Sports | Competition

Hi, and welcome to day one of Competition. So no matter what competition or event you've got coming up, this pack is designed really to get you ready to perform at your best. Because so much of performance is down to the state of our mind. So you already know when you turn up at an event, a competition, you know that you've done everything you can to perfect the skill, the technique, the level of fitness, all you really need to do is get your mind in the right place. And you'll know from previous experience as well that when your mind is in the right place, everything seems to happen, or everything that you know that you're capable of, you're able to achieve. And on those days when the mind is not in the right place, then it doesn't matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you trained in the past, it just doesn't happen. So preparing the mind and getting it right is essential. So over the next 10 days, we're going to look at how you can prepare the mind before the event. And then also during the event itself, during the game itself, how do you step back into that state, if at any stage you slip out of it. But right now we're going to start in the usual way. So just take a moment to get comfortable, sitting upright with a body that's focused in its posture and at the same time relaxed. Eyes open. A nice soft focus, aware of the space around you. And when you're ready, just taking a couple of nice, big, deep breaths, Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. And with the next out breath, just gently closing the eyes, allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm in and out through the nose. As you just feel the body sink downwards, contact between the body and the chair or the floor, wherever you're sitting right now. And just take a few moments to settle into those sensations and any sounds around you. And then just gently bringing the attention back to the body again. Just starting to notice how the body feels right now. Just bringing the mind into the body as you move your attention to the top of their head. And just take a short while to scan down from head to toe. Noticing not only how the body feels right now but also if there's any particularly strong emotion around. As always, not thinking about it, just noticing as you scan downwards. And as you shift the attention now to the breath, just starting to notice where in the body you feel that movement of breath. That rising and falling sensation. You don't have to breathe in any special way, just noticing how the body is breathing and where you feel that movement of the breath. Just take a moment to settle the mind on that sensation....