How Meditation Boosts Athletic Performance

Meditation has been a buzzword in athletics for quite some time now.

In this article, you’ll learn what meditation is, a clear connection between meditation and being a better athlete, and a variety of ways you can put it into practice.

What is Meditation?

Meditation, also described as mindfulness based meditation, is the experience of being in the present moment and accepting, not struggling with, thoughts. A pillar of this practice that you’ll need to constantly remind yourself of is this: thoughts will spontaneously come and go; it’s your job to notice when you get lost in thought, and come back to the present, without judgment. This practice can create massive gains for your mental performance. I’ve outlined the essential facts below on its connection to performance boosts.

The ability to focus is something every athlete values as a core component of their mental game. Meditation is a practice that improves one’s ability to focus throughout their day, whether that’s in practice, competition, or general life. At the heart of its practice, meditation trains you to be more aware of your thoughts. With this awareness comes the ability to improve those thoughts, leading to better focus. This improved ability to focus stems from meditation teaching your brain to be in the present moment in two ways. 

One, meditation trains the skill of bringing your mind back into the present after noticing a lack of focus. This act of refocusing is a skill that is trained over time. Many people who practice meditation find it difficult in the beginning, leading to them prematurely quitting the practice. Sticking with meditation allows you to train the skill of noticing distracting thoughts which leads to training the skill of refocusing. If two athletes are distracted in a game, the one practicing meditation regularly will notice this ineffective way of thinking sooner, and spend less energy refocusing than the athlete who doesn’t meditate.

Two, the person who practices meditation will find themselves being in the present moment more often by default. A daily practice of meditation rewires your brain to more often default to this way of thinking. Today, the default way of thinking for many people is to focus on threats or negativity rather than the neutral present.

Thinking in the present is tied to your best performances. The acronym W.I.N. is a popular one in sport psychology, standing for What’s Important Now? Asking this question is the fast lane to focused and productive thinking. It’s anchored in effective, present moment thinking. When your thoughts are in the past, you might be dwelling on a mistake or regretting how something played out, leading to a mind that is unfocused. When your thoughts are in the future, you might feel more anxious about an outcome that you cannot control in the moment. The result? An unfocused mind stuck on something they cannot control.

The ability to focus on the right cues, no matter what domain your performance is in, is a necessity for success. Meditation is an excellent training tool that will lead to your ability to consistently focus on productive cues throughout your career.

How to Meditate

Back to its earlier description, meditation is the experience of being in the present moment and accepting, not struggling with, your thoughts. When you think of meditation, you probably think of sitting criss-crossed with your hands creating calming figures and repeating an “ohm” mantra. 

That’s certainly meditation, but it can look so different.

(1) To get started, you need an anchor to focus on. This anchor has to be something that, while you’re focused on it, you’re in the present moment. The easiest anchors are your senses, because you’re constantly processing information based on them, and you can’t do this without being in the present. Our stereotypical meditator, the “ohm” person, is focusing on the sense of their breath - how it feels from the second air touches their nose, as it goes through their lungs, and out their mouth. It’s impossible to focus on the past, future, or be distracted if you’re locked into how it feels. But, you won’t be locked in the whole time. Your mind is built to wander. Nonjudgmentally refocus on your anchor.

That judgment piece is important - it essentially means you’re not going to beat yourself up and label yourself as someone who can’t focus. Your brain is made to always create thoughts, so don’t expect you, or any expert, to be able to sit down for 10 minutes in a quiet space and not start thinking about the past or future in some way. 

So, your anchor should be a sense, but many people find the sense of “feel” and their breath boring. It’s not exciting enough to come back and do every day. Totally understandable, which is why I like meditating through different senses, namely sounds and sights.

Sound: put on a song you enjoy, ideally one without lyrics since they can be more distracting. You can also opt for white noise or background noise of some kind, like rain or beach waves. Anchor your attention to the sounds, processing all of the details of them as they come.

Sights: you always have a visual field, even with eyes closed. You might see flashes and shifting amounts of darkness while eyes are closed, plenty to focus on. You can also try and stare at an object while taking in all corners of your peripheral vision. This is a personal favorite, as it takes a lot of focus to maintain. 

Taste: next time you find yourself sitting down for a snack or quick lunch, rather than taking your phone out or watching a video, just sit there and eat for a couple of minutes. Your mind will wander, but anchor your focus to the sensations of what you’re eating. You may find that you find the meal more enjoyable, and you’re training your brain in the process!

Including multiple senses: once you’re comfortable, try involving multiple senses. You can easily close your eyes, focusing on your visual field, while also listening to waterfall noises. You may not be locked into both of them at the same time, but you have more anchors at your disposal.

(2) Create an end-time for your meditation. Especially important for beginners, create a slot of time that you commit to meditating. Don’t just sit down and do it for however long. This can be useful once you’re more comfortable with with this practice, but beginners should have more parameters around their training.

(3) Start where you’ll succeed. If you know meditating for 10 minutes sounds like a nightmare, you probably won’t do it consistently. Start small. If you’re more likely to consistently meditate if your goal is 2 minutes, then it’s worth it. You’ll naturally work your way up to longer periods. If you try and practice a skill at a difficulty you’re not prepared for, it’ll obviously be difficult and you won’t want to come back. The mental gains won’t come if you’re only meditating a few times a month because it’s difficult. So, pick the parameters that will keep you coming back every day!

Where the mental reps come in. When you do notice this distraction, pat yourself on the back for noticing, then come back to the present. That’s a mental rep. Noticing your thoughts aren’t where you want them to be, then refocusing your thoughts on the anchor you chose.

These mental reps will show up in your games. The process of you noticing you’re thinking ineffectively in a game, then refocusing on what’s important now is a skill you cannot ignore if you’re striving to perform near your potential on a consistent basis. So, with each mental rep during your meditation practice, understand that those gains you’re making for your brain will show up on game day. 

When Should You Meditate?

Just like exercise, it’s more important that you actually do it consistently (every day, or at least 5-6 times a week). But, there are better times to do it. This will be advice for someone’s general lifestyle though, your unique schedule might require a different set-up.

Many people report meditation being most effective in the morning, allowing them to feel more confident and clearheaded about their day.

Others find it more refreshing to do in the middle of their work-day, or afterward in the evening. 

Lastly, doing so right before bed is a great way to transition into sleep. Not only are you training your brain here, but you’re facilitating better sleep, one of the most important variables in performance.

You can also do a walking meditation, where you’re constantly focused on your immediate surroundings and the senses involved. So many ways to meditate!

Try out different meditation methods to figure out what you like the most. Or, switch it up to keep it interesting. Whatever facilitates consistency!

Example of the Meditating Athlete’s Effective Focus Mid-game

Similar to most of the examples I write in this blog, it’s a playoff game and the stakes are high. Coach looks at you to signal you’re going out there, something you expected, but are still nervous about.

You start wondering, what if I mess up? What if I’m the reason my team loses? Are my teammates going to- then boom! You notice you’re thinking ineffectively; you’re entertaining thoughts that are actively hurting your chances of success because they’re exacerbating your nerves.

You noticed this, so you come back to your anchor, just like in meditation. You think, What’s Important Now? Your W.I.N. anchors include body language, communication, and remembering moments like these are often a precursor to your favorite sport memories.

You’re now focused on productive thinking - having confident body language, communicating with your coaches and teammates about a game plan or encouragement, and managing your nerves by realizing you’ve been through this before, leading to some of your favorite memories.

The act of noticing those ineffective thoughts is the same as you noticing yourself distracted from your anchor during meditation. 

The act of refocusing your thoughts on W.I.N. components is the same as you refocusing your attention on your anchor during meditation.

Among other reasons, like stress relief, this is a big reason why athletes are found to be meditating more and more. They are more likely to catch themselves thinking effectively and then refocus on performance enhancing cues because their brain has been rewired this way through the act of meditating every day. 

While meditation is great in helping athletes become aware of ineffective thinking, then transition into effective thinking, many athletes lack an anchor they feel confident refocusing to mid-game. It might come down to physical technique reminders or a saying that reduces the anxiety you feel in the moment. This is where your coach, or a sport psychology coach can help you out.

If you’d like to try out sport psychology coaching, schedule a free call with me, Gabe Zelico, by clicking the button below. You can discuss any mental obstacles you’re facing, short-term and long-term goals, and determine if we’d be a good fit to move forward!