Martial Arts and Sports Psychology Skills
By: Rick Sheridan

Here are some of the key ideas and concepts from sports psychology and martial arts training. These can often be applied to athletics, business, and other day-to-day situations. Although nobody can maintain these peak states continuously, they provide a possible road map.

Determination- this represents the strength of your intent. It consists of your motivation or the inner drive that propels you toward a goal. A strong commitment to your mission.

Courage- is the ability to act despite fear. You must have the ability to risk, to be proactive and have a seize-the-initiative attitude. Your ability to risk success measures how eagerly you embrace the undesirable consequences that come with success. You acknowledge possible failure and act anyway.

Athletic poise- the ability to recognize and maintain a particular state of psychological readiness (such as relaxed, confident, focused on the present, energized, in control).

Responding to failure- successful people fail many times and they know that you don’t succeed without being tested or challenged. The idea here is to never carry failure forward, see the performance as a learning experience that is part of your ladder of success. Accept the mistake and avoid wasting time in denial. Focus on the moment and realize that you can't fix the mistake now. Relax the muscles you reflexively tighten in response to making a mistake.

Relaxation- the next time you are stressed, try the 'five breath relaxation technique': Breath one- relax face and neck as you breathe out. Two- relax the shoulders and arms. Three- relax the chest, stomach and back. Four- relax the legs and feet. Five- focus on relaxing the whole body. Assume that your body is carrying around excess tension. Gateways to relaxation include the forehead, eyes, jaw, lips, back of the neck, shoulders, fingers and stomach. Also- try to breathe in a continuous and soothing flow. This is also known as the scuba or circular breath with no beginning or ending instead of a series of starts and stops.

Concentration- controlling the direction, width and selectivity of attention. Be in the endless series of present moments. Concentrate on fending off the adrenaline rush during any important performance.

Poise- this is how we describe those who perform with ease under pressure. They are able to make critical decisions while negotiating, presenting, or multitasking.

Resilience- the ability to hang tough through adversity and persevere despite mistakes, setbacks or failure is vital for success. Resilience consists of the ability to recover from a mistake, the ability to fight and stand your ground, and mental toughness to control your emotions and prevail regardless of what assault or setback you have suffered. The ability to move on, to put a poor judgment, a wrong answer, a weak moment or a physical lapse behind you instantly. No matter what comes between you and your goal, you continue to move forward.

Precision- Avoid worrying too much about precise accuracy. Obsession with precision often causes feelings of nervousness. Putting such a negative value on mistakes reduces enjoyment of the process. Focus more on continuous correction and staying excited about the outcome. An ultimate performance is more about passion and correction than it is about perfection. The ultimate performer doesn't fear or obsess about being off because she knows how to take specific actions that will enable her to recover. Have the ability to feel, accept, regroup and recommit during rough and devastating times.
Goals- once your dreams and goals develop into nonnegotiable agreements, your debilitating feelings, low-energy states, internal conversations, and feelings of insecurity will have less control over your destiny. Be rigid in your commitment to your goal, but flexible in the strategy you rely on to reach it.

Performing in the moment- develop your skills so that you trust yourself to perform well in the moment. Top athletes trust their skills and stay focused in the moment, rather than trying to remember the way they are supposed to perform.

Visualization- Imagine that you have stepped inside the person performing the perfect routine and imagine that you are watching yourself on the screen. Get a feel for how this person looks, sounds and behaves. Imagine you were a professional actor auditioning for this role: what speech mannerism would you use? Facial expressions? Body language? Clothes and accessories for this character? Now go out on stage- step into your role and act accordingly.
While performing, set up mental blueprints through repetitious practice, performing the movement over and over until in becomes an automatic or conditioned reflex. The more specific, vibrant, and positive the pictures, colors, odors, tastes and textures, the more powerful the visionary process will become.

Focus- this concept involves the feeling of total immersion in the present activity, with the body, mind and spirit united on the one experience. Peak performance can only happen when a performer stays in the present. When a person is totally focused on the activity, all doubt about performing well is pushed away and he or she can excel. Use an imaginary boundary that no distracting sound or interruption can penetrate, such as a 'circle of silence' that you zip yourself in. If your thoughts wander out of the circle or interruptions come in, gently bring your focus back to the performance.

Intensity- refers to the amount of energy you are able to train on the object of your focus. Duration- is a measure of how long you can sustain that intensity.

Anger- this is when you allow your energy to turn negative in the face of problems. Try to use anger to focus past any distraction. Direct the anger at an obstacle or circumstance standing between you and your goal. Plant the anger in your center and use it to trigger your inner determination towards an appropriate and effective solution.

Balance- try to never allow yourself to be put off center no matter how hard we are squeezed. Relaxing and letting life flow through instead of standing apart an analyzing it.

Stress- When a stressful event happens, ask yourself what is the most intelligent response that is consistent with your deepest values and beliefs. Then try to summon your courage and warrior spirit to bring the response to action. It is not the exposure to stress that causes the undesirable changes in brain chemistry; it is the perception of helplessness. Top athletes actually welcome stress and use it to give themselves an edge. They are able to unlink arousal from anxiety.

Head cases- these people are at the mercy of their emotions. They simply follow the emotions of the moment without much discipline. Often gifted athletes end their careers early because they fall into this category.

Koroko- this is a martial arts term for indomitable spirit. It means to simply refuse to accept defeat. It goes beyond simply enduring a situation, to throwing your entire spirit into the effort of defeating the challenge. Make never giving up a habit that you practice daily.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Rick Sheridan teaches several community college courses in northern California. He has a master’s degree in Media Arts, and has received awards for both his teaching and his Web design. He has a site with several martial arts training programs, at MartialArtsClassics.com

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