Mindset Mondays- Relaxation

Happy Memorial Day everyone. I hope you all had a nice long weekend and had a chance to relax.

Speaking of relaxing, exercising relaxation is great for the mind. Last week I mentioned that if you have so many thoughts going through your head and you constantly are thinking about wrestling, it could be exhausting. It’s good to give your mind a rest once in a while.

I used a couple of things that would help me completely let go and forget about things for a while. The first was a CD that had someone talk to me and have my mind focus on relaxing the whole body. Yes, I know CD’s are becoming extinct, but I’m sure with the internet and everything available now days, you can find something that works for you and your level of technology. Anyways, my mind was aboe to think about relaxing the body and not wrestling, friends, school, or anything. I found it felt amazing to feel so relaxed, and a lot of times I could fall asleep, so I often did this at night. I’m sure we’ve all had those nights where we wish we could fall asleep, but something was on our mind that kept us awake. Having a bad night of sleep can really affect athletic performance, so if you find yourself falling into this trap, look around and get yourself a CD or something for your MP3 player that can help you relax.

I also used relaxing music or sounds for this exercise. Once I got good at relaxing my mind, I would listen to waves crashing on the beach or thunderstorms without the help of someone walking me through it. Like anything, it took practice, but eventually I was able to relax anywhere I was if I needed to, and no matter how many distractions there were. It really helps when you’re at a wrestling tournament and you just want to give your mind a break for a few minutes.

There are probably other options to relaxing, but this is one way that I had success. If you feel like you could use some help giving your mind a break, I encourage you to explore your options or pick up a CD like I did. It saved me a lot of stress and helped me get more nights of good sleep.