RIGHT MINDFULNESS COACHING

 Excerpt from the Competitive Buddha, once again, as it applies to the eight Noble  traits of great coaching.

According to Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, Right Mindfulness is the foundation of ancient Buddhist teaching. When Right Mindfulness is present, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path are present as well. The most well-recognized western definition of mindfulness comes from one of the most prominent, best-known teachers of the concept – Jon Kabat-Zinn. According to him, mindfulness is “paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment.”

Mindfulness, in Buddhist terms, is being aware and wakeful to the present moment on a consistent basis. It helps you to see clearly and act more appropriately with your actions, words and decisions in all aspects of life. In his classic book BE HERE NOW, the late Ram Dass teaches us how wakefulness is about being alert to the present without letting past experiences or fears of the future color and obscure this moment.

James Baraz, from AWAKENING JOY, says “mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes; being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way.”

In Buddhism, we are introduced to the notion of the “Monkey Mind.” It is a mind that is out of control, agitated and scattered. Buddhist practices with mindfulness are designed to help leaders quiet these monkeys, to tame them and bring us back to the here and now. One of these practices is called meditation, a skill I will address and teach in the very next section.

Why is it important to develop a state of Right Mindfulness? In my teaching with athletes, coaches, teams and others, I encourage them to practice mindfulness because it helps to be happy and improve the quality of how you live, what you do and how you do it. It feels good to be relaxed, calm and peaceful. It lowers stress, anxiety, worry and depression, all important variables that must be contained if we want to experience masterful performance. It helps you gain perspective on the up and down, gain and loss nature of life...and, of course, athletics.

Speaking of sports, what athlete or coach doesn’t experience the Monkey Mind by bouncing back and forth between our past mistakes, future outcomes, potential injury, and, as a result, get distracted from what’s happening right here, right now.

To help his team develop a strong sense of such mindfulness, coach Phil Jackson of the L.A. Lakers created the “warrior room” at their practice facility in El Segundo, California. In that sacred space, with the help of author George Mumford, team members would enter to practice mindful meditation. It was

voluntary but athletes like Kobe Bryant used this time effectively. When he was with the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan embraced the value of mindfulness and soon proclaimed as I stated in Part One, “this Buddhist stuff really works.”

I know that sports is one of the best venues to practice mindfulness. You need not be a Buddhist monk to have a successful practice. I have experienced the growth of mindfulness over a forty-year span in my career to a point where today it is profoundly mainstream. My teams on all levels of performance don’t just want it, they crave it. Most of the top athletes and coaches in sports embrace the concept of mindfulness as a way to quiet their minds and hang out in that heavenly place, a place of complete involvement in your sport for its own sake. This is the most essential key to the competitive Buddha, effective leadership and masterful performance as you begin to consistently tap into the flow of the event, in that present moment.

As I mentioned earlier, the next section of my book TCB will be devoted to this topic and guide you through the process of mindful meditation, the same one I used with 115 championship teams over the past 30 years.