Nina Ashby
Green striped lawn, white markings, the sound of the rhythmic smack of a round yellow ball equals excitement for me…its Wimbledon time! I love it, am compulsive about watching it, absorbed by the unfolding drama of the game of lawn tennis. I love sport for its power to reveal the Self and act as a tool for learning.
What is intriguing also is how at that high level of sport, all the players have so much skill and much the same skill, yet it is often their mental outlook that makes the biggest difference as to how successful they are in long tournaments such as Wimbledon or in their rankings. Why does one person succeed where others falter, get the ‘yips’ and cannot find the mental strength to finish off the game. Or is it self-belief; the ‘I can’, ‘I Will’?
As a l club tennis player, I understand this. Learning to play not only involves physical discipline, but also mental and emotional control. I noticed myself having an internal (sometimes external) dialogue at the end of each point –when I did not hit the ball in the right place I would criticise myself; have a conversation with Nina, telling her what an idiot she was to do that. If I did well I would celebrate it with glee or appreciation or relief that the ball went where I wanted it to BUT often went into the next point with fear that about the outcome. I catch myself now; remain positive, forget about the success or ‘failure’ of the next point, deal with the point I am playing and seek to remain focused on the game, not let my mind wander, think about where I am rather than all the stuff I will have to do once the game is over. It is a spiritual discipline for me.
I also link this to the colour green – it is lawn tennis after all. Green symbolises the heart centre, our confidence, sense of self and connection to higher purpose. Coincidence; I don’t think so.
Learning to play tennis was and continues to be a learning experience with my inner self and has revealed to me insecurities and strengths I knew were there but had trouble getting hold of in myself. Tennis is my physical way to transform my psychology and my beliefs about myself and my abilities and as I succeed in tennis, this carries over to other areas of my life. I have to apply all those affirmation tricks that I teach my students:
Override the negative with the positive in body language; smile, stand straight, breathe, consciously relax the body and re-centre
Override negative emotions; laugh with myself, appreciate being here and now
Override the negative thoughts with positive statements; focus on the next point, I can do…
I have a lot of compassion for those professional tennis players who meet themselves in those tournaments – and indeed they are like warriors out there, but are they battling other players or are they battling themselves?
Where do you see your inner battle being revealed?
Does Spiritual work always need to be in a Spiritual context?
How can I help you create an affirmation linked to a colour that will help you be the spiritual warrior in your life?
Nina Ashby ©2009
Hi Nina,
Love your blog, sport really does reveal a lot of things doesn’t it? And I can totally resonate with that personally.
Ok my sporting back ground: I used to swim. When I was at my highest point I was training 6 mornings a week from 5am for 2.5hrs, and 2 evenings a week for another 2.5hrs in the pool. I was also doing 3 circuit sessions a week lasting 2hrs, 3 running or cycling sessions a week lasting 1-2hrs if running or 3hrs if cycling, and I would have to do 45mins of flexibility training every night (that makes me tired just thinking about it now!). I competed in the welsh nationals and trained and competed against some of our current GB olympic squad. However, I stopped swimming when I was 15 due to my situation. I also have played badminton at county level during my mid-teens. Again I stopped playing because of my situation, and didn’t play until this last year in uni where we won our league in the British Uni Championships. Yey! I’m not a competitive person by nature really, but I enjoy doing well and I enjoy being part of that team and being successful (or maybe it’s just that I hate failing).
It made me laugh reading how you react during each point your playing – I do exactly the same in badminton. I chastise myself using my full name, so if I lose a point I have a conversation with charlotte (not Lotte, when it’s serious, myself and others refer to me as Charlotte!!) and ask her what on earth she is playing at, and to stop being so useless. I used to have a chat with charlotte before each swimming race too, and tell her how useless she would be if she was rubbish and I used to beg her not to fail (the repercussions of failing were awful). However, I usually go over board with it in both situations and make myself feel terrible. I would always feel so nervous (I’m a nervous person anyway so it was unbearable in competitions), I would feel so sick, and I’d be shaking. I just didn’t want to be a failure. The thing is though, despite all the nervousness, the negative self-talk, the pressure from my parents and the problems I had at that age, I still managed to complete all my training and compete at a high level. I have no idea how though!! Luck??
I love your affirmation tricks and will be trying to use them in all areas of my life as it’s not just in sport that I do this. I wish I could speak to you this morning and get my own affirmation linked with colour that can help me but I have to work again. I can’t wait to be able have a phone reading with you, but I seem to not be around when you are on the show. I’m really getting interested in colour.
Hope to speak to you soon,
Lotte xx
Lotte
Thank you for sharing your amazing story! INternal dialogue and perfectionism is a double-edged sword! On one hand it is negative and on the other it spurs one on to greater achievements. Harnessing it into a positive dialogue though, is the key to achievement through peacefulness. I look forward to speaking with you soon too!
Nina xxx