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To quote former heroin addict George Mumford, on mindfulness in sport who
has worked with NBA Championship team the Chicago Bulls, during the Michael Jordan years. He’s also been involved with the Los Angeles Lakers and is
currently a sports psychologist and meditation teacher to many athletes and
sports teams. The image above is of soccer player Robin Van Persie in the zone
for Manchester United against Aston Villa last season.
When asked in an interview what mindfulness offers sportsmen and women
he said the following: “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.”
Here’s the ultimate boon for every idle
player: it turns out you can aid your recovery with simple rumination.
Researchers from Ulleval University in
Norway report that sportsmen who use
meditation after tough training sessions reduce their production of lactate—the
ace-inducing by-product of anaerobic exercise—and recover their fitness levels
faster. In recovery tests carried out on athletes split into groups, researchers
noted that the blood lactate levels were significantly lower after exercise
among the men who’d been taught to mediate when compared to the other
groups.
“In meditation, one looks to develop a balance of effortless relaxation and applied focus”, explains Andy Pe