Post by Professor Adam Nicholls

“𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗜𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗜 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲” 🧘🙏🏻 Norges Fotballforbund and Manchester City Football Club striker regularly mediates and his trademark mark goal celebration is posing in a meditation sitting position. He has spoken about the importance of meditation to him: "I think it's a really good thing, to relax, to try to not think too much. Because stress is not good for anyone. I hate to be stressed, and I try not to be stressed. But the concept of meditation is to try to let go of these kinds of thoughts. It's really individual, but for me it's worked really well." Haaland is not the only athlete to speak about meditation. The late Kobe Bryant was filmed saying that he mediated every morning and how this prepared him for the day: "𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺. 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵, 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘺." Bryant also spoke about how this made him calmer: "𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯" It is not surprising to hear athletes such as Haaland and Bryant discussing the impact of meditation, as there is evidence to suggest that meditation is associated with: ✅ Better mental health and well-being (Hussain & Bhushan, 2010) ✅Reduced anxiety symptoms (Chen et al., 2012; Hoffman et al., 2010) ✅Reduced pain (Goyal et al., 2010) ✅Reduced depressive symptoms (Hoffman et al., 2010) (🎥: onefootball)

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