Mindfulness-Movement Consciousness Jason Wong
6 Jan 2023 · 1 min
Dr. Jason Wong, a physical therapist, breaks down a three-step mindfulness process for movement: awareness of your body and emotions, grounding through diaphragmatic breathing to calm your nervous system, and reflection to analyze and improve. He uses golf putting as an example but the method works for any sport.
Welcome to the Mike Hartman Show. Mike is a performance coach and former Stanley Cup Champion with the New York Rangers. Topics on this show are focused around stories, mindset and champions. Mike will also go into details about helping you with your pain points and struggles and finding motivational solutions on how to have the mindset of a champion. Now, here's your host, Mike hartman.
Hi, I'm Dr. Jason Wong, doctor of physical therapy and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach. I want to first thank Mike for asking me to share my thoughts and experiences with his audience surrounding mindfulness and golf. I'm deeply honored to have this time and grateful to share my knowledge and skill set with you all today. So thank you Mike. So, a little bit about me My passion lies in the intersect of movement, discovery, passion and growth. Being trained in physical therapy has given me the opportunity to understand the physics of the human body. From the intricacies of cellular movement to the tunnels and pipelines our nerves and vessels afford to the structural foundation which is our bones and muscles which work opposing gravity to stand confidently through space. As a National Board Certified Health and wellness coach, my focus and desire is to cultivate a curiosity to discover and experience an alignment of your mind, body and spirit in all aspects of movement. My experience has offered me the opportunity to work with the Chinese Women's gymnastics team, speed skating team and golf team, as well as the beach volleyball pros in Southern California sa. So I'm here today to offer three tips I use to help golfers be mindful and how to apply it to movement consciousness, which can also be applied to any sport. My three step process in a nutshell is asking questions surrounding awareness two Being present and three reflections. So let's get started with awareness number one. So awareness is an opportunity to gain clarity about oneself through your senses. This can be a feeling, a feeling of movement, a knowing of movement, movement from within, movement of space or the feeling of space in the body and more. So the question I like to ask is what are you feeling? So this may elicit like an emotional response. It might elicit something that you're actually doing or moving through. And if you kind of come up with an emotional response, then I like to follow up with what is your body feeling? Because those can be different sometimes. So it's and so when by asking this question, it's as if you're putting a mirror in front of you and noticing you as a whole and as all the segments. So now I want you to imagine yourself on the putting green on a challenging course, Preparing for a 30 foot putt to the hole. So as it pertains to golfing, notice your body and how it moves through each joint. Notice the muscles which help that movement and also notice discomforts or resistance you might have during your movement. In game, you may notice new stiffness, some strength, some power, some laxity, looseness, discomforts or any other sensations that arise. This may also bring up emotions associated with it. So if it, if it's unexpected or new. So this is an unusual so these are all learning opportunities you have daily to help fine tune your movement and game. When you do so, you can bring new information to your coach, trainer and rehab team to process, then allowing an opportunity to maintain the status quo. Or you can change something and grow from it. So number two is being present. So being present. The word groundedness, calmness, stability. These four words verbalize the connectedness of our emotional state and our physical state. The opposite is also true. So if I use words like frantic, nervous, I feel anxious, unsteady, flighty, jumpy. Each of these words also has an energy level connected to it, which can be imagined and perceived. Our autonomic nervous system is your stress system. And like a volume knob, it can be turned up or turned down depending on how you respond to stress and how present you choose to be. You can modulate the stress level. And the key tip I offer anyone in a heightened emotional state is a deep diaphragmatic exhale which allows the system to downregulate, which then purposely turns the volume down. So when you do this, you're entering into this zone and it offers a moment to think clearly and act, or move in alignment to your best capacity of your choosing. In the state, you can choose to quiet your ears, tune out the noise outside, right, focus on your movement and focus on your senses, which helps integrate your movement and allows you to execute to your current best ability. After you're done, either with that hole or the round, there's time to reflect. So now time is a factor in this process because our memory and attention span, which can affect the accuracy of our recall. So number three reflections. So the opportunity here is to reflect on the movement, on the execution, on our expectation, or any dissonance that arises from what we just experienced. So some questions I like to ask are, was I present and conscious from preparation through completing the stroke? So this question aims at the capacity of your focus and the breadth of awareness. What was each segment of my stroke like and how did I feel through the motion? Was it a positive? Would it feel shaky? You know, reflecting on that allows us to kind of gain some clarity about our movement. How is the motion as a whole through pre swing, swing and post swing? So this one aims at breaking up the motion to like the different parts of how you understand it and then how do you put it back together? What would I like more of and what is a learning opportunity to change going forward? So this is our growth question about what is it that I want? Is this aligning? Is what I'm doing now aligning with my future goal and if it doesn't what do I need to change or how do I change it so that I can get there now? The reflection section requires time and space to process and is a skill set to acquire. Having someone who can ask questions in a non biased way and rephrase the process to you as the athlete can learn then to process and analyze the movement and feeling is helpful. So the focus of this step is to strategize a plan which aligns with your goals for training. Combining awareness, presence, reflection to a movement or series of movements aligns with change or growth. These are three tips I use in working with athletes and I truly believe the younger you can learn these steps and integrate it, the larger the capacity for growth in the future. If you enjoyed listening to this as much as I enjoyed sharing this three step process of mindfulness and movement, I'd love to hear from you. You can find me sharing knowledge, thoughts, exercises and more@wongcoaching.com Instagram and Facebook. Jason Wongcoaching and TikTok Wong coaching I am accepting new clients at this time for one on one coaching sessions to begin your journey of growth and transformation and you can DM me on any platform to reach me. So again I'd like to I appreciate Mike for allowing me time and space to share my passion today. It means a lot to me and thank you audience for taking time out of your busy schedules to hear my words. Have an appreciative and wonderful rest of your day.
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