Mindfulness and Acceptance in Sport by Kristoffer Henriksen;Jakob Hansen;Carsten Hvid Larsen;

Author:Kristoffer Henriksen;Jakob Hansen;Carsten Hvid Larsen;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)
Published: 2019-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

Stories for Discussion

There are a couple of stories that we have told to players in pro sports that have helped athletes and coaches to understand and have a more welcoming attitude toward mindfulness. Both are stories of warriors.

A young warrior learns that mindfulness and meditation can be helpful in his ability to succeed on the battlefield. He searches far and wide, and finds a guru who lives on the top of a mountain. This guru is rumored to be the most magical, special, and powerful of all the mindfulness mediation teachers. The young warrior spends a day’s travel finding his way up a snow-covered mountain, trekking through the tundra to reach the top, where this warrior-monk lives. Finding the old man sitting, practicing meditation, he is immediately in awe of his wisdom and apparent experience. The guru stops and asks the young warrior his name. After introducing himself, the young warrior asks the guru if he would teach him how to meditate. The guru accepts and teaches him his way of breath-focused mediation.

After learning the method, the young warrior walks all the way down the mountain to the base and sits on a snowbank practicing mindfulness. Frustrated, he finds himself hardly able to focus on his breath for more than a few seconds. He also finds himself with his thoughts wandering and feeling physically uncomfortable. Annoyed and frustrated and cold, he treks all the way up to the top of the mountain, finds the guru, and lashes out, complaining about the maladies that he is experiencing during his exercise of mindfulness. He complains about being bored, tired, hungry, and distracted. The guru pauses thoughtfully, looks at him and says, “this will pass.” The young warrior thinks about the master’s feedback, walks down the mountain, sits in the same place in the snow, thinking about how these frustrating feelings and sensations will pass, and begins to meditate. Incredibly, he finds himself at peace, one with himself in the moment, without thoughts of the past or worries about the future and in a moment of bliss in his meditation. Spending ten minutes with his breath, he awakens to the awareness of the world feeling recharged. He bounds up to the top of the mountain and explains his new progress to his teacher. He is overjoyed as he recounts his rebirth and rejuvenation and his peaceful thoughts and feelings. The guru smiles, looks at him and says, “this, too, will pass.”

In the second story, another young warrior learns the value of mindfulness and meditation. Invested in his desire to succeed on the battlefield, he decides to search for the world’s most experienced mindfulness guru. The young warrior searches far and wide, and travels all over the world looking for his mentor. After speaking with many mindfulness experts, they direct him to the master guru, who lives atop the mountain in the middle of the forest. When the young warrior reaches the summit of the mountain, he finds the master sitting, practicing meditation.

“I hear you are the wisest meditation teacher in the world” the warrior says to the guru.

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