Many years ago in China, a young monk asked his Zen Master: “What is Enlightenment?”
The Master replied: “When I eat, I eat. When I sleep, I sleep.”
Most of us often do not pay attention to what we are doing or saying.
While we eat, we are not really eating; when we listen, we are not really listening; when we play a tennis match, our minds continually wander.
The normal condition is to be distracted and have confused thoughts.
We are always in places other than where we live, with thoughts jumping back and forth.
We often complain about the past and cling to it, or we anticipate and fear the future; even during a match, we “go” to the just-finished set or project ourselves to a possible end of the match.
At best we are semi-conscious: not fully present, but just barely aware. We “run,” forgetting to stay in touch with what we are and what we are doing.
In this way, we lose beauty, we lose reality, true emotions, the present, we lose matches because we haven’t really played them!
We miss the truth of our experiences, moment by moment.
The Zen Master wanted to remind us that forms and rituals are meaningless if they lack the living heart, which is the practice of mindfulness.
Training hard without being fully present in the performance does not allow us to integrate, i.e., to make our own what we are learning.
Practicing mindful awareness is the way to enhance and realize ourselves. By committing to simply doing what we are doing, living fully in the present, we gain renewed energy and focus, giving different value to people, situations, and our tennis growth.
A method used to train in mindfulness is Meditation (Za-zen). It is an irreplaceable tool for its effectiveness in awakening us; it brings to life what in us is repressed, closed, and stiffened.
It’s an introspective experience, thanks to which we manage to have a simple approach and a deeper and more authentic relationship with life.
It’s not just about being alive in a more conscious way; it’s about truly being!
Unlike more common relaxation or concentration techniques (Autogenic Training, Jacobson’s Progressive Relaxation, etc.), Meditation is a real introspective and evolutionary journey that acts on our most unconscious parts, leading us also to the resolution of psychic conflicts.
The true victory is the feeling of having given everything we could in that precise situation; leaving the court and feeling naturally that we could do no more, that we were present, that we were lucid in evaluating our sports performance.
The Athlete, free from doubts about himself, focuses only on the present moment (in the moment of performance there are neither past nor future), thus being able to devote himself without conflicts to what happens in that precise instant.
One of the most important keys to succeeding in sports and achieving what one deeply desires is this: from match to match, the Athlete commits his whole self, mind and body, absolutely without reservation.
The satisfaction cannot be denied to the Athlete who gives to the sport all that he has to give!
To reach this state of consciousness, practice is crucial, just like we train the forehand or any other stroke, our attention, concentration, mental presence, need to be trained.
You can start with something simple, like five minutes a day, finding a quiet and undisturbed inner space, sitting and relaxed, bringing attention to the breath, which will be slow and deep; from breath to breath increasingly slower and deeper.
We will try to observe what moves within us (emotions, thoughts, sensations, visions, images…) without being distracted by it, but simply observing.
It is wrong to believe that one can stop the mind or what the body perceives (tingling, discomfort, etc.), they are part of our daily noise, and by stopping to observe, the noise will likely increase.
We must tame the tiger with calm, time, temperament, trust.
Thus, in the initial meditative practice, observing and distancing oneself from the inner movements will be the first steps to better know ourselves.
A few minutes a day of true presence and relaxation will repay us in terms of greater concentration and energy. Introducing meditative spaces during training will create fertile ground for improving in terms of listening and acceptance.
In a very simple way, perhaps at the end of a basket of balls, one will stop and try, even standing, to find a stable posture, bringing attention to the breath and trying to relax.
If we feel balanced, we can close our eyes and for a couple of minutes concentrate on the breath.
Moments like these are very enriching and tend to instill a sense of peace and confidence in the athlete and in the relationship with the coach.
Meditative spaces can also be used at a change of ends to regain psychophysical balance and recover from intense effort.
What is truly useful is often also very simple!