Meditation | Boxing Life

It should be thoroughly mistaken to only associate boxing with strength, stamina, and skilful moves. While many consider boxers to just focus on meticulous physical training sessions, where they rigorously do drills until exhausted. It's only halfway true, since a lot of their training is to do with the mind to be calm and focused towards the goal on the lead up to a fight. As a fighter, you should always have some focus on your opponent, judging his moves for setting up effective counter punches or setting up your own combinations. But to get to this point it all takes mental preparation. So how do fighters overcome the fear they face before entering the ring? Having severe psychological pressure is very real, even for renowned professional boxers. Even the likes of Mike Tyson himself has admitted that he had to defeat his mental pressure and fears before stepping into the ring every time. Mike Tyson had many mental battles on the lead up to a fight (Focus on Sport via Getty Images) Famous boxing trainer Teddy Atlas also even says on his podcast 'THE FIGHT' very regularly how Boxing/MMA is more of a mental sport: “Boxing is 75 percent mental and 25 percent physical.” Now, even the very best boxers have doubts, and you cannot overlook the issue of overthinking and fear impacting your fights in the most negative way. Every coach has their recipe of coaching their fighter mentally, but one of the most common and overlooked ways to help with this is of course meditation. Hence, through this article, I will highlight all the strings by which boxing and mediation are connected, finding answers to questions like "does meditation help with boxing?” and some useful meditation tips if you want to give it go. What is Meditation? Meditation is a skill that can be acquired to find out the real you or should be mentioned as the best version of you. It gives you training in awareness to enable you to gain a stronger sense of perspective. Meditation is not about changing you, altering the way you feel or think. By exercising meditational practices, you will enlighten yourself to experience your feelings without being judgmental about them. And, hence naturally you will develop a more intensified understanding of your feelings, thoughts, and at last yourself. Interesting Facts about Meditation Meditation is one of the practices exercised by people in different cultures for thousand years Meditative practices can be observed in religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.Years ago, it was primarily used as a part of religious practices; the modern-day world has adopted it for its psychological benefits without depending on any pious views. Benefits of Practicing Meditation for Boxers Practicing meditation is helpful regardless of your age and job. Still, it truly becomes essential for someone who has selected a highly mental and physical contact sport like boxing as his/her profession or fitness activity. Regular practice of meditation can give plenty of benefits to a boxer. I go onto detail on each of these mentioned below. 1. Improve attention span In the current age, many of us are suffering due to shorter attention spans. Scientists are now blaming the modern advancement of technology and the way of utilizing them. For having entertainment, we now seek shorter videos from one site to another, while most of us have a visible reluctance to invest enough time to read a good book. And thus, it gradually becomes a very tough habit to be departed with. Human minds can make a person better at things he is regularly practicing. Meaning, investing enough time in practicing an item, you would be better at that thing even with any outside assistance. You can find many kinds of meditation methods and practice them to enhance your ability to concentrate on things while improving your mental health. If you start a fight with a longer attention span and focus than your opponent. You without a doubt find more opportunities to hit him, which could indeed result in brilliant victory for you. Meditation tips to improve your attention There are many forms of meditation available to strengthen your attention capability. The fundamental and easy method is to maintain focus on your breathing. If you have a monkey mind, hard to control, you can opt for different guiding meditation methods. One of my favorite and most simple meditations to try is the 4/7/8 method which is ancient yogic breathing meditation technique. This is great as you can pretty much do this anywhere and really helps to calm the mind and put you at ease. It’s so simple to try and is a great starter for beginners. Ideally find a quiet area with no directions and close your eyes 4 second breath through the nose 7 seconds holding your breath 8 second breathing out (but like you blowing through straw Start off by doing this for 2-5 mins then you can progress to longer periods of time 10-15 mins You will feel a lot better by doing this, especially if you are feeling anxiety or uncertainty around a fight, training or anything in your personal life. 2. Enhance the capability of visualization Conor McGregor Meditating Watch any quality video on the guided meditation, and you will discern the focus it has on the aspect of visualization. It is often used in psychotherapy for the powerful impact it has to offer to the psyche, along with your capability of controlling thoughts and emotions. Visualizing your upcoming bouts, motivation, and preparations will endow you with many advantages later on when you place your body in the reality of an actual fight in the ring. In simpler words, when you have already visualized it all, not a single situation or incident can awe you with its novelty. Yes, it might be different to how you imagined it to be, but as long as you visualise the outcome on a positive result, you will feel a lot more comfortable. I highly recommend trying out this guided meditation by Brandon Epstein specifically for boxers, which really helps with this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wziMPjx4Fo 3. Preparation for mind games In this modern era of fighting, the majority of your opposition will have performed extensive research on you, and you need to do much more than just turn up for the fight. Life outside is sometimes and often harder than the hours you spend within the boxing gym or ring. When a fighter shows up for a fight, a whole group and external things showaround them. Trainers, giving you last-minute suggestions, crowds making noises, the situation often becomes too overwhelming for some boxers to keep their concentration in place. However, if you have been practicing meditation, you will have the ability to master your mind and control all your senses. And, when your wisdom and inner strength become more improved than before, you will indeed become a better calm warrior when the situation presents itself. The more you practice meditation, the more you will become keen to research the meditation procedure. It is a yogic practice and has a long history of showcasing. Therefore, by acquiring the wisdom found in this ancient practice, you will discover yourself closer to reality and yourself even in this busy everyday life full of chaos. 4. Resisting Pessimistic Self-Talk Having doubts about your capability as a fighter can take a real toll on your fighting ability. If you devote enough time to practicing meditation 10-15 mins day. You can really start to channelize positive thoughts instead of negative beliefs as a thriving boxer. Many fighters chant different phases to engrave positivity in their subconscious, while a few others train their minds to remain silent in place of pessimistic self-talks. Your thoughts and behavior are integrally related to each other. Hence, training your mind to process only the ideas you want can fill you with an optimistic attitude, backing you up to do better in boxing bouts. As a boxer, how do you meditate effectively? Don’t believe in meditation goals Don't create any meditation goals for yourself. Meditation is actually like a journey towards infinity, navigating you towards more and more prosperity throughout its course. Another fascinating thing about mediation is, although it starts enhancing you from the day you start it with dedication, you cannot notice any change in you. It's because judging your improvement in meditation is quite challenging or rather impossible. However, you will start to see its benefits more and more throughout your advancement in the journey. Have patience Being a boxer, you already know, mastering this sport takes years of practice and a lot of time to master. It's essential for your boxing skills, stamina and even the outcome of your meditation practices as well. Hence, you must have infinite patience. After practicing it for two to three months, you will witness its effects coming out. Effects like clarity in thought process, subtleness in concentration, and calmness will be with you in life and your boxing venture from then on. Slow but steady Don't try to overdo things when you are at the initial stage of practicing meditation. Have a slow start but increase along with your gradual advancement. You only need to devote 5 minutes to the first day. If not possible, even one or two minutes would be enough. (Try my suggested breathing technique further above) Meditation is never about how long you are sitting on your meditation mat, but about unifying yourself with the power of the universe with a clear mind. It would be best if you never force yourself with something while exercising it. Then, your entire concentration would be on a particular thing you are concerned about. Final thoughts Does meditation help with boxing? Adopting meditation as a part of your boxing training schedule can make you a better fighter and bring tranquility to your mind. Regular meditation training will make you more relaxed as it will allow your subconscious to take over during your training sessions. While doing it, you will get over all your fears and doubts you might possess unknowingly. Hence, if you want to strengthen yourself as a fighter, if you're going to boost your fighting style with confidence, extensive attention span, amplifying your psychic capacity, exercising meditation should be a go to practice for all boxers. If you are wanting to achieve specific goals in boxing and your life as a whole. I highly recommend you check out these two fantastic law of attractions meditation programs the Manifestation Miracle or Destiny Miracle for FREE guided Meditation audio to help with meditation and helping bring more positivity and abundance into your life. You can also check out some of my top motivation articles below for more articles like this. 6 Steps For Maximum Motivation [Guest Blog]Sugar Ray Leonard – How To Achieve Your DreamsManifestation Magic | Self-Help Review | Learn To Use The Law Of Attraction50 Inspiring Boxing Quotes To Get You Motivated4 Boxers Who Use The Law Of AttractionAndre Ward On 10 Habits To Avoid To Succeed In Boxing Let me know in the comments below if you have practiced meditation and if you have found much benefit? Thanks for reading! Reference Sites: https://www.fightbookmma.com/benefits-of-meditation-for-fighters-how-to-do-it-right/https://www.headspace.com/meditation-101/what-is-meditationhttps://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-meditation-2795927https://www.titleboxing.com/news/use-your-head