The Art of Mental Training - a Guide to Performance Excellence (Classic Edition) (4 page)

BOOK: The Art of Mental Training - a Guide to Performance Excellence (Classic Edition)
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I have a memory of Leo-tai from
a time when I had been watching him high up on a mountain, and so near the edge
that I worried he might fall.  He was practicing what he called his focused
breathing, his hands sometimes flowing to the rhythm of his breathing in slow
and balanced circular motions, and sometimes not.

He had taught me to do just as
he was doing, to draw the air in deeply and slowly to the bottom of my lungs
through my nose, while expanding the diaphragm.  Then, after holding it
momentarily, he slowly pushed the air out of the lungs by drawing the diaphragm
in.  He explained that it’s important to let the air out through a relaxed and
slightly opened mouth while keeping the tip of the tongue pressed lightly
against the ridge behind the front teeth, with the tongue touching the roof of
the mouth.

Afterwards I asked him what was
going through his mind as he practiced his breathing.

“Nothing,” he said, “I just try
to observe my breathing: that’s all.  If a thought comes to me, I pay it no
attention and it soon flows away.  The more I focus on the breathing, the more
I observe the breathing, the quieter my thoughts become.  And also, notice that
I can practice the breathing without any form whatsoever, whenever I need.”

“What do you mean, without any
form?” I asked.

“I can practice my focused
breathing whenever I want, even now as I sit and visit with you.”  He told me.
“I practice focused breathing to help keep me centered—to help bring me back to
the present.  I can do it without form.  You do not see me moving around or
flowing as a tai-chi master does do you?  Yet still I am practicing my focused
breathing.”

I’ll never know why, but the
sureness and simplicity of the words that he spoke that day have never left
me.  I’m grateful for that because I’ve learned through experience that it’s
through the focused breathing that he taught me that I’ve always been able to
begin to achieve the mental control or focus that was required for whatever
serious challenge I may have been facing at the time.

So from now on, whenever
focused breathing is mentioned in any of our other lessons you’ll know exactly
what we are describing, how it’s done, and why it’s part of the mix of tools
that helps us achieve mental control.  It’s important to practice focused
breathing if one hopes to ever be able to harness the power of the technique.

There is a second important concept
mentioned throughout the Art of Mental Training that Leo-tai never tired of
explaining, time and time again, year after year.  Let me explain as he did to
me: the concept of relaxation . . . both mental and physical.

What do we mean by relaxation?  And
why is relaxation practice so important for the athlete and Mental Warrior? 
Relaxation matters because when used with mental imagery it facilitates and
allows our inner (subconscious) mind to clearly see our success imagery and
feel our success feelings.

It’s only when we are in a deep
state of relaxation that the conscious mind quits acting as a filter for the
inner mind.  It's when the critical conscious mind is set aside through
relaxation (for several minutes) that our Imagineering can reach the inner mind
directly.  Among other things, the inner mind is a goal-striving mechanism.  Show
it your goals through imagery and with feelings of them as having already been
accomplished . . . and it sets out to help you make it so. It accepts the input
as being true.  Seemingly saying to itself, if this is true, then these must be
the actions that I must be taking that help make it so.

And that’s critically important
because by blending breathing, relaxation and the third critical element
Imagineering, the mental athlete is able to tap an inner resource designed to
help him achieve his goals.

Coming from within, your
motivation and volition become stronger and more focused.  From within, you’ll
soon find yourself more easily doing all the things that need to be done in
order for you to accomplish your goals.  When the inner mind is able to see
what you want, it’s able to help you get what you want.  Relaxation skills are
what open up the lines of communication between the inner mind and your
Imagineering.  Proper breathing helps you go deeper into relaxation whenever
you so desire.

So what does relaxation
practice entail?  And how do you practice setting up these lines of
communication?

The ability to achieve a state
of deep relaxation easily and quickly comes only through practice.  After a few
weeks of practice one can usually enter a deep state of relaxation within a few
minutes of deciding to do so—and for some it can happen even quicker than that.

I tell my clients to consider
practicing and developing this skill by using the following process.  I remind
them that if they just allow the process to happen naturally, then it will. 
You can’t try to force relaxation, but with practice anyone can learn how to
slip into relaxation quite easily.

Move to a quiet space where you
won’t be disturbed.  Lie down on your back with your feet slightly apart, arms
slightly extended from your body, palms facing down, and make sure you are as
comfortable as possible before proceeding.  (In other words: no tight or
restrictive clothing, temperature not too hot, not too cold, etc.  Get
comfortable).

Now, fix your eyes on a point
above you on the ceiling.  Remaining as still as you can, begin by taking three
long, deep, deep, breaths, inhaling through your nose.  Hold each breath temporarily,
and then exhale slowly through your mouth.  And with each breath that you
release, I want you to feel a wave of relaxation begin to overwhelm you as you
let go and begin to enjoy the process.

As you exhale the third breath,
gently let your eyelids begin to close.  Now, for the next ten breaths, imagine
your eyelids getting heavier and heavier.  I want you to mentally repeat the
word “deeper” as you exhale and let all tension and thoughts disappear every
time you breathe out.  Let yourself go deeper into relaxation with each breath
that you let out.  If your mind drifts, that’s okay; just gently bring your
attention back to learning how to relax and how to let go as you exhale and
mentally repeat the word “deeper”.  After ten easy breaths you are ready to
begin focusing on relaxing the muscles of every part of your body.

Start with your toes and begin
moving up your body as total relaxation begins to take over.  Focus on relaxing
each and every muscle in your body.  From toes to calves, to thighs, to abs, to
chest, to back, to arms, to shoulders, and even to your neck:  every muscle
letting go and completely relaxing.  Continue all the way up to the scalp and
facial muscles.  Visualize each muscle loosening, and feel a wave of deep
relaxation flowing deeply into all of your muscles, into all of your body. 
Allow yourself to go deeper into relaxation with each breath that you take.

Don’t rush it, don’t force it;
simply allow your muscles to turn loose, go limp and relax naturally as you
experience the serenity of total relaxation. (Sometimes clients tell me that a
leg or arm twitched or move involuntarily for an instant and they ask me about
it.  That’s nothing to be concerned about; it’s only the deep hidden tension
being triggered and released from where it has been hiding.  The release of
this hidden tension is both therapeutic and healthy.)

Now allow yourself to enjoy
this state of relaxation for about twenty minutes, maybe a little more.  Drift
in this sea of healthy relaxation and during this time, while in this deeply
relaxed state, watch yourself as in a movie, and project images in your mind’s
eye of you achieving what you desire.  See it as being true.  Feel it.  Show
your mind through images and feelings what you will accomplish.  See it clearly. 
Watch yourself accomplishing it.  Experience it inwardly as if it were already
true.

Remember, that now, through
deep relaxation, you’ve opened a direct channel to your subconscious mind. 
Feed it images and feelings of success in your “movies” that it will then set
out to help you accomplish.  With this practice you are setting a powerful
force in motion from deep inside that will help propel you towards the success
you envision.

After twenty minutes or so of
deep relaxation and “success conditioning” through your use of your mental
images and feelings, it’s time to either bring yourself back to a state of full
awareness—or else time to simply allow yourself to slip into restful sleep. 
That’s up to you.

If it’s time to sleep, just let
yourself doze off.  However, if you need to bring yourself back to a state of
full awareness, then this is an easy way to do it.  Imagine a staircase with
five steps going up.  See yourself slowly climbing up the steps, and tell
yourself that with each step you take that you feel more refreshed, more alert,
and more aware.  And, that when you reach the top step, you’ll feel relaxed,
refreshed, and rejuvenated, completely alert, and ready to carry on with your
day.

When you reach the last step,
let your eyelids open, inhale completely, and stretch. (Of course, if you are
practicing your relaxation during the day within a busy schedule - there's no
harm in using an alarm clock just to help ensure that you get back to your
schedule on time in case the deep relaxation ever leads to an unscheduled nap.)

That’s how the Mental Warrior
uses breathing, relaxation and success imagery.  He doesn’t do it once. 
Instead he incorporates them into his training routine using repetition over
several weeks and months, so that the success conditioning has a chance to
actually be absorbed by the subconscious mind and to take root, thus helping to
improve self-belief, self-confidence, and performance.  Through practice like
this, the Mental Warrior is able to engage and use the power of his subconscious
mind in order to help him achieve his goals.

 

Remember what Leo-tai told
me:  "The Mental Warrior learns about focused breathing, relaxation, and
imagery—and then he sets off to actually use them."

 

The
Art of Mental Training

Chapter 8: 
Understanding the Mental Warrior

 

I saw a flash of silver as he
drew his gun from behind the small of his back. My gun already drawn, I was
behind cover.  He was stuck out in the open; I had a clear line of fire.  He
looked about forty years old, with dark, deep-sunken eyes—he looked every bit
the criminal he was.  I had tracked and chased him down. With my team not far
behind he was now cornered.  The adrenalin surged inside my body.  Twenty feet
away was a fugitive felon with a gun in his hand thinking about using it on me.

“Drop it,” I told him firmly,
without for one instant ceasing to bear my gaze straight down my pistol sight.

Out drawn, and out positioned,
there wasn’t that much for him to think about.  Either he wanted to live or he
wanted to die, that’s really all he had to decide. The eyes said it all. He
lowered his weapon.  Once we had him in cuffs and sped off to our location, it
hit me.  At last, the murderous drug lord who had cost the life of one of our
agents was finally in custody.

To this day, I credit Leo-tai’s
training as the one thing that most helped me keep the hair-trigger on my
government-issued 9mm from engaging, and sending five or six black talon law
enforcement rounds straight into their target – center mass.

What a crazy job this is, I remember
thinking, as I sat down for a moment to let the energy subside. And as I did,
my mind flashed back to a time when Leo-tai once described the Mental Warrior
to me . . .

We were walking in the hills,
he leading as usual, with that untiring pace that sometimes even I had trouble
keeping up with . . . It was hot, and I enjoyed the breeze as we climbed higher
and the humidity began to drop.

When we finally reached the top
of the trail we stopped, rested, and admired the view as he told me what he had
planned to tell me.

“Danielsan,” he said, “In order
to become a Mental Warrior, you must learn to recognize the Mental Warrior; you
must understand where the training takes you.”

He had my undivided attention.

This is what he told me:
“Mental Warriors cannot be intimidated.  Their self-confidence is too deeply
rooted to be shakeable.  They arrive on the scene to dominate.  They love to
compete; competing energizes them.  They repel negative thoughts; they control
their internal environment. They know how to remain focused under even the most
challenging conditions.”

He told me: “Mental Warriors
make it a point to be ready.  They've learned to manage pressure; they never
fail to keep moving forward.  They refuse to lose, they’ll never quit, and they
will patiently work to find a solution, to find a way to win.  Mental Warriors
cannot accept not trying.”

Leo-tai went on: “Mental
Warriors are goal oriented. They know what they want to do and set out to
achieve it.  Their dreams and goals motivate them to excel.  They are
dedicated. They know how to control their emotions so as to not allow them to
sabotage their own performance.  Mental Warriors never lose their composure and
self-control in the heat of battle.”

“Most of all, Mental Warriors
are brave, Danielsan, they have heart. They have the courage and inner strength
to achieve their full potential.  They understand the power of imagination,
concentration, and consistency.”

He closed his lesson that day
by reminding me that the only way that one could ever become a Mental Warrior
was by practicing what the Art teaches.

 

Remember:  One must practice
in order to become.

 

The
Art of Mental Training

Chapter 9: 
Controlling Anger

 

“Let’s review, Danielsan,” he
told me as we sat down. Sometimes after a workout we’d drink some tea and enjoy
the view from his simple patio overlooking the coastline.

BOOK: The Art of Mental Training - a Guide to Performance Excellence (Classic Edition)
10.16Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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