your wings.

If you are training shooting, meditation will help you focus on the target, withstand stress and concentrate as much as possible on the assigned task in stressful situationsmoments.

And when you are a professional footballer, the art of meditation will make you better cope with competition on the pitch, you will be more mentally resistant to external stimuli, and your body will gain more efficiency, getting rid of persistent stress and mental tension.

This can be mentioned endlessly because meditation will find its application in any physical activity.

The art of meditation can be successfully used in everyday training. Thanks to it, we will be better focused on a given exercise, we will gain greater stability and balance in movement, and our head will remove mental limitations and will allow us to pass the unstoppable barriers posed by our body.

Thanks to meditation, we let go of all tensions, stresses and negative emotions, and they have a huge impact on how our body functions, how we move and where we feel discomfort. Meditation will also teach us to focus as much as possible on a given muscle and specific movement, in order to recruit as many of the right muscle cells and soft tissues responsible for movement as possible.

To enhance the effects of your training, find a space for yourself that will make you feel good. Before training, think about the intention that guides you: it can be fitness, good he alth, losing unnecessary kilograms.

Work on your body with this intention and focus your full attention on the movement. Listen to the signals that come from your body and do everything according to your body. If you feel clear pain - do not press down, if your body gives you a signal that an exercise or a given position is extremely pleasant - stay in it longer.

Focus on the sensations and let the joy of movement and inner peace engulf your body, then you can surprise yourself how your training changes for the better, and your body's capabilities increase at a surprising pace from training to training!

Meditation in sport - psychological and he alth effects

Meditation has a positive effect on many aspects of our body. In the context of sport, not only physiological effects are important, but also psychological ones that directly affect our he alth and fitness. Meditation for psychological and he alth effects:

  • gives a sense of harmony of body and mind
  • increases self-acceptance and self-confidence
  • makes you feel better
  • increases empathy and helps build positive relationships
  • improves concentration
  • gives you the ability to multitask without feeling distracted and losing your attention
  • increases vigilancepsychosomatic
  • improves awareness as it increases the density of the cerebral cortex
  • increases mental resilience, endurance and emotional intelligence
  • improves cognitive abilities
  • increases creativity
  • reduces the need for long sleep and improves regenerative processes
  • prepares you to deal with stressful situations
  • increases the ability to work in stressful conditions
  • reduces racial and age prejudices and increases acceptance and compassion
  • lowers the level of neuroticism
  • reduces depression or eliminates it completely (in the case of mild disease)
  • helps cure ADHD
  • helps in the fight against addictions
  • reduces the symptoms of panic disorder
  • reduces the volume of the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory, and reduces the volume of the amygdala - responsible for negative emotions, mainly fear
  • fights the following diseases: hypertension, cardiac arrhythmia, chronic unexplained pains, migraine, insomnia, psychosomatic disorders, psoriasis and others.
  • How does exercise affect the brain?
  • Positive effect of training (physical activity) on the psyche and well-being
  • Calming training - 6 exercises to restore inner balance
About the authorMałgorzata Kośla She is a qualified fitness instructor and certified personal trainer. Since childhood, her greatest passion was sport - she played football and basketball. Then a new love came - dance, especially dancehall. He likes to sweat at the gym and relaxes in yoga and meditation sessions. He is constantly expanding his knowledge about training and a he althy lifestyle. What besides sports? He runs a store with natural cosmetics and he althy food, writes his own blog (stylzyciadowolny.pl) and deals with copywriting.

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