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High Performance: Tools for Academic and Athletic Success

By Gurujodha Singh Khalsa

The Power of Visualization

Proper visualization and belief in what you want to do is a powerful agent for goal achievement. Education and athletic activity provide a forum for feedback on an individual's success in goal setting and achievement. While these environments are often intimidating to students/athletes, they do not have to be. All learning needs to be a dynamic, fun and fulfilling experience and sports/games are supposed to be fun. If a child experiences that learning is fun and fulfilling, and athletic endeavor is fulfilling and rewarding, at an early age, he/she will be self-motivated to continue these fun and fulfilling processes throughout life. Moreover he/she will be successful because the environments will be familiar and a track record of confident achievement will have been established.

Exercise: Better Concentration through Breathing

Breathing is something we do every day. Pranayam is a yogic science, which uses the breath and mental focus on the breath as a means of developing a link between the mind and the body. Focusing on the breath helps to aid concentration by providing a mental touchstone to focus the mind. This simple process of focusing on the inflow and outflow of the breath is very effective. This practice develops mental focus as well as expands the lung capacity and energizes the body through increased oxygen and “pranic” (chi, ki, pneuma, etc.) intake.

1. Find a secluded spot where you will not be disturbed. Lie down, face up, on a couch, bed or on the floor (carpeted) with the feet pointing south and the head pointing north so that you are aligned with the Earth's magnetic field.

2. Put your feet together and place the hands palm up by the sides of the body.

3. Take a slow, even deep breath (through the nose), and visualize warm, golden, yellow, sun energy being drawn in through the head, sweeping through the body and going out the soles of the feet. Think of this incoming yellow energy as positive current.

4. As you slowly breathe out, visualize cool blue moon energy being drawn through the soles of your feet, sweeping through the body, and going out the top of your head. Think of this outgoing blue energy as a negative current.

5. For 15 minutes, continue to breathe in yellow, out blue. Imagine these polarized energies sweeping through the body like an electric current.

6. To conclude the exercise, take several deep breaths. Rotate the hands around on the wrists and feet around on the ankles. Rub the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands together. Grasp the shins and rock back and forth on the spine and sit up.

Do this meditation any time you need a “charge” or extra energy.

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