“Ninety percent of every position is mental. Who wouldn’t want that edge?” Kicker Stephen Hauschka helped the Seattle Seahawks win the Super Bowl and made this comment when discussing his approach to mindfulness.

I just returned from speaking at the Lutheran Educators Conference in San Diego, a gathering of teachers from California, Nevada, Hawaii, and Arizona. My first talk - Finding the Key, Unlocking the Power of Awareness - was a workshop geared around providing tools to develop different types of student awareness through interoception, exteroception, proprioception, internal self-awarness, and external self-awareness. At a time when students are less aware than ever, training awareness is shown to improve grades, strengthen relationships, improve job prospects, build confidence, enhance creativity, and support integrity.

My second talk - The Performance Blueprint, Because SEL is not Enough - was a call to action to move beyond educational fads, trends, and neuromyths and into practices that are supported by research. Using high performance individuals and organizations such as the military, professional sport, Cirque du Soleil, and surgeons as exemplars, I shared a model that answered the core question, "What if we developed kids as high performers instead of students?"

Through the development of Performance Assets, Success Behaviors, and Learning Strategies, we can help students build the capacity to perform in all domains of performance, not just the classroom.

Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy is leading the Wolverines into Saturday's showdown against Ohio State with a mind that he has committed to training. 

McCarthy started meditating when he was in high school, and he begins each day with a 30 minute meditation. On game days, he takes 10 minutes to meditate while seated at the base of a goal post. He focuses on his breath and heart rate, skills that can be utilized anywhere, at any time. The soundtrack for his pregame routine is all Bob Marley, which he says, "eases the mind, relaxes the soul, and helps me be at peace."

While the media like to talk about clearing the mind of thoughts, that's neither possible, nor the purpose of meditation. Instead, it's about recognizing when the mind wanders, and then refocusing. As McCarthy says "Meditation is just a way that helps promote that longevity of that present moment that I feel. When I feel like I'm not in the right headspace, or I'm thinking too far in the future, or I'm thinking too far in the past, I really just focus on my breath, and that starts to connect me to the present moment a heck of a lot faster." 

As I transitioned from working with fall sports to winter sports, I was reminded of the concept of mudita. Mudita is a Sanskrit word that lacks an exact equivalent in English, but is closest to joy, especially sympathetic or vicarious joy. In other words, it is the pleasure that comes from delighting in other people's well-being. Mudita is the opposite of envy and jealousy. A prime example of this is back in 2018, when the Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson, had the opportunity to break teammate Steph Curry's record for the the number of 3's made in a game. As you can see in this clip, not only did Curry set the screen to get Thompson open, his hands were raised in celebration even before Thompson's were. Unsurprisingly, joy is one of Golden State's core values. As you move through your season, look for opportunities to incorporate mudita.

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