Speaker: As any skilled athlete, such as Erica or Micky could tell us, energy or emotional management is one of the biggest things you need to when you're competing, that is, sometimes you need to psyche yourself up to be able to perform, other times you need to take the edge off and relax. In fact, I often think of it this way that Erica and Micky, and they play different sports, but each of them has an optimal, emotional temperature that they play best at, may not be the same temperature, but they want to get their own internal thermostat mentally at that right temperature.
A lot of what we're going to do now is give you a skill to show you how to have a thermostat to cool off and to turn it up. The first skill we'll talk about to help you manage your emotional energy is called centering. Centering is just a breathing technique, it's really important because when we get stressed, in fact, I'll ask Erica here, when you get stressed what goes on in your head, what happens to your thinking?
Erica: Sometimes it speeds up.
Speaker: Okay, sometimes it speeds up, sometimes you're not able to concentrate on the task.
Erica: I get more confused.
Speaker: Okay, so she gets confused, it speeds up. Okay. We also know things happen physically. Micky what happens to you physically in basketball when you get really tight?
Micky: Oh, definitely I tense up and contract my muscles.
Speaker: He tense up and contracts his muscles. What happens to your shooting when that happens?
Micky: It's not good.
Speaker: Okay, it's not good, yeah, it doesn't go so well. So centering, this technique is just a breathing technique, because our mind speeds up and we tense up. What it does, it helps us slow down a little bit. It's kind of like a common in a sense to pause and it also helps us physically relax. The best part is, it's very simple and it's easy to learn. Although it does require some practice.
Now I'm going to talk with two athletes here through it. So the first part of centering is, you simply get a good athletic stance, good way to do that is just jump up in land, bouncing your feet, you're in good athletic stance, inhale through your nose, I might command, inhale through their nose. It's belly breathing. They will inhale through the nose, the stomach expands, they will exhale through the mouth and think easy. It's a slow breath, not a sped up at all.
So just watch them, do it first and then we'll try. Okay, ready. Inhale through the nose, their stomachs expand, exhale through the mouth, good, slow, think easy. This is very slow and deliberate. You do not want to do it real quick, it needs to be slow and deliberate. You'll see their shoulders drop as they exhale. So I'm going to try once more here.
Inhale through the nose, stomach expands, exhale, think easy and you saw the shoulders drop. Now you try it. Let me lead you through it, and we'll all do it here. Inhale, stomach expands, exhale, think easy. A good tip, when you inhale, think of the center of your body, focus on the center. And then exhale and think easy as you blow out. Centering can really help you manage your emotional energy and perform better.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services