Body-mind learning boosts athletic performance
As a sports cyclist I can perform better now, in my fifties, than I did 20 years ago. I found both power output and stamina increased after I started practicing the Feldenkrais Method (a body-mind learning method developed from principles of neuroscience). And accompanying that development, I also recover quicker, without muscle pain. So I can say from personal experience that body-mind learning helps perform better in sports.
And it's not just me. Top-level sportspeople around the world use the Feldenkrais Method, including Olympic athletes and Premier League footballers. In formal settings, the Feldenkrais practitioner works under the direction of the sports coach, to support the athlete’s development. Feldenkrais is used alongside the athlete's normal training routines.
Body-mind learning is known to help whenever we want to overcome a limitation in our self. In sports this is usually
to boost our performance to the next level;
to recover from injury; or
to increase consistency in performance, performing at our best level in every competition.
The main benefits are:
more effect for less effort;
finer control and thus better technique;
better awareness of the self and the space around in dynamic situations;
better recovery after exertion and increased ability to manage a succession of races or events.
What makes body-mind learning methods such a great complement to sports training? Where traditional training invites us to work harder and 'push ourself', body-mind learning invites us to pay close attention to our senses, especially to sense inside ourself to understand how we do what we do. This concentration on the process of how we do what we do, exploring in detail how different parts of ourself can move in harmony, leads to better self-management. By taking time to increase our knowledge of our self,
we establish easier, more efficient movement;
we become more adaptable, able to adjust to the situation we are in, not rigidly sticking to a single way of moving;
we know our limits better and what it takes to 'go beyond' them when we need to; and
we are better able to listen to signals from our senses, and to vary our sports technique in delicate ways, which helps avoid overuse and injury.
For athletes, all these are desirable capabilities. They could make the difference between winning and losing.
Have you used body-mind learning to improve your sports performance? Please leave a comment.