1. It helps athletes focus.
Your focus will determine if you win or lose a game. Meditation has been shown to increase states of focus within the brain. Every athlete, no matter what sport they are playing, could work on improving focus. Distractions can affect an athlete's performance. Meditation improves concentration, which helps you filter out unwanted noise or thoughts and focus on the game. This ability to concentrate throughout any distraction can greatly improve an athlete's performance.
2. It makes athletes resilient.
The greatest athletes in the world are the most resilient; meditation has been shown to help out in this area. Everyone knows you have to fail over and over again until you succeed. Meditation helps you detach yourself from the negative thoughts that keep you from achieving your goals.
3. Improved Sleep Patterns and Speeding Recovery Time
Sleep is imperative to all human beings, especially athletes. Athletes who are not able to get enough sleep will experience a number of negative effects including: weight gain, mood disturbance, increased anxiety/depression, inability to maintain focus/concentration, and decreased motor control. Athletes who consistently practice meditation can help their body to recover quicker from training, games, and even injury. While physical training is good, it also places high levels of stress on the body, including muscle fiber tears. Recovery time from many common sports injuries can actually be reduced. In addition, meditation boosts the immune system, preventing illness that can hinder your training and/or performance.
4. Boosts Energy
The most common factor when it comes to low energy is mental exertion. Fatigue is often related to stress and anxious thinking. Even if you don’t feel stressed, you can be sure that your mind is always at work trying to figure something out. When the mind is busy trying to resolve conflict, or figure out the next move, there is an interchanging of energy taking place in the form of electromagnetic energy. The higher level of activity, the more energy that is required. This communication originates in the brain, but also affects the body as well, which is why mental fatigue can be felt so tangibly throughout the entire body. The reason meditation is such a great way to increase your energy is because when you bring your attention back into the present moment and allow your mind to release thoughts of the past or future, you are actually interrupting an ongoing internal conversation taking place in your mind.
5. Finding the Zone
Activate the Flow State / Zone – Athletes who meditate can conquer the most common “blind spots” that tend to make performance challenges seem worse than they actually are. They can be able to deactivate a part of their brain that isn’t much necessary during sports performance and while deactivating some part of the brain enables athletes to activate their subconscious and enter the zone. Time will slow down, all the distractions will fade away. You become faster, you become more effective.
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