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Breathing
Breathing
16 May, 2005
by Charles Land |
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Try Breathing . . .
Tomorrow, you will be standing on the shooting line in Las Vegas, it’s your first time there and there are only about fifteen hundred of the world’s finest shooters competing over the next three days. As you walk around, you identify a number of high profile shooters that you only read about in magazines. This is not a dream, but you are about to feel the earthquake!
Nerves, anxiety, apprehension or a flat out melt-down is now about to happen. This is perfectly normal in the human equation, but it is how you deal with it that is important. The first thing that you need to do is to admit to yourself that you need help.
I am only going to touch on one method of dealing with anxiety, but it is one that is most overlooked by coaches and athletes alike . . . breathing.
To make a point to one of our athletes that went to Las Vegas with us and, yes, suffered a mini melt-down, I set up a demonstration that would exhibit the power of controlled breathing. It is important to understand that my methodology in this illustration should not be used by other coaches in their various training regimes.
Mark and several other archers were in the shooting lane at the shop and the subject of anxiety came up. I told them that it was very simple to arrest your anxiety by simply breathing it away. I used Mark as my subject and proceeded to build up his level of anxiety. I took him to the point that he was getting very upset with me and he told me to quit . . . that he was getting very uncomfortable with the whole process. I needed him at this level to best demonstrate the power of this method.
“I want you to stop now, close your eyes and don’t move. I want you to breathe in through your nose slowly and take it right up to your brain. Hold your breath for three seconds and then breathe out slowly through your mouth while pushing down on your diaphragm. This should take eight seconds. Now, do it one more time.”
“Now, tell me what you were thinking about when you were doing this exercise?” I asked him. “I wasn’t thinking about anything,” he replied.
“How do you feel now Mark?” He looked at me for a moment and then smiled, “I don’t believe it, the stress is all gone.”
Mark’s anxiety level was raised to a point that would normally exceed anything that he might feel at a competition. By him following a few simple breathing exercises, he was able to completely dissipate his anxiety and resume with a return to his comfort zone. It is important to realize that you must suppress these anxieties as quickly as possible in order for you to compete in the subconscious.
Feeling stressed out? Try breathing.
Charles Land
Master Coach |
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