A "sweet" mindfulness exercise for when athlete's feel anxious

It’s Halloween week and I’m bringing you one of my “sweetest” stories & tips to celebrate!

In anticipation of my book “The Empowered Athlete” coming out VERY soon…I also wanted to share with you a small snippet about my work with an athlete. This is a part of the story, but you’ll have to grab my book to read the full thing ;)

“I worked with an athlete who experienced anxiety every time his coaches did film sessions. His stress levels would go from 0–100 without him even realizing it, and before he knew it, he was almost having full-blown anxiety attacks. To assist with this, I introduced mindfulness (among other things), and taught him how to implement this to help him during his film sessions. The key to alleviating his anxiety was to “catch it” before it got to 100 (or the red zone), because when anxiety escalates to its highest point, it is very difficult (although, not impossible) to get back down.”

A lot of athletes deal with something that triggers feelings of anxiousness, but it’s not always a bad thing! Anxiety can actually be helpful in many ways, buttttttt you also need to be able to reign it in before it gets the best of you.

In my book, I talk about how to “catch” the feelings of anxiety before it blows up, and I introduce tools to help athletes work through it. I also talk about these tips & tools in my Facebook group, The Empowered Athlete. Make sure you join it! 

One of those tools is mindfulness. And as promised, I’m sharing my sweetest mindfulness exercise with you!  :)

To get started, make sure you get yourself a piece of your favorite candy!

Now let’s dive in! Start by holding the piece of candy in your hand and focus on the details. Note how it feels in your hands, does it have a wrapper? What does it look like? What does it smell like? What color is it? What else do you notice about the candy? What are you thinking about it?

Now, if there is a wrapper…slowly unwrap it. What does it sound like? Notice if you smell anything. Can you hear anything? What kinds of thoughts are you having now? Has the texture changed in your hand?

Now, bring it up to your mouth. What are you thinking now? Does it smell different?

Put the candy in your mouth, but don’t chew. What are you feeling and thinking about? What does it taste like? 

Move it side to side in your mouth, does that change anything?

When you start to chew, is it making noise? What thoughts are you having? Pay attention to what is happening in your head and body.

This activity (while delicious) is really a chance to practice mindfulness. We talked about the importance of mindfulness last week, and this is one of the tools you can put in your back pocket to help bring you back to the moment.

You’ll be able to read more of my favorite stories and tools in my book, which I promise, is coming VERY soon! 

Don’t forget to join us over in the Empowered Athlete community to stay up to date, and to get regular live training from me!