Once More with Feeling

Remember: the centering breath is a deep breath used to physiologically control heart rate and arousal. Taking a centering breath at the end of the mental workout is necessary for athletes because completing the personal highlight reel may cause the heart rate and arousal state to elevate. You always want to feel calm, confident, and relaxed up to the point of competition. The final centering breath helps control arousal and conserve energy needed for training and competition. Kay Porter, a well-known sport psychologist, talks in her book The Mental Athlete about the potential overuse of visualization and mental work.1 She gives examples of athletes who have actually tired themselves out from doing too much mental work prior to training and competition. So, it is possible to overdue mental work. I tell athletes that doing the mental workout one time a day is great. Some clients prefer to do it a couple of times a day, and that is OK, but there is no need to do it more than twice a day. I often encourage athletes to skip the mental workout if it feels like “work.” Taking a day off is preferable to completing the mental work with low intensity. Your body listens to what your brain tells it, and if your brain is telling it to train and compete with less than 100 percent intensity, then your body will conform. My experience has been that athletes enjoy doing their mental workouts. The 10-MT mental workout is short enough that it should leave you feeling energized rather than worn down. The 10-MT workout is designed to help athletes control arousal (through centering breaths), create a precise and effective focus (through the performance statement and personal highlight reel), and improve self-image (through the identity statement). The mental workout is a vehicle for learning and making appropriate corrections. If athletes use the mental workout correctly, it helps them target the learning of new skills more quickly and improve existing skills more efficiently. Mike Beal uses his centering breaths to control his heart rate and arousal after he envisions his personal highlight reel, which often stimulates the body physiologically. In this way, he is able to emphasize a patient swing in which he keeps his weight back longer. Athletes typically find that as they commit to doing their mental workouts, they also begin using the tools throughout practices and games. For example, when Mike is on deck, he finds himself taking a centering breath and visualizing and feeling a top-quality swing. He fixes his brain on relaxing and staying back just before he steps into the batter’s box, which appreciably increases his likelihood of having a quality at bat. I can attest that the tools in the mental workout help every athlete do this in some form or another. Using the mental workouts consistently helps ensure that the mind is focused enough to know what to think and strong enough to maintain that focus during competition.The last centering breath is the cooldown stage of your 10-MT workout. Aerobic exercise classes, Pilates classes, and the like, usually conclude with some sort of cooldown stretching exercises. Likewise, distance runners are sure to stretch their hamstrings, quadriceps, and other leg muscles to minimize soreness as their muscles cool off. With your mental workout, the final centering breath serves a similar purpose. It brings your exercise full circle and ensures that your heart rate is at the proper level.