For years, speed skater Katherine Adamek struggled with chronic professional self-doubt, despite having won two Olympic medals. The anxiety and insecurity were bleeding over from the ice into her personal life. A hip injury forced her into retirement in 2013.

After three years, though, Adamek was craving a comeback, but I wanted to do things differently this time, she says, building my confidence and learning how to be present for my teammates, how to enjoy my successes and learn from my mistakes instead ruminating and judging myself for them. She reached out to an Olympic sports psychologist with whom shed previously trained, who agreed to help, with one caveat: Adamek needed to start using a meditation app.

Between grueling workouts, Adamek interspersed three-minute guided meditations, building to 10- and 20-minute sessions. Within a few weeks, negative emotions passed more easily. I noticed changes in my relationships with my family, friends and teammates. I could enter a strength training session feeling confident, even if my last workout wasnt great. Adamek set a new American record at her first World Cup Circuit back from retirement in 2016.

Related: The Best Free Meditation Appsand One You Should Pay For

In the early 90s, when Phil Jackson (Nickname: The Zen Master) introduced mindfulness to the Chicago Bulls, the concept of athletes using meditation to tune into their bodies and minds and live in the moment was novel. But as meditation has moved mainstream among the American publicmore than tripling from 2012 to 2017, per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventionmore and more athletes have embraced the technique.

Kobe Bryant, who learned to meditate when Jackson began coaching the Los Angeles Lakers, has said 15 minutes of daily morning meditation act like an anchor for his day, leaving him calm, set and ready for whatever may come my way. Pete Carroll, head coach of the Seattle Seahawks and an ardent believer in mindfulness, hired a sport psychologist to teach meditation, deep breathing and visualization to his athletes as a means of calming their minds during stressful plays and helping them enter the zonethe mental state of peak performance where an athlete can seemingly do no wrong. And Nike has partnered with the Headspace meditation app, offering subscribers features like mindful guided runs as part of a holistic athlete experience.

Orthopedic surgeon Mark Schickendantz, MD, director of Cleveland Clinic Sports Health and head team physician of the Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball team (yes, they employ a mindfulness coach), says meditation doesnt make players run faster or hit the ball with more force. It allows athletes to grow more grounded and centered, he explains and that mental stillness translates into them being able to tune out noise from the crowd, or not let a strike out wreck their performance for the rest of the game.

Schickendantz says it can do the same for everyday folks watching from the bleachers. Think about the stressors that come into our lives and catch us off guard; we tend to react mindlessly, yelling at the person who cut us off in traffic, for example. With practice, meditation and other mindfulness techniques help you respond to stress in a calmer, more present manner.

Practice gratitude. It can reduce depression and anxiety, lower your risk of disease and flood the brain with feel-good chemicals like serotonin. Work gratitude into your daily routine by reaching out to say thanks to someone who means a lot to you.

You dont need a candlelit yoga studio or an NBA locker room; just find a quiet, comfortable place where you can sit upright and be comfortable. Choose something to focus on; your breath, a mantra, an object. Feel your feet on the floor, connecting to the earth, and take three deep cleansing breaths, inhaling through your nose and out through your mouth, Schickendantz says.

Outside thoughts, like your looming To Do list, are bound to arise. Not only is that perfectly OK its the point of meditating. Mind-wandering isnt bad, he assures. Dont judge it. Just recognize it, label itWhoops, my mind is wandering and bring yourself back to the meditation. This continual re-centering is what builds mindfulness muscles, helping you better filter out stress and distractions and respond to life in a calmer, less-judgmental manner.

Creating a formal daily practice can maximize your benefits, but Journal of Clinical Psychology research found that meditating for five minutes a day, five days a week was enough to slash stress, elevate happiness and enhance the sense of connection subjects felt with others. Try grabbing it throughout the day, encourages Schickendantz, who practices while stuck in traffic. Do it while standing in line at the coffee shopinstead of automatically grabbling your phone [and mindlessly scrolling,] just stand there and be with yourself. (These are sometimes called micro-meditations.)

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Thanks to modern-day addictions like smartphones and social media, along with the tendency to over-analyze our words and actions, many of us neglect to tune into our thoughts and emotions, causing us to miss out on everyday moments, big or small, and disconnecting us from our bodies, says ChristianSlomka, Community Manager for the Calm meditation app. For athletes, losing focus can mean the difference between a huge win or loss; for you, the stakes range from sad (your little one feels ignored when you appear to choose your tablet over her) to sick (constant rumination triggers the bodys stress response, which is linked with an exhaustive laundry list of illnesses) to devastating (a texting-while-driving car accident).

Schickendantz says relief comes by treating pain just like an unwelcome thought: You identify it, label itTheres that pain againand let it go, accepting it as something that just happens to be a part of your life right now. Its not easy, he acknowledges but it can work. In a recent study by the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, meditation and mindful breathing helped patients manage chronic pain, sometimes lessening the need for opioid medication. Other research showed a single 10-minute meditation session could feasibly replace painkillers, boosting pain tolerance and reducing pain-related anxiety.

Whether youre an injured Olympian coping with an injury or a parent attempting to keep cool during a toddler temper tantrum, meditation can help you respond to life in a calm, mindful, less judgmental way. The practice also elicits multiple calm-inducing health effects, such as decreased heart rate and blood pressure, and reduced stress hormone production.

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The National Sleep Foundation says people who meditate fall asleep faster, sleep longer and catch higher quality zzzs.

Pre-meditation, Id bring work home with me and it would affect my interactions with my husband, Adamek described. After six weeks of using the Vision Pursue meditation app (cofounded by 10-year NFL veteran Jon McGraw), I brought less stress home with me and could be present, asking him about his dayand really listening. Back on the ice post-retirement, her new mindful skills helped her tune into teammates having bad days, encouraging them to open up. Today, as owner of a coaching company called Fix Your Mindset, Adamek helps athletes and organizations reach their next level via mental toughness skills including, of course, meditation.

Try a mealtime meditation with this easy exercise.

Original post:
5 Benefits of Meditation: Why Athletes Meditate and You Should, Too - Parade

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