On the Mental Side of Training

[Scott Malin]

I've had much milling about in my head this past week regarding the internal aspect of training. Some of these thoughts I'd like to put up for discussion, water them, and see how they grow.

Now, when I speak of the mental side of training, my thought is not to psychology. Psychology has some beneficial uses, however, I feel that as a whole it concerns itself with the return to a neutral state. Neutrality, or the absence of pathology, is a far cry from the potential and optimum of human functioning. While perhaps no one has explored the entire potential of the mind, my interest lies with the journey on this path, wherever the end may be.

Foremost in thought are the Mind Life conferences held between the Dahlia Llama and a handful of prominent neuroscientists. Over the years, the topic and nature of the discussions has changed dramatically, with the philosophies of Scienceâ„¢ and Buddhism growing ever closer and more intertwined. Of particular interest are three things: neurogenesis, plasticity, and compassion training. Neurogenesis simply means that the brain can create and integrate new neurons, even into old age. Plasticity is the brain's ability to physically change. In fact, the traditional brain map, with distinct regions, is completely pliable depending on various mental and physical circumstances. It is well known, for example, that the blind often develop other sense much more acutely. In this case, the "visual cortex" region actually takes over function. This occurs on various levels in all kinds of circumstances and people. The brain, once thought to be a model carved in stone, is capable of great change.

Compassion training is a particular form of mediation practiced by Buddhist monks. The intent and purpose is simple: developing compassion for all things. What fascinates me is the mental/physical changes in those who have practiced thousands of hours of this sort of training. Perception itself changes, along with reaction time. Not much else has formally been studied aside from those two areas, in part that this is very recent (within a couple of years), and due to the fact that many monks view tests as a silly way to find out about mind (in which I agree); but, I think this, along with other practices of mental training, provide a big clue to how we can improve athletic performance. Many of you are already familiar with Pavel--I think there is so much more even beyond this.

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts or experiences on how change in thought and perception affects your physical training.

[Charles]

Interesting to find this being posted up here, thanks for sharing. I've been following the Mind Life conferences as well and find them to be very intriguing. Here is a link for anyone interested:

http://www.dalailama.com/news.112.htm (wfs)

After a personal tragedy several years ago, I began realizing more and more the ability to "condition" my thoughts and my perceptions. Since then I've found it easier to understand certain complexities of life and have recently been able to transition that understanding into my physical training. I think this may explain why I take to new things so well (i.e. my ability to balance) and why I hardly experience much frustration in the way of training (something we all know can be very detrimental to progress).

Compassion training I haven't found much transition into my physical conditioning, but it does help one to realize the beauty in the world that too many by pass. :wink:

[Justin Rawley]

I was at the Society for Neuroscience Conference in Atlanta in 2006 when the Dali Lama spoke there. There were so many people that we couldn't all fit into the main auditorium so the rest of us had to watch his speech on huge projection monitors set up in adjoining conference rooms.

For those interested in one type of mental self-programming that seems to work for many, check out Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP). As with any popularized science, there's a lot of hype surrounding it, but the undelying principles have merit.

[Ortprod]

... it does help one to realize the beauty in the world that too many by pass. :wink:

Nice.