Mindfulness and the mental game

[D4Life 2,299]

Reading about the Tigers focus on mindfulness on the weekend, will the Demons take this on, as poor starts and switching off during games, seemed to be our greatest issues this year.

Edited November 9, 2017 by Grapeviney

[Lord Ivanhoe 311]

On 11/6/2017 at 8:50 AM, D4Life said:

Reading about the Tigers focus on mindfulness on the weekend, will the Demons take this on, as poor starts and switching off during games, seemed to be our greatest issues this year.

It is said that Footy like many sports is a  game  'played between the ears'.

Those of you here that disparage Mindfulness obviously have no idea what it is. So you build up the body in the gym, build up fitness on the track but you dont need to exercise the mind?

The ability to focus, reduce negative self talk, improve self belief and most importantly let go of the past are all positive mental habits that can result from mindfulness.

Some of you might call this mental toughness.

PS Thanks for the post D4L

 

Edited November 7, 2017 by Lord Ivanhoe

[McQueen 17,862]

10 minutes ago, Lord Ivanhoe said:

It is said that Footy like many sports is a  game  'played between the ears'.

Those of you here that disparage Mindfulness obviously have no idea what it is. So you build up the body in the gym, build up fitness on the track but you dont need to exercise the mind?

The ability to focus, reduce negative self talk, improve self belief and most importantly let go of the past are all positive mental habits that can result from mindfulness.

Some of you might call this mental toughness.

 

I’ve embarked on some fairly dedicated philosophy and mindfulness training myself this year. 

For the novice I highly recommend the Headspace app. 

With a commitment to making the time available (10 - 20 minutes per day) I’ve found it to have a considerable influence on my work and home life.

Edited November 7, 2017 by McQueen

[McQueen 17,862]

10 hours ago, Bay Riffin said:

im interested to know more...

I’m relatively only dipping my toes in it but I was put on to the School of Philosophy late last year when I was feeling a bit down and drinking excessively for no real reason. The 10 week course (1.5 - 2 hr sessions) once per week in the basics gave me an added incentive to do a 3 month period of abstinence of which I managed nearly 10 weeks (can thank the Dee’s beating the Eagles for that lapse).

I thought it was great and for a couple of hundred bucks, very good value. I intend on doing the next course available when my travel commitments with work taper off.

Do a search for the school in the Capital city you live in and you’re bound to find something within a worthwhile traveling distance. 

As for the Headspace app, download it onto your smart phone and give it a whirl. From memory I think the first ten sessions are free or maybe more. It’s only ~$140 per year and excellent value imo.

Like anything, meditation requires effort and to begin with my mind was all over the shop but gradually, with the practice, you become more focused and relaxed and you’re away.

Cheers

[Lord Ivanhoe 311]

11 hours ago, McQueen said:

I’m relatively only dipping my toes in it but I was put on to the School of Philosophy late last year when I was feeling a bit down and drinking excessively for no real reason. The 10 week course (1.5 - 2 hr sessions) once per week in the basics gave me an added incentive to do a 3 month period of abstinence of which I managed nearly 10 weeks (can thank the Dee’s beating the Eagles for that lapse).

I thought it was great and for a couple of hundred bucks, very good value. I intend on doing the next course available when my travel commitments with work taper off.

Do a search for the school in the Capital city you live in and you’re bound to find something within a worthwhile traveling distance. 

As for the Headspace app, download it onto your smart phone and give it a whirl. From memory I think the first ten sessions are free or maybe more. It’s only ~$140 per year and excellent value imo.

Like anything, meditation requires effort and to begin with my mind was all over the shop but gradually, with the practice, you become more focused and relaxed and you’re away.

Cheers

I have been actively involved in mindfulness since 1992. I attended SOP (School of Philosophy) for 17yrs up to 2007. Good way to learn the practical skills if you have the time. I left 10 years ago to pursue my own brand named Active Mindfulness. (Very similar to what Emma Murray teaches) The most important initial aspect is to learn to be aware that there is a difference between ‘me’ & ‘my mind’.

Like McQueen, feel free to ask any questions

PS Mods -  Any chance of moving D4Life, McQueen & Lord Ivanhoe posts from this tread to a new Mindfulness thread. This way any Demonlanders who would to learn, ask or post can easily find it? Thanks In anticipation

[Lord Ivanhoe 311]

 

[Vagg 2,422]

11 hours ago, McQueen said:

I’m relatively only dipping my toes in it but I was put on to the School of Philosophy late last year when I was feeling a bit down and drinking excessively for no real reason. The 10 week course (1.5 - 2 hr sessions) once per week in the basics gave me an added incentive to do a 3 month period of abstinence of which I managed nearly 10 weeks (can thank the Dee’s beating the Eagles for that lapse).

I thought it was great and for a couple of hundred bucks, very good value. I intend on doing the next course available when my travel commitments with work taper off.

Do a search for the school in the Capital city you live in and you’re bound to find something within a worthwhile traveling distance. 

As for the Headspace app, download it onto your smart phone and give it a whirl. From memory I think the first ten sessions are free or maybe more. It’s only ~$140 per year and excellent value imo.

Like anything, meditation requires effort and to begin with my mind was all over the shop but gradually, with the practice, you become more focused and relaxed and you’re away.

Cheers

Anyone interested in this sorta thing might want to pick up a copy of a book called "Mindset" by Dr. Carol S. Dweck.  Can pick up paperback version online for a few bucks.  Well worth the read, and helps explain why some people, no matter how naturally talented, never reach their full potential, while others do.

[Lord Ivanhoe 311]

Cool Thanks Mods. In relation to footy here is the article regarding Richmond/ Emma Murphy. 

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/mindfulness-and-meditation-helped-richmond-break-afl-premiership-drought-20171103-gzed1o.html

 

http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/2016-03-19/embracing-the-murrays

[McQueen 17,862]

1 hour ago, Vagg said:

Anyone interested in this sorta thing might want to pick up a copy of a book called "Mindset" by Dr. Carol S. Dweck.  Can pick up paperback version online for a few bucks.  Well worth the read, and helps explain why some people, no matter how naturally talented, never reach their full potential, while others do.

Also available via Audible for those that would prefer to listen.

I must admit though, I found it quite difficult to listen to as an individual for a variety of reasons but would not want to disparage it to anyone from reading/listening to it.

[Vagg 2,422]

8 minutes ago, McQueen said:

Also available via Audible for those that would prefer to listen.

I must admit though, I found it quite difficult to listen to as an individual for a variety of reasons but would not want to disparage it to anyone from reading/listening to it.

I understand where you are coming from, McQueen.  But, it certainly offers compelling arguments regarding the power of the mind in every aspect of our lives, and the importance of getting it right to aid in our success.  We are only now really beginning to truly understand just how powerful our minds are (both conscious and subconscious...).  There is a lot of interesting research out there on the subject these days.

[Lord Ivanhoe 311]

After many years of exploring the more traditional esoteric mind calming traditions I have personally have enjoyed & followed Dr Joe Dispenza.

His initial book ‘Evolve your Brain’ was the first to introduce the term neuroplasticity(The brains' ability to re-organise itself). Many dry books have been since written by many who have a book knowledge not practical experience of meditation & neuroplasticity. This is why I feel Emma Murphy has had such success at Richmond. (ie Would anyone have thought that Dustin Martin would have ever embraced mindfulness??)

Dispenza’s following books ‘Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself’ and “You are the Placebo’ are also excellent.

 

Edited November 9, 2017 by Lord Ivanhoe

[DeeSpencer 23,051]

Flow is really a great way of describing how Richmond played later in the year, and the Dogs the year before and the Swans for over a decade. Maintaining high level physical aggression with mental calmness must be one of the most difficult things for AFL players. 

I don't think every player needs mindfulness but it will help some and I really think every coach probably needs it. 

I've been impressed with the way Goodwin has made adjustments in games without losing his cool. 

The slow starts certainly need addressing and personally I think the game plan needs tweaking to avoid poor starts. How much of the pre game routine needs to change vs mindset vs tactics is all up for debate but I hope the club is reviewing everything.

[Lord Ivanhoe 311]

At the 2017 Grand Final it was interesting to observe that Adelaide was practicing some kind of mediation/mindfulness and so, as we all know now, were many players at Richmond.

IMO mediation alone can assist you to be mindful but how you bring that mindfulness into everyday life is the difference. Adelaide may have used it to calm down almost too much (whatever that stare down Haka is supposed to be?) where as Richmond were taught how to ‘connect in the moment’ whilst they were active. I believe many RFC players even practiced meditating in there respective playing groups, ie midfield, backline etc. By being gutsy enough to being open, together, whilst practicing mindfulness exercises they learnt what ‘in the moment reminders’ each individual preferred. In this way when a player made a mistake, reminding that player of his specific mindfulness trigger eg ‘Feel the air on your skin” ,did infinitely more for that individual to reset his mind to the task/game plan etc than the usual encouraging or saying nothing, let alone criticise him.

 

Edited November 9, 2017 by Lord Ivanhoe

[Little Goffy 12,489]

53 minutes ago, Lord Ivanhoe said:

After many years of exploring the more traditional esoteric mind calming traditions I have personally have enjoyed & followed Dr Joe Dispenza.

His initial book ‘Evolve your Brain’ was the first to introduce the term neuroplasticity(The brains' ability to re-organise itself). Many dry books have been since written by many who have a book knowledge not practical experience of meditation & neuroplasticity. This is why I feel Emma Murphy has had such success at Richmond. (ie Would anyone have thought that Dustin Martin would have ever embraced mindfulness??)

Dispenza’s following books ‘Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself’ and “You are the Placebo’ are also excellent.

 

Um... 'first to introduce the term neuroplasticity'... by about -50 years.

I've got no problem really with people re-packaging science into digestible material which is useful for informing anyone, but it is mildly annoying when there's a pretense that the work is original, instead of recognising that it is a handy synopsis of literally decades of research, debate, peer review and adjustment.

Y'know, all those 'dry' books by people with only 'book knowledge' and not the marketing nous that makes any particular brand of mindfulness a success...

Mindfulness is useful and there's value in any exercise or routine which helps people to be aware of what is going on in their own mind and why they feel the way they do, and to be aware that they can deliberately influence those reactions. Thank you, science.

[Lord Ivanhoe 311]

 

6 minutes ago, Little Goffy said:

Um... 'first to introduce the term neuroplasticity'... by about -50 years.

I've got no problem really with people re-packaging science into digestible material which is useful for informing anyone, but it is mildly annoying when there's a pretense that the work is original, instead of recognising that it is a handy synopsis of literally decades of research, debate, peer review and adjustment.

Y'know, all those 'dry' books by people with only 'book knowledge' and not the marketing nous that makes any particular brand of mindfulness a success...

Mindfulness is useful and there's value in any exercise or routine which helps people to be aware of what is going on in their own mind and why they feel the way they do, and to be aware that they can deliberately influence those reactions. Thank you, science.

Thanks For your contribution LG. Would love to hear what examples & practical knowledge you have gained from your peer reviewed friends. Feel free to share your experience with mindfulness.

[daisycutter 28,429]

i wonder what uncle bitters and his Temple of Mindlessness think of this thread? 

[Engorged Onion 9,215]

All clubs use it, though some only a small degree, others have a lot larger scope - its all on the individuals in the FD view on the use (and some would suggest that some FD people are very protective of their 'space'), its used via some aflpa psychs, some mindfulness routines are more embedded, such as St Kilda, Melbourne historically through Tami  as far as i know...and freo under RL = 0 , - though I would strongly  strongly suggest mindfulness itself isn't the panacea to performance, - the rest of the article discussed at length, vulnerability, empathy and connection - the old language would be, you care for your team mates, so you die for your team mates... vulnerability including about non football related things, allows you to stick to task whilst being willing to have discomfort....

[Engorged Onion 9,215]

On 07/11/2017 at 10:11 PM, Lord Ivanhoe said:

It is said that Footy like many sports is a  game  'played between the ears'.

Those of you here that disparage Mindfulness obviously have no idea what it is. So you build up the body in the gym, build up fitness on the track but you dont need to exercise the mind?

The ability to focus, reduce negative self talk, improve self belief and most importantly let go of the past are all positive mental habits that can result from mindfulness.

Some of you might call this mental toughness.

PS Thanks for the post D4L

 

Can't help myself to be pedantic/forensic on this one - if you're using it for that, you're increasing the problem... far more useful is the notion (and skill) of acceptance. I'm happy to take questions on it - its my field of expertise.

Edited November 9, 2017 by Danelska

[rjay 23,844]

I think (maybe that's the problem) that like many things mindfulness has taken a life of it's own.

...and been moved away from what it really is/was...

As Frank Zappa once said...

"… There was nothin' his box won't do 
With the oil of aphrodite, and the dust of the grand wazoo 
He said you might not believe this, little fella 
But it'll cure your asthma too…"

[Little Goffy 12,489]

3 hours ago, Lord Ivanhoe said:

 

Thanks For your contribution LG. Would love to hear what examples & practical knowledge you have gained from your peer reviewed friends. Feel free to share your experience with mindfulness.

Why do I detect a hint of hostiliy or sarcasm here?

I mean, the obvious answer is 'all of it' since all the pop-gurus and advice columns and indeed the many wholly legitimate practitioners of mindfulness guidance are ultimately drawing on the hard work of researchers nobody has heard of.

Next up someone will be asking 'What have all your peer reviewed friends ever contributed to dental care? I get my toothpaste from the guy at the Coles checkout'.

I just hope I've not accidentally walked into some kind of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment silliness.

[McQueen 17,862]

1 minute ago, Little Goffy said:

Why do I detect a hint of hostiliy or sarcasm here?

I mean, the obvious answer is 'all of it' since all the pop-gurus and advice columns and indeed the many wholly legitimate practitioners of mindfulness guidance are ultimately drawing on the hard work of researchers nobody has heard of.

Next up someone will be asking 'What have all your peer reviewed friends ever contributed to dental care? I get my toothpaste from the guy at the Coles checkout'.

I just hope I've not accidentally walked into some kind of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment silliness.

I think you guys have some wires crossed.

Your argument is based around neuro-plasticity and it’s history of research/study up until now. I agree that it seems every week there’s a new guru bringing out another book of regurgitated and plagiarised text, hoping to convince readers that they’ll eventually figure out wtf is wrong with them.

@rjay, you do realise that meditation has been around since over 2500 years? 

Are you insinuating that mindfulness practice is new in this regard or “taken a life of its own” as you put it?

[D4Life 2,299]

My initial post was could mindfulness help our consistency within games and from week to week. As it seemed from the article to have made a significant difference to the Tiggers!

Maybe, maybe not but well worth investigating. If we could consistently repeat mid 2nd quarter - end match performance vs Crows away, finals here come!

I would also be interested in threads on:

1. How do we improve our backline 

2. How do we improve our forward line

3. Suggestions on changing our gameplan 

There are a lot of supporters on Demonland who seem very astute observers of the game, and get to see the Demons play every game and train. As someone who gets to about 5 games a year and maybe sees another 5 on TV, Demonland contributors help round out my understanding of our team.

 

[Lord Ivanhoe 311]

29 minutes ago, Little Goffy said:

Why do I detect a hint of hostiliy or sarcasm here?

I mean, the obvious answer is 'all of it' since all the pop-gurus and advice columns and indeed the many wholly legitimate practitioners of mindfulness guidance are ultimately drawing on the hard work of researchers nobody has heard of.

Next up someone will be asking 'What have all your peer reviewed friends ever contributed to dental care? I get my toothpaste from the guy at the Coles checkout'.

I just hope I've not accidentally walked into some kind of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment silliness.

Wow, I just asked for your contribution. I will take a cue from Danelska and practise acceptance.  You obviously are fully committed to science, so am I. I am also open to what our current limited measuring instruments cannot measure,eg Emotional intelligence, intuition etc

In my experience if the intelligence is not tuned/trained to look for the potential or to source the new, the basic human instincts of fight or flight by default develop neural pathways based on fear = Neural pathways of looking for the negative, judging, blaming looking for fault. 

Hence if we both have a mutual intention to seek that which is positive & uplifting, fantastic. Looking forward to your contribution about the variety of ways the playing group/posters can use this topic to strengthen their mental muscles.

 

[rjay 23,844]

57 minutes ago, McQueen said:

I think you guys have some wires crossed.

Your argument is based around neuro-plasticity and it’s history of research/study up until now. I agree that it seems every week there’s a new guru bringing out another book of regurgitated and plagiarised text, hoping to convince readers that they’ll eventually figure out wtf is wrong with them.

@rjay, you do realise that meditation has been around since over 2500 years? 

Are you insinuating that mindfulness practice is new in this regard or “taken a life of its own” as you put it?

I'm aware of the history 'Mc'...and I have enjoyed the practice in the past. It's something I would like to get back to.

However, my point is more about the profit merchants and I notice you've alluded to them as well in your post.

Mindfullness has become a bit of a buzz word unfortunately and a lot seem to be jumping on the bandwagon and making spurious claims. Keeping the tills ticking over.

It's a pity really...

[Skuit 9,109]

Mindfulness isn't a catchall for meditation. But I believe both can be beneficial for everyday life. How these practices would translate to a football-field though, especially on game-day in the thick of action, is always going to be tenuous or unquantifiable (although, again, I think they would be of some benefit).

There are a few paradoxes at play in terms of mindfulness and professional football - was Goodwin's favourite phrase toward the end of the year - that it only matters where you sit on the ladder after round 23 - mindful or unmindful? Is his disregard for our past hurtful or helpful? These are broad strokes of course.

More acutely, does living in the moment produce some calm approach to your actions in play, or does it deflect from the singular goal of winning and only caring about such? And where would the correct balance lay?