The Treasure Buried in Physical Stress, the Drama Queen of Performance, and How to Change Your Experience of What You Are Experiencing

Something to ponder:

The effects of physical stress hide a unique treasure

During any physical endeavour one will arrive at a specific moment where you will experience a negative mental state induced by the physical stress. We know this stress as fatigue, muscular discomfort, hyperventilation or lactic acid build up to name a few.

The mental state this physical stress induces is subjective and truly only you know what this feels like to you, however, some of the describing adjectives would be; negative, destructive, chaotic, dark, uncomfortable, weak, heavy, panicked, pain, dread, shocking, overwhelming, fearful, confusion, the list is long (and heavy).

One’s default reaction when first experiencing this state is to do anything within its power to make it stop, go away, be no more. We called this, ‘1st level thinking’. This is when you perceive you are at the edge of your physical limits, but you are not. There is more. There is always more.

These specific moments of physical stress hold extraordinary opportunity for personal evolution. This is much bigger than your physical performance, although that is an empowering reward. It is here, in this lived moment of stress, doubt, weakness that we can re-engineer the hardware of our brain, through the software of experience. We do this by learning to control the moment, despite the debilitating physical effects we are experiencing, using a two step process of awareness and concentration.

The extraordinary opportunity for all of us to profit from, in these moments, is a choice, albeit a partly hidden one. The destabilised and disturbed properties of our mental state can veil this choice to us, but it is always there. That choice is in how we choose to respond to the stimulus we are experiencing. Austrian holocaust survivor and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl discovered in the most abominable circumstances imaginable ‘between stimulus and response, man has the freedom to choose’.

Something to practise:

Calming the Drama Queen of Performance

People mediate and practice mindfulness for decades to widen the ‘gap’ between stimulus and response. The goal of this is to give them more control over how they act and react. Both worthy and beneficial practices but both lacking a somatic element which is deeply important to building true mental fortitude, resilience and self belief. To hardwire our brains we need physical action. Committing to and practicing to make ‘better’ choices while fighting the effects of self-induced physical stress is one of the greatest journeys you can bring yourself and your mind on.

Try this next time you find yourself in a negative or fragile place during your training or performance – pull air slower through a nasal inhale. Simple, not easy.

Attention is the key. Bring your attention to the working of your breathing system. You’ll notice that when you do this you can slow it and calm it straight away. Breath (Controllable No.2) is a drama queen and loves to exaggerate how much it needs to do when the body is working hard. Once you’ve linked into your breathing, concentrate on pulling air through your nostrils rather than your mouth. Focus on slowing this inhale as best you can. Big changes in cadence might seem undoable (because you are working hard and generating significant physical output) but changes on a fractional level are accessible. Therefore focus on extending your inhale the tiniest bit every time. This is a practice in the highest levels of peak performance.

When you’re finished with your training or performance I want you to reflect on these moments and pose the below question(s).

Remember: When you find yourself in a stressed state, your breathing will be through your mouth. This is making things harder for us mentally, so we need to change to a nasal inhale and soon after a nasal exhale. Don’t fret if you find it hard to keep inhaling through your nose when you first try it, the opportunity will be there again very soon to lock that nasal inhale pattern in for good.

Something to pose:

“Did the experience (of what I was experiencing) change when I was concentrating on my breathing?”

Our goal with this question is to identify, firstly – what we were experiencing mentally or another way of thinking about it – the mental states we were experiencing. Secondly we hope to try to identify if those experiences/states changed at any point due to our efforts to control our breathing. If we can do this, we can start to build an association with the action (controlling a controllable) and the outcome of that (a neutral mental state). This association is gold dust and the foundation we can rewire our mind to be a weapon of strength, power and presence through.

To do all this we must take a little time after our training session to reflect on our experience. There will be a tendency to rush this period – I counsel you to resist that impulse, the rewards that wait are too important.

Frstly – take the time you need to recover physically. I know if I’ve put myself through a tough session the end is a relief and I just need to sit/lie down somewhere and stare into space for a period; this is a beautiful time in itself. After 10 – 15 minutes or so, or whenever you feel like it’s time, we can do one of either two things; some warm down work or else some reflection on the training/performance. When we reflect, it’s important to find a comfortable position and write down anything we can identify about the experience. The act of writing it down is important. Scan back and see if you can recognise different states experiences or changes in states. Ask yourself why did I feel like X? Do I remember what I was focused on when feeling that way? Were there moments where I felt nothing? Why? Were there moments where I recognised I was negative? Why?

Whatever comes up, comes up. Get the info down in your training notebook and move on. This act of reflection is a powerful action for your mind and a practice that will, over time, unveil much and build much better understanding and connection with the mind.

Quick Win: Put yourself in an ice bath, the initial moments will be shocking on the body and mind (try to recognise this state/experience) complete the same practice process of concentrating on nasal breathing and pulling air slower through your nostrils. Lock in this concentration and keep it there for in the region of 60 to 90 seconds. Do not count this! It’s imperative you focus all your mental energy to your breath and slowing it (try to recognise this state/experience)

After an estimated 60-90 secs, focus your mind on the cold and tell yourself you have to stay in for 10 minutes. Lock this focus on how long is left (try to recognise this state/experience) Afterwards, reflect on the experience of those differently focused states. What did you experience mentally when you first hit the ice? Did your experience of what you were experiencing change when your focused on your breathing? Do you remember a mental blankness from this period? When you deliberately brought your focus out of concentrating on your breathing to how long you had left; did your experience of what your mind was experiencing change?

‘As long as you live, keep learning how to live’

~ Seneca