One of the first skills I teach athletes is to stay calm under pressure. A simple deep inhale before taking a shot on goal or performing on a balance beam can lower your nerves enough to perform well even when you feel nervous. One of the most important types of breathing that is very powerful is belly breathing. It is a deep inhale into the bottom of the lungs that signals to your brain - "I am safe, everything is going to be okay." This simple solution is the first step elite athletes take to stay composed under tremendous pressure. When I first learned this skill, it didn't come natural. Many athletes who feel anxious are breathing shallow in their chest which can amplify the nerves. The first exercise I do with athletes is to test to see how they naturally breathe and they give them exercises to start breathing deeper so they are prepared in high-pressure situations.
Does your athlete have a hard time focusing for more than 30 seconds? This issue is coming up more and more often as mobile devices are constantly distracting us. The second breathing technique that is essential will build back our concentration muscle in the mind. This simple strategy is counting while breathing. There are a variety of ways to do this. It is an effective basic skill to reset a racing mind and focus for longer periods of time. Teams who do this before every practice and games are seeing results!
When we get nervous we start getting in our heads so taming the mind to inhale and exhale while counting a specific number gives our mind something to do to improve an athlete's focus. Our brain is a muscle so we need to train before we practice and compete for it to work for us not against us in high pressure situations.
Teaching athletes how to use their breath to stay calm under pressure and build your concentration muscle in the mind are the two easiest ways to start feeling more relaxed and focused before a competition. Athletes have told me these two simple breathing techniques also help with taking tests, public speaking and talking to teachers. When you build mental concentration it becomes easier to focus on learning new skills at practice and getting locked-in for games. I'm confident in these skills because hundreds of athletes and told me it works for them and it works for me whenever I go into a situation where I need a dose of calming.
Here are five reasons why practicing breathing techniques are so important:
Allows you to stay calm under pressure
Gives you a proven method to ignore distractions
You are able to master skills faster and place your attention on what’s most important
Research shows people who are more focused are happier
Focusing is a key ingredient to getting 'locked-in' more often – formally known as the 'flow state' - your optimal state of performance
How do these breathing techniques work?
It is amazing how powerful the breath is for regulating our internal nervous system and our mood. If we engage the diaphragm and slow down the breath we are able to trigger the parasympathetic part of our nervous system - which lowers are heart rate, blood pressure and can put us in a state of mind that is less stressed. Using our breathe as an anchor of our awareness is the key to building our concentration muscle. Over and over again our mind wanders, doing what it does best. When we consciously train our mind to gentle come back to the breath over and over again, we are training our minds to focus on one thing - our breathe. So when go out in the world and need to focus on someone talking to us, or a skill or to write a paper the breath awareness training will make it easier for us to consciously direct our attention to the desired task.
How do you get started?
Set a timer for 2 minutes and focus on deep breathing in and out of the nose. Studies show that we need to practice breath awareness and mindfulness for at least 12 minutes a day for it to make a huge impact. Start with a breathing exercise for two minutes every day with the aim to increase it every week. Every week double the time until you get to 12 minutes. There are plenty of apps that will guide you through a 5-10 minute breathing practice. Some include; 10% Happier, Calm, and Headspace.
You can learn more by checking out my Youtube video that have a variety of breathing techniques to try.
If you want to get the full scope of sports psychology tools, including your own unique guided visualizations, custom mindfulness practices and more in-depth mental skills that will help you lock-in, feel confident and get to the next level, book a free consultation.