Yoga ‘induces a primary sense of measure and proportion, reduced to our own body, our first instrument, we learn to play it, drawing from it maximum resonance & harmony. With unflagging patience we refine & animate every cell as we return daily to the attack, unlocking and liberating capacities otherwise condemned to frustration & death. –yehjudi Meuuhih.
Do professional athletes & teams practice yoga?
YES! The NBA’s elite players are embracing & benefiting from yoga such as Dirk Nowitzki-2011 NBA champion & finals MVP (above) too Blake Griffin- Rookie Of The Year (below). And why shouldn’t they?
Every NBA player & frankly every athlete has an internal clock counting down the days until they can no longer play the game they love. This fact makes yoga a no-brainer for players who want to maximize not only their longevity but potential by ensuring their body is physically fit and mind mentally prepared to endure the various stresses that each new practice, game & season brings.
What are the benefits of doing yoga for athletes & teams?
Kent Katich (above), the Los Anglas Clippers yoga instructor says that Yoga is the answer to every NBA athlete’s goal of achieving maximum potential while avoiding injury; he notes the following as benefits that players experience:
Clippers veteran guard Baron Davis said “Yoga helps center you…If you can find a place that keeps you centered, both mentally and physically, it can help push your game to the next level.”
The benefits of yoga helped 2011 Rookie of the Blake Griffen & 2011 standout Forward- Center Kevin Love reach their peak potentials as noted in this Court side Interview- with Rebecca Haarlow.
When should athletes & teams practice yoga for sports performance?
Where do athletes & teams practice yoga for sports performance?
Why do athletes & teams practice yoga?
Do professional athletes meditate?
YES! Although most people would not attribute both the Chicago Bulls’ & Los Angeles Lakers six NBA championships under Phil Jackson to their meditation practice, meditation was part of their training.
When George Mumford, the meditation coach hired by Phil Jackson was asked what he feels meditation offers athletes he replied;
“The opportunity to be in the moment. In sports, what gets people’s attention is this idea of being in the zone, or playing in the zone. When they are playing their best, they can do no wrong, and no matter what happens they are always a step quicker, a step ahead. That happens when we are in the moment, when we are mindful of what is going on. There’s a lack of self-consciousness, there’s a relaxed concentration, and there’s this sense of effortlessness, of being in the flow…. When we are in the moment and absorbed with the activity, we play our best. That happens once and awhile, but it happens more often if we learn how to be more mindful. By mindful, I mean being aware, being engaged with the present moment. Mindfulness is useful because it is through this that we can see what is going on. It means knowing what needs to happen and doing it.”
What are the benefits of meditation for athletes?
“The practice of meditation deeply affects our character. We are slaves to what we do not know; of what we know we are masters.” -Maharaj.
As a result of meditation athletes experience the following benefits:
When should athletes & teams meditate for sports performance?
However, certain times in the season can be more beneficial such as:
Where do athletes & teams meditate for sports performance?
Why do athletes & teams meditate?
MEDITATION FOR WELLNESS:
“Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom” -Buddha
Become mindful of your inner peace in order to awaken true well being.
Through meditation you can overcome mental/emotional suffering which is holding you back from true fulfillment, your ability to physically heal, enjoy relationships and live the life you most desire.
What are the scientifically proven health benefits of meditation?
Furthermore, it is widely recognized that meditation has the following cognitive benefits:
How does meditation work?
In meditation mentoring, I use a guided process to create ‘cognitive space’ from your previous suffering self to who you really.
Who will benefit from meditation program?
In his autobiography, Second Wind, written in 1979, Bill Russell evokes the “mystical feeling” that would transcend his game into an all knowing enlightened state.
“Every so often a celtic game would heat up so that is became more than a physical or even mental game, and would be magical. That feeling is difficult to describe, and I certainly never talked about it when I was playing. When it happened i could feel my play rise to a new level. . . . At that special level all sorts of odd things happened. . . . . it was almost as if we were playing in slow motion. During those spells I could almost sense how the next play would develop and where the nest shot would be taken. Even before the other teams brought the ball in bounds, I could feel it so keenly that I’d want to shout to my teammates, “its coming there!”- Except that I knew everything would change if I did. My premonitions would be consistently correct, and I always felt then that I now only knew all the celtics by heart but also all the opposing players, and that they all knew me. There have been many times in my career when I felt moved or joyful, but these were the moments when I had chills pulsing up and down my spine.”
‘Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer them with love’ -Gandhi
Blessings,
History has proven that the strategy of Non-Violence is the only real solution to social reform and also to finding inner peace & wellbeing. As the #OCCUPYWALLSTREET movement continues to permeate our society it is important to recall the essential teachings of Non-Violence for guidance, inspiration, and belief that like the great leaders who have implemented this strategy in the past, we too can change the world by changing ourselves. In my following entires,”#PeacefullyOccupyWallStreet; why Non violence is Soul Force the 99% need” we will look back to leaders like Martin Luther King, Mother Teressa, John F. Kennedy, & the Dalai Lama to see how they did it. First we will begin by learning from Mahatma Ghandi and how Non Violence freed India.
Known as a world leader in Non violence, Gandhi’s influence became omnipotent when he created the Hindi word Satyagraha to conceptualize this strategy and movement which for him was not “a passive non-violence” (which it had been called) but rather a commitment to action seeking truth. Satyagraha is made of two words;
Therefore, ”Satyagraha” is translated as Soul Force.
The formation of Ghandi’s Satyagraha was heavily influenced from the great Hindu poem and spiritual teaching known as the Bhagavad-Gita which stated we must first conquer a psychological ‘inner war for peace’. It describes not what one should do on the battlefield but how one must act to resolve the battle going on inside oneself.
According to Gandhi,
“There can be no doubt that non-attachment is the central core of the Gita. I am certain that there is no other inspiration behind the composition of the Gita. And I know from my own experience that observance of truth or even ahimsa is impossible without non-attachment.”
As taught in the Gita, peace is Oneness which is a result of non attachment (to the ego). Wisdom traditions universally emphasize how our self ignorance (Buddhism) or non self acceptance causes us to violently superimpose, transfer, or project our awareness (I AM) into the object known as the Mind Body & Sense complex (MBS). By identifying with the MBS we accept an unfulfilled self as the body is limited, do to suffer and death. By identifying with the BMS as who we are, we ultimately give birth to our will or EGO which desires or seeks for a sense of adequacy by ATTACHING to external objects (including our bodies) or opinions as we ignorantly believe it will enhance the ‘I’- in reality however, this is not the case. As my Buddhist nun taught me, “attachment truly is a honey covered razor blade, we believe it is the prelude to happiness but it leads to nothing but pain”.
It is effective to view this fundamental mistake, original sin, or misidentification, as truly a state of NON-SELF ACCEPTANCE and to realize that the resulting self denial we accept through our attachment to the Ego is the first seed of VIOLENCE in all of us. Therefore I propose that true, or ‘Ultimate’, self acceptance is the first goal for individuals & communities wanting to successfully #PeacfullyOccupyWallStreet.
What is our real self?
@DeepakChopra answered this question below in the video of the meditation he led at #OWS by bringing awareness to characteristics of the soul such as equanimity (that friend, stranger and enemy are all equal). Further, Chopra reiterated the importance of upholding Ghandis Satyagraha when he states ”Simple anger will only perpetuate what is already out there… We have to go beyond that”.
As not knowing the nature of oneself is the cause of our own suffering, it makes sense that those who suppress or impose violence on us (WallStreet, Federal Reserve, Politicians, Corporations etc) are suffering from a similar ignorance. Therefore, they too may detach from their malicious ways if they became aware of their true self also. Hence, the strategy of Satyagraha came to be which, as oppose to violently retaliating and continuing the eye-for-an-eye-for-an-eye-for-an-eye policy, which only ends in making everyone blind or blind with fury, it rather innovatively returned good for evil until the evildoer tires of evil.
Satyagraha, Gandhi wrote, “is the vindication of truth not by infliction of suffering on the opponent but on one’s self” whereby willingly accepting violence the oppressed create a MIRROR for which the oppressor comes to shamefully witness their own cruelty. Gandhi created the ‘law of suffering’ which suggests that the only way to end the violence imposed by others was the way of self suffering, whereby opponents are greeted with a willingness to suffer in an attempt to use morality to break through to their oppressors hearts and end the cycle. Jesus, of which Gandhi highly praised in response to reading the Sermon on the Mount, also communicated this message when he said “But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” Matthew 5:39.
For those who are suffering at #OWS, we all thank you because you are doing exactly what Ghandi believed had to be done; which is to suffer.
“The conviction has been growing upon me, that things of fundamental importance to the people are not secured by reason alone, but have to be purchased with their suffering. … suffering is infinitely more powerful than the law of the jungle for converting the opponent and opening his ears, which are otherwise shut, to the voice of reason. Nobody has probably drawn up more petitions or espoused more forlorn causes than I, and I have come to this fundamental conclusion that, if you want something really important to be done, you must not merely satisfy the reason, you must move the heart also. The appeal of reason is more to the head, but the penetration of the heart comes from suffering. It opens up the inner understanding in man. Suffering is the badge of the human race, not the sword. (Young India, 5-11-1931)”
We experience the power and truth of ‘The Law of Suffering’ through the videos sharing Police Brutally to peaceful protesters. Gandhi’s Satyagraha campaigns much like America’s #OccupyWallStreet protests consisted of non-cooperation and civil disobedience protests. The inspiring self-suffering evident in Ghandhi’s 1930 Salt Satyagraha and its ability to transform the British through connecting them to their soul is amazingly evident in this important clip in the 1982 movie ‘Gandhi’ staring Ben Kingsley.
On my next blog entry I will share how Martin Luther King Jr translated Satyagraha into his own non violent protests to achieve success against racism in America. Later I will expand on how our EGO is in actuality the oppressor of violence on our mind and body and how we can achieve inner peace through translating and adopting the strategy of Satyagraha toward oneself through meditation.
To #OccupyWallStreeet, Ghandi once said, “Non Violence is a weapon of the strong”. You are surely that.
‘We may idealize freedom, but when it comes to our habits, we are completely enslaved’
This blog post is quoted from the Tibetan book of the Living and Dying.
Although we were told as kids to live each day as if it were out last, when death does strike, it seems to come as a shock; displaying our unpreparedness for its inevidabiility. In Buddhism, the fact of Impermenance is a fundemental realization which pertains to all physical objects, thoughts, emotions and so on. By reflecting on death frequently we energize ourselves to take full advantage of our precious time here on earth and build the wish to be grateful for the present moment.
Enjoy this poem and the wisdom it teaches us on how to live and learn in life
1) I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in
I am lost… I am hopeless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
2) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hold in the sidewalk.
I pretend I dont see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I’m in the same place
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
3) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I see it is there.
I still fall in…it’s a habit
My eyes are open
I know where I am
It is my fault
I get out immediately
4) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I walk Round it.
5) I walk down another street
The purpose of reflecting on death is to make a real change in the depths of our heart, and to come to learn how to avoid ‘the hole in the sidewalk’ by ‘walking down another street’.
Whatever your meditation is; sitting, a nature walk, sport participation, respect its ability to create a mirror to see your habits and honor it by deciding if it serves you to continue walking down the same path.
“Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust”.
-Jesse Owens
The History Of Jesse Owens:
“The Olympic feats of Jesse Owens are almost unparalleled. No individual ever dominated the sprint races as he did. In the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Nazi Germany had just taken control of the government. One of their tenets was to prove the superiority of the White race over others, particularly Black races. Owens, A Black man from the United States, did more than any other athlete to disprove the German hypothesis. He broke the world record in the 100 meters, set a new world record in the 200 meters, broad jumped more than 26 feet for the first time in Olympic history, and anchored the 400-meter relay team, which also set a world record. Owens’s four gold medals took the wind out of the sails of the Nazis’ racist propaganda (Henry and Yeomans 1984).
The following quote where Jesse Owens shares his secret behind his success is a powerful example of effective goal setting because instead of being outcome focused (winning) he was process oriented (specific task) which Sport Psychology research shows lowers anxiety and increases confidence. “I let my feet spend as little time on the ground as possible. From the air, fast down, and from the ground, fast up.”
The life of Jesse Owens is an important history which displays not only great athletic mastery but also the potential power sport holds in impacting Nationalistic spirit.
“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming” – John Wooden
(Click on Pyramid to view larger version)
I have dedicated my life to studying the most successful leaders in the world of sport, business, & life. Through investigating their philosophies to success, I discover and translate the core characteristics of their identity -specifically their lifestyle practices, beliefs and values, so that they can be applied immediately to measurably improve your game. 
