You are NOT your thoughts

Posted on August 14, 2023 by Dr. Robert Swoap

ncsu Screenshot 2023-08-14 at 9.38.05 AM

This summer, I was invited to speak at four sessions of distance running camps in North Carolina and New Hampshire. The focus was on how to manage the thoughts and sensations that arise as we push ourselves in training and racing. So many of the campers could relate to the thoughts that seemingly come up automatically that undermine our efforts:

“This is too hard!”

“You can’t finish”

“Why are you doing this?”

“You can’t go with those other runners.”

And when these thoughts and sensations arise, we often experience them as facts rather than just fleeting thoughts and sensations. So the focus of the camp talks was to teach and practice mindfulness/focusing strategies, defusing from thoughts, and incorporating mental training into one’s daily routine.

I’m sharing the slides for those who want to review the talk and/or look into the concepts/practices more fully.

I’m happy to answer any questions. Please reach out on the “Connect” button.

RACE! 2023 Summer Camps

A Case Against Early Sport Specialization

Posted on January 24, 2022 by Dr. Robert Swoap

Last night’s football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills may well go down in history as one of the greatest playoff games in NFL history. The whole game was amazing. But the final two minutes of regulation? Wow — 25 points, three lead changes and a tie, three touchdowns, and 221 yards of combined passing offense.

It is a shame that the game was decided, in part, by a coin flip that gave the ball in overtime to the Chiefs, quarterbacked by Patrick Mahomes who led yet another full-field drive to win the game. It seems easy to imagine that if Buffalo had won the coin flip, Josh Allen would have led the Bills to a score. But that is me quibbling with the NFL overtime rules.

What is clear is the quarterbacks of these teams have unbelievable talent — physically, tactically, and mentally.

They have a combined age of 51 years, so it’s not tons of experience that explains their abilities.

I would argue that both Allen and Mahomes benefitted greatly from being allowed and encouraged to play multiple sports growing up. Both guys excel off the football field.

Mahomes played baseball and football up until his junior year at Texas Tech. He was an excellent shortstop. Watching him last night — his quickness on his feet, his ability to throw across his body, his improvising — you could see the benefits of multi-sport training.

“I played shortstop my whole life. I never had my feet under me. I was always making throws across my body. I have always played a lot of basketball and thrown a lot of ’no-look’ passes, and this is me using all the stuff I’ve grown up doing.”

Allen played at Firebaugh HS (CA); his coach said Allen could have played both basketball and baseball at the next level. (Allen displayed a 33.5 inch vertical leap at the NFL combine a few years ago.)

Unlike many of today’s young signal-callers, [Allen] didn’t attend every quarterback camp or seven-on-seven session. Instead, he pitched on his baseball team and guided the high school basketball squad as the starting point guard.

“In California, there’s a quarterback circuit,” Wyoming offensive coordinator Brent Vigen explained, per Foster. “And he was not a part of that.” — Bleacher Report, 2016, on Allen’s potential as an NFL quarterback

So, why do many parents these days encourage their kids to play one sport, specializing early? They have a false notion that this is the way to develop a child into becoming an elite athlete.

The facts don’t often bear this out. There is both anecdotal and empirical evidence showing that single-sport specialization is usually not the optimal path (though there are exceptions).

Early Sport Specialization (ESS) can lead to physical and psychosocial problems. ESS can lead to overuse injuries and burnout from excessive training at a young age. I can’t count the number of kids I’ve worked with over the years who have specialized too early and who come to me complaining of high levels of stress and lack of motivation.

The benefits of playing many sports include that the child develops a variety of motor skills and maintains interest in sport by keeping it fun. Their social skills are improved. Their decision-making skills are expanded. And it doesn’t feel like the weight of the world rests on a singular identity.

Yes, at some point, one does need to specialize in a sport if one wants to make it at the elite level. And this surely is sport-specific. For example, one may need to specialize earlier in a technical sport like gymnastics. (Though we have seen the costs of that hyper-specialization in many young gymnasts.)

If Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen are any example, there is clearly a case to be made for encouraging multi-sport participation well into high school.

Thanks, guys, for an amazing display of football yesterday.

Being in her element

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Dr. Robert Swoap

Earlier this month, Alenka Artnik, a 39-year-old Slovenian, set a world record for free-diving. She did this in the “constant weight” category, in which she must dolphin-kick to depth and back wearing a monofin. This is attempted after trying to pack one’s lungs with air and then taking one final breath at the surface before upending and descending. Artnik used a four-pound weight to help her sink, kicking slowly and methodically for a little while. Then, at 70 meters

Artnik closed her eyes, stopped finning and the momentum sucked her down like a tractor beam. She surrendered to the free-fall, knowing it’s best not to think or move at all. Thoughts require oxygen. Stress torches it. As she sank deeper the increased pressure made her feel as though she was being hugged by the ocean (NYTimes, 11-26-20).

As she made her way further down, she kept her eyes closed until her alarm went off, signifying that she was close to the destination at the bottom of the dive. alena artnik 2 She reached her intended depth of 114 meters (374 feet under the surface of the ocean). She grabbed a tag hanging from the end of the line, a requirement for an official world record, and then began her return to the world above. She would need to carry the tag and her four-pound weight back to the surface, use her mono-fin to move through the water, and somehow stay calm as her lungs cried for oxygen.

And here is a key. Artnik has an ability to become one with her element (feeling hugged by the ocean). According to her deep safety diving partner, Tito Zappalá, one needs to “try and be like milk in the water. Dissolve yourself in water.” Zappalá said Artnik “is like this. She has the feeling. She has the big connection with the sea.” When later asked about the dive, Artnik said “I definitely felt like I belonged there in that moment [during the free-fall after 70m]. It felt so right.”

Obviously, there is a lot of training that goes into these dangerous dives. Individuals need to be in excellent aerobic and anaerobic shape. They need to be able to move through the water fluidly. They need to assess and increase their biomechanical efficiency as they undulate their body to power the monofin. They need to eat properly and hydrate correctly.

But all of this pales in comparison to what they really need to learn: how to breathe deeply, hold one’s breath while exerting, and then to relax when all instincts would be telling you to panic.

Most of us can learn to extend the length of our breath-holding ability. This can be done during dry-land training fairly safely. But what Artnik and other elite free-divers have mastered is the ability to stay calm and relaxed, to turn off thought, and to trust. This is not always successful. There are plenty of stories of free-divers blacking out and even dying. The ascent is particularly dangerous. Hence, the huge support and safety team that is involved in these world-record attempts.

Still, it ultimately depends on Alenka herself. How she maintains the calm and flow. In an interview over Facebook Messenger (via the Washington Post), she says:

It’s very important that you stay cool. Ego has a very strong role in our life. Here, if you can just imagine this place where there’s peace. In this case, it was at 114 meters, then you can come back. I came to this place and thought, ‘I’m the deepest woman, 113, 114 meters deep, but I still have to come up.’

Alenka Artnik ascends from her record-setting dive with members of her support team. (Nanna Kreutzmann via WP)

“This is the end of the dive when you start thinking about that. All these thoughts are burning oxygen, so the key for a successful deep dive is to be completely in the present moment.”

Think about that. Even your thoughts (thinking about that) are burning oxygen. And she needs every precious molecule of it. I don’t know whether Artnik has a mindfulness meditation practice. But here she talks about how life has helped her reach this ability to be able to flow with the present moment

Euphoria or gasping for breath “cause you a lot of stress, and stress is burning oxygen. You need to be, how you say, cool as a cucumber — super, super chilled. You really need to control your emotions — your ego, basically. In my opinion, the fact that I have a background that was anything but sport gave me a lot of experiences and helped me mature. This kind of attitude helps me in diving.”

Congratulations to Alenka Artnik on this world record dive. May she stay healthy, safe, and continue to find peace and connection in the ocean and in her life.

In the news: Helping USA Table Tennis

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Dr. Robert Swoap

Swoap WLOS interview

Here is a short interview conducted by Chris Womack, Sports Anchor for WLOS, on my work with USA Table Tennis during the time of COVID-19.

Training in the time of COVID-19

Posted on June 13, 2020 by Dr. Robert Swoap

Today’s post is from journalist Fred McCormick, who published the following in The Valley Echo.

Thanks, Fred, for capturing the essence of the work and the importance of mental training so well.

Olympic table tennis team turns to Warren Wilson psychology professor

BOB SWOAP SERVES AS SPORT PSYCHOLOGIST FOR U.S. NATIONAL TEAM

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
May 13, 2020

Warren Wilson College Professor of Psychology Bob Swoap was hired to serve as the sport psychologist for the U.S. Olympic table tennis team. Courtesy of Warren Wilson College — Warren Wilson College Professor of Psychology Bob Swoap was hired to serve as the sport psychologist for the U.S. Olympic table tennis team. *Courtesy of Warren Wilson College*

When the U.S. Olympic Table Tennis Team Trials tournament concluded in Santa Monica, California on March 1, six of the country’s top players were one step closer to realizing their dream of competing for a medal on a global stage. Just three weeks later, those aspirations were put on hold with the announcement that a global pandemic forced the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to be rescheduled for 2021, representing the first postponement of the modern games for reasons unrelated to war.

For the athletes focusing on representing their countries in the Summer Games, which were initially scheduled to open July 24, the move was a sudden pause in the years of dedication in pursuit of a goal as their reality shifted from intense face-to-face competition to social distancing in the era of COVID-19.

The U.S. Olympic table tennis team turned to Warren Wilson College Professor of Psychology Bob Swoap for help.

Sport psychology and table tennis have been of interest to Swoap long before he began his 22-year career with the Swannanoa liberal arts college.

“When I was in graduate school I did a one-year internship in sports science, specifically sport psychology,” he said. “I was working with all sorts of athletes and teams, but one of the teams I was assigned to was the residential table tennis team.”

In 1990, Swoap met Sean O’Neill, who was in the midst of a decorated career in the sport in which he earned eight Pan American Games medals and was a two-time Olympian. O’Neill, a member of the U.S. Team in the competition’s inaugural year as an Olympic event in the 1988 Seoul Games, is the high performance director for USA Table Tennis.

The two worked together as O’Neill successfully pursued a return to the Summer Games in 1992 in Barcelona.

“We’ve remained friends through the years and he’s come out and given a guest lecture for my sport psychology class at Warren Wilson,” Swoap said. “He reached out a few weeks ago and said he thought that during all of this craziness, the team could up its mental training and asked if I’d consider doing that.”

Much of Swoap’s remote work with the team focuses on providing support and teaching coping strategies for dealing with the COVID-19 crisis. He develops weekly lesson plans, revolving around a specific topic, for the athletes.

“They practice that for the week and we come together on a live Zoom meeting to talk about how it’s going,” he said. “The lessons include some standardized sport psychology training, like visualization and goal-setting, but I think what makes it unique is that we’re also spending a good amount of time talking about how to deal with adversity and stress.”

As athletes continue to sharpen the skills needed to cope with living in a world in disarray, the social isolation also creates an opportunity to work on the mental aspect of their games.

“Table tennis is extremely fast and takes extraordinary concentration, hand-eye coordination and the ability to immediately reset after every point,” Swoap said. “Of course, in table tennis you make a lot of mistakes. So your ability to rebound from those mistakes quickly, and come back to the present moment, is vital to your success.”

Turning to the basics of mindfulness and attention control has allowed Swoap to offer practical tools for the athletes to use inside and outside of the competitive arena.

“We’re focusing on how to stay in the present moment and not get worried about what just happened or what’s about to happen,” he said. “So, you can see that actually works for the competition, which they’re preparing for, but also for worrying about the future related to the pandemic.”

While Swoap has worked with athletes in more than 30 sports, his familiarity with table tennis offers him a unique perspective for his role with the U.S. Olympic Team. He began playing the sport as a young child and he still competes regularly with the Asheville Table Tennis Club.

“I think I can speak the language and understand the technical concerns that the elite players have,” he said. “Even though I’m not at that level, we still play on the same size table and deal with spins, loops and blocks.”

While table tennis has long been part of his life, Swoap makes an effort to better understand the athletes he works with by participating in the sports in which they compete.

“That helps me understand some of what they’re going through,” he said. “But, that has limits. For example, I don’t do gymnastics, even though I work with gymnasts. And, I’ve never been a place kicker, even though I’ve worked with place kickers.”

The Asheville resident also operates a website — robertswoap.com — which highlights athletes and offers his perspective from the field of sport psychology.

Delay of the Games: Pause and Proceed

Posted on March 31, 2020 by Dr. Robert Swoap

Screen Shot 2020-03-31 at 8.24.59 AM

This Twitter exchange begins with Lex Gillette’s response to the news that the 2020 Summer Olympic Games would be delayed, due to the worldwide pandemic COVID-19. Gillette is a four-time Paralympic medalist and three-time long jump world champion. The reply is from Aubree Munro Watson, a professional softball player with Team USA.

Their exchange is emblematic of the majority of comments from athletes who have made the Olympic team or who are training for the trials. Publicly, most are staying positive:

“As for now, the work continues and even though there’s many obstacles, I’m still going to work just as hard to shoot for more moments like this in the future.” Karissa Schweizer, a six-time NCAA champion and pro runner for Nike (via Twitter)

“It means I have one more year to practice; one more year to make myself a better player.” Nikhil Kumar, US Olympic Table Tennis Team (via USATT)

“Just one more year to get better #Tokyo2021.” Lilly King, 2016 Olympic champion in the 100m breaststroke and the 4x100m medley (via Instagram)

“Many uncertainties now, but we will get through this. Just need to focus on what we can control and keep working towards our dreams.” Sakura Kokumai, the first American to qualify for karate in the Olympics (via Instagram)

These responses are adaptive and what we expect to hear. This type of attitude shows resilience and grit.

But when you look deeper, you realize there is also fear, uncertainty, and frustration. Just like most of us feel. Socially distanced can feel like socially isolated. Even with all the Zoom meetings, FaceTime, and other virtual platforms, we can feel lonely and disconnected, struggling to find our energy. More so, what if most of your focus has been on the upcoming Games or Trials?

In a piece for the WSJ, Kate Courtney, professional mountain bike racer and Olympic team member, writes about the pandemic-disrupted season:

Kate Courtney, US Olympic Team, Mountain Biking

In the past few weeks, I have felt the entire range of human emotion. At times, I am fearful and uncertain, not just about suspended dreams, but about our suspended world. What is the point of training in a time like this? Though I can ride my bike and train in a makeshift home gym, my mind is loud and questioning where it is usually quiet and resolved. I’ve tried to stay focused, pushing hard and thinking “all in for Tokyo,” only to find my mind consumed with panic and disappointment rather than strength and motivation.

Courtney concludes her piece saying “For now, my only solid plan is to look inward, keep my head down, and focus on taking the next right step. I have to keep believing that, on the other side, I will stand on that Olympic start line. Hope and heartbreak can live side-by-side.”

This is the sweet spot that we need to find at this time: Hope AND heartbreak. I can have doubts and fears AND I can continue to focus on the things that are meaningful to me.

In fact, it is often in times of anxiety and upheaval that we most need to explicitly turn to hope, purpose, and meaning.

Vic Strecher, a psychologist friend of mine who teaches at the University of Michigan, has written extensively on the need for purpose in our lives. Especially when our lives are disrupted. Strecher’s was more than disrupted; it was broken. Ten years ago, he and his wife lost their older daughter, Julia, age 19, to a heart attack. Julia had contracted a viral infection when she was a baby that required a heart transplant. Vic and his wife committed to giving her a full and beautiful life, never knowing how long she would have. In 2014, I heard Vic tell his story at a conference, and he has shared it many times. (I like this version the best.) He moved me to tears, not only because of his own loss, but because I was dealing with the loss of my younger brother, Bill, less than a year earlier, also of a heart attack.

In a time of loss, sadness, and anxiety, we can retreat (which both Vic and I did for awhile). But in coping with adversity, focusing on one’s purpose can help with healing and moving forward. Having a strong purpose is vital to our psychological, emotional, and physiological well-being.

“The need for meaning and purpose is No. 1. It’s the deepest driver of well-being there is.” Alan Rozanski, Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

“Every life needs a purpose to which it can give the energies of its mind and the enthusiasm of its heart.” Saint Francis of Assisi

We are in a time of loss, sadness, and anxiety. AND we are in the position to move forward with purpose. Whether you are an athlete on the Olympic team or a basement ping pong player trying to stay in shape, you can use this time to remember why you play and to connect to something bigger than yourself.

My suggestions to Olympians, some of whom I’ll be speaking with in the next week, perhaps can be good reminders for us all:

Be gentle with yourself. Practice self-compassion. This time IS challenging.
When, not if, you get frustrated with reduced options for training/improving, acknowledge this. Don’t just brush that thought away. It’s okay to be affected by this and not to always demonstrate unshakable resilience.
AND, you can use this time to work on your game. Especially your weaknesses.
For many of us, this is a good time to improve our focus and attention. There is so much out there to distract us from our goals and purpose.
Devote specific practice time to training your attention. Here are a few of my blog posts on focus
Work on managing self-talk.
Practice “defusing” from your thoughts and emotions, treating these like passing sensations rather than absolute facts of your situation.
Breathe, stay grounded, and ACT
- Accept your reactions and be present
- Choose a valued direction
- Take action

Feel free to reach out and connect with me. I would love to hear how you are doing.

Be well 💗

Back to the future: Why Grit & Self-Control Matter in Health Promotion

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Dr. Robert Swoap

Here are the slides from my talk at the Art and Science of Health Promotion conference.

April 3-4, 2019, Hiltonhead Island.

Back to the future: Why grit and self-control (and resilience) matter in health promotion.

2019_Swoap_Grit_Self-control_Resilience_in_Health_Promotion

Why she climbs

Posted on February 2, 2019 by Dr. Robert Swoap

Patricia Alcivar is an inspiration. I had the great fortune to work with her when she lived in Asheville. Patty knew that she needed to sharpen her focus to improve her performance as a boxer. (Losing focus in the ring is not optimal 😉.) As with most of her pursuits, Patty threw herself fully into the work and developed skills of visualization, attention-control, and mindfulness.

PATTYCOVER-1

Patty is now on a journey to summit the highest peak on each of the seven continents. This “Seven Summits” quest is fueled by grit, resilience, and focus.

Patty has shared with me her story of overcoming significant challenges (including abuse) as a child. But rather than me telling the story, I think it is far better to read Patty’s own account which she gave me permission to reprint in full. I hope it inspires you as much as it has me…

“Permanence, Perseverance & Persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements and impossibility; it is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.”

I am not a millionaire and I am not a super athlete, but I do believe that I was blessed with an indomitable spirit, faith and not afraid to feel high discomfort.

My dad was removed from our home when I was 10 years old leaving my Mom and her 4 daughters alone. My Mom did her absolute best to put food on the table, buy us clothes to wear and a roof over our heads, but I always struggled to stand out and fit in amongst my sisters and family.

I left home when I was 15 years old because I felt as I was drowning from the memories of my father and I also thought no one would care. I remember being so scared of being another statistic.

I was living in a small rented room in someone’s home, working after school at a sneaker store and eating Frosted Flakes for breakfast, lunch & dinner.

However, the fear, the challenge, my dreams and faith kept me strong, safe and on the right path. I graduated High School with honors and ran my first Marathon at the age of 16 and although those seemed to be wonderful accomplishments, the happiness only lasted a very short while. I felt like there was so much more to do.

After completing my first Marathon, I vowed to do at least one every year because it helps me remember my struggles & everything I had to go through to run my first. I have completed 27 thus far including 2 Boston Marathons.

Along with running, I was also a Martial Artist and trained on the weekends and sometimes before school and after work. In 1995, I won the Kyokushin Karate full contact World Championship in the Female Light weight division. Again, it seemed like the happiness only lasted a day…

Soon after Karate, in search of my next challenge, I turned to boxing. In 1997, I became the first female ever to be voted and win “Athlete of the Year,” by the USA Olympic Boxing Committee after winning the 1st USA Women’s Boxing Nationals and I also won the 1998 & 1999 NYC Golden Gloves. As a professional boxer, I won my first title in 2013 when I captured the NYS Title.

Boxing did challenge me in every way-physically, mentally & spiritually. However, I went through many wrongful incidents and came face to face with greed, deception and saw the absolute worst in humans.

Despite experiencing the horrible side of Boxing, none of the events killed my spirit. Even the ugly stuff has a good reason for happening. Life sometimes is about getting knocked down and getting back up as many times as it takes.

After suffering a dangerous eye & elbow injury that forced me to take some time off from boxing, I turned to Mountain Climbing.

In 2016, I signed up for my very first Mountain Expedition in Ecuador after successfully summiting Mount Superior in Utah, 11,080ft a few months earlier; that was my intro to mountaineering and I knew it was my calling.

Walking on the exposed ridge of Mount Superior at over 10,000 ft although nerve wracking for many, it brought a real sense of peace and vulnerability and humility. I did not have to “fight” to belong, I just did.

Mount Superior

“Believe you can and you’re half way there.”

In 2016, I summited 4 out of 5 mountains in Ecuador. The Mountains taught me that I am at their mercy and I cannot impose my will on them. One of my biggest struggles is patience. I would return 3 times before my 1st successful summit of Chimborazo in August 2017 & 2nd summit on July 2018.

On my birthday on December 12, 2016, I made a goal to climb the “7 Summits” not truly realizing the enormity of something like this.

I have always aimed high and have never done anything half fast. Most of my accomplishments up until this point were things I was not “suppose” to do.

In 2017, I successfully summitted Mount Kiliminjaro, 19,341ft, the highest peak in Africa in 2.5 days (February 26, 2017) and Mount Aconcagua, 22,841ft, the highest peak in South America and in the Southern & Western Hemisphere (December 29, 2017) becoming the 1st Latina from Queens, New York to do so!

During my Expedition in Argentina in December 2017, I over heard some of my team members saying “ lets do our best, if we can’t summit, there is always next year” and I remember thinking to myself, “there is no next time for me, its now or never, all or nothing.”

Cotopaxi Mountain

“Choose to win each day, defy the odds, embrace challenges & never let adversity steal your dreams.”

I fell in love with the Mountains because they are pure and they have challenged me more than I can ever have imagined.

You cannot cheat on the Mountains. They don’t play favorites. I am humbled to tears at every single summit. They bring out the best in me and it is the closest I come to touching the sky and feeling close to God.

When I am Climbing, everything makes sense and through the challenges & struggles of the high altitudes, adverse conditions and dangers of the mountains, I am fulfilled and rewarded with their beauty.

My next Mountain is Denali this May. For sponsorship, please contact: Patriciad12@msn.com

Applications of sport psychology

Posted on January 27, 2019 by Dr. Robert Swoap

As I approach the six-year anniversary of starting this blog, I am reminded of the dual purpose:

(1) to help athletes and teams have better sporting experiences, and

(2) to help any who are trying to improve their lives — those who might benefit from learning what successful athletes do in their pursuit of excellence, and what the field of sport psychology can offer in terms of this pursuit.

So, when I recently read Serena Solomon’s NYT piece about using sports psychology to help her with childbirth, I thought it would be perfect to share some of her insights through excerpts.

Solomon writes

I wanted to face childbirth with an athlete’s strength, confidence and determination. So I turned to sports psychology for advice.

Any woman who has ever carried and birthed a child, in whatever fashion, deserves her own ESPN highlight reel — blood, sweat, tears and the eventual triumph of holding her newborn baby. To be clear, childbirth isn’t a game. You can’t plead with the referee when you don’t like a call or leave the field when you’re tired.

Still, as a lifelong athlete, I saw childbirth, especially an unmedicated one, as the ultimate challenge of physical endurance, mental stamina and my ability to handle pain.

Solomon consulted with several sport psychologists to learn what she might do in preparation for this beautiful, but highly challenging “event.”

[Sport psychology uses] methods like cognitive behavioral therapy and attention control training to improve athletic performance and competitor experience. It suits a laboring woman because it can quickly provide practical tools to achieve a specific goal, said Jay-Lee Nair, a Singapore-based sports psychologist who works with athletes, including professional golfers and Olympic sailors, as well as women preparing for labor. A simple strategy could be mimicking an athlete’s pregame routine like reciting affirmations “reminding them about their game plan or the attitude they want to have,” she said.

The idea of pain with a purpose is common in sports and labor. So are breathing techniques and visualizations to cope. Visualizations didn’t do it for me, but breathing did. During my birth class, I figured out what I liked — a long, loud exhale where I focused on the vibrating hum inside my mouth. I practiced this a few times each week while holding a piece of ice (it’s surprisingly painful). Dr. Silby added a tip: Stay present and enjoy the rest between contractions, much as a marathon runner turns a downhill section into active recovery. “If you’re anticipating the next painful push during recovery, that is a waste,” she said.

The strategies borrowed from sports psychology got me somewhat gracefully through labor. But they are not foolproof. Like Serena Williams at this year’s United States Open final, even elite athletes have their trying moments. I did, too, just as I entered the homestretch of my labor.

Less than two weeks after the birth, I stood on the stoop to watch the New York City Marathon, holding my sleepy newborn. The lead women ran by at their cracking pace, elegant and forceful. A tunnel of spectators along the avenue celebrated them. As usual, I had tears in my eyes. But this year, I felt that I was in their elite league.

I love this story which illustrates the ability of a person to reach deep into her reserves to utilize strengths that, heretofore, might have been unknown to her. And how sport psychology can help us can find and hone those strengths.

In the moment

Posted on November 5, 2018 by Dr. Robert Swoap

Thirty years ago, the first empirical test of a mindfulness-based intervention for athletes was published by Jon Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues. The researchers found that, following mindfulness training, a group of college rowers performed well above their coach’s expectations (based on experience level and physical ability). A second group (Olympic rowers, several of whom won medals) reported feeling that the mindfulness training (MT) had helped their performance. After this first study, there was a dearth of studies on mindfulness training in sports. But there has been a recent resurgence with most studies showing that MT is impacting athletes in positive ways (e.g., less stress, increased ability to focus, etc.). tennis-serve-ball-toss

The idea is that rather than trying to control internal phenomena (thoughts/images), it may be more beneficial for athletes to develop skills in present-moment awareness and acceptance. As Kabat-Zinn suggests, one is trying to pay attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.

Most of the athletes I work with don’t have much trouble with the first component (purposeful attention), but struggle more with staying in the present moment, nonjudgmentally… especially after they make mistakes, when the self-talk often becomes past-oriented and highly judgmental. Given that this is so hard for many of us, it makes sense to train the mind to be better at this.

What we are talking about is improving self-regulation (in this case, of attention) in order to facilitate optimal performance. Most of this training mirrors a well-established protocol called Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) which has been modified for work with athletes and teams.

To get a taste of this, try these strategies as a start.
1. Mindful Breathing
Take a few minutes a day to pay attention to your breath, which can bring on a calm and clear state of mind (via the parasympathetic nervous system). Physiologically, this can help to regulate your breathing if it becomes shallow. Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and start to deepen your breath. Inhale fully and exhale completely. Focus on your breath entering and exiting your body. Start with five minutes and you can build up from there. When your mind wanders (which it inevitably will), gently bring it back to the breath.

2. Body Scan
Practice a body scan to help release tension, quiet the mind, and bring awareness to your body in a systematic way. Lie down on your back with your palms facing up and legs relaxed. Close your eyes. Start with your feet and notice how they feel. Are they tense? Are they warm or cold? Focus your attention here for a few breaths before moving on up your body — as you travel from your foot to your ankle, calf, knee and thigh. bodyscan Continue to move up your hips, lower back, stomach, chest, shoulders, arms, hands, neck and head — maintaining your focus on each body part and any sensations there. Breathe into any areas that are holding stress and try to release it. As you engage in this practice regularly, you will become more highly attuned to what’s happening in your body. You can spend 10 minutes or longer doing a body scan.

3. Internal Messages
Pay attention to your internal dialogue, but don’t spend time battling the chatter. That means when unhelpful thoughts arise — “I can’t keep this pace up,” or “I better not double-fault” — notice them, but don’t judge them or become stuck/fused with them. It’s okay to notice that the thoughts and feelings are there, but don’t attach any weight to them. Instead, let the thoughts and emotions go quickly (like clouds passing, or leaves floating down a stream) and speak in terms of what you want to achieve in this moment.