Vivek George shares four athlete quotes on self-love: Muhammad Ali on confidence, Serena Williams on self-acceptance through struggle, Cristiano Ronaldo on avoiding comparison, and Michael Phelps on mental health. Then he walks you through a two-minute breathing exercise, 5 seconds in and 7 seconds out, to calm your nervous system.
Hey guys, welcome back to another day of this self-love practice. My name is Vivek George, and if you're new to our channel, every day we do a new practice of self-love, and today's is inspired by athletes. Well, I don't exactly think of myself as an athlete anymore. I, I definitely was when I was younger, and I still run and, and take care of my, my physical health. But I connect with athletes because I'm so inspired by how hard they push themselves to be at the very best. And hearing their stories of struggles, of ups and downs, has always been interesting. So I was curious to hear and learn what their perspective was on self-love and self-belief. So as I was preparing for this video, I got a bunch of different ideas and quotes from some amazing athletes of the past and of the present that I'm excited to share. And afterwards, we're going to do a self-love practice that very much is connected to stuff or an activity that, um, athletes do. So the very first quote is from the great Muhammad Ali, definitely somebody had a lot of confidence, and his quote was "I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was." And I really love this quote because it's sort of a subtle way of talking about self-love. You know, even before he was the best, he believed in himself. He really loved himself. And he would say this to himself even before, you know, he actually had the belt around his waist. And I think that's something that we can all learn from. You know, we're all working towards certain goals and dreams and aspirations. And if we could incorporate a little bit of this self-love and self-belief into our daily practice, into our lives, would probably help us get to those goals even faster. The next one is from Serena Williams, one of the greatest tennis players of all time. And she said, I love who I am and I encourage other people to love and embrace who they are. But it definitely wasn't easy. It took me a while. I really appreciate this quote because, A, she's encouraging other people to love themselves. But on top of it, she shares the honest struggle that self-love takes time. It's not just a switch you turn on. It's something that we have to keep working on and developing. But in time, if we keep doing it, we can feel this love for ourselves. And that's why these type of practices, these daily practices, work. The next quote is from the great Cristiano Ronaldo, a citizen of Portugal where I live now. And he said, we should always believe we are the best, not in a way to compare to others, but to give ourselves the confidence to grow. And this one's great because he focuses on this point about not comparing. And I think in this world with social media and all, and all these different ways that we can compare each other, he's saying, no, don't focus on that. Just focus on yourself. And by doing that, it'll give you the confidence to grow. Whether as an athlete, as a human being, as a partner, as a professional. And I think that's an important way to see self-love. And the very last quote is from one of the greatest Olympians of all time, maybe the greatest, Michael Phelps. And he said, it's okay not to be okay. It's okay to ask for help. Mental health is just as important as physical health. This message is amazing for, for a bunch of reasons, but first off, because even he was probably one of the most physically gifted people out there, but he was saying that our mental health is just as important. And on top of it, he talked about that it's okay to be not okay. He was really vulnerable. I think so many of us feel like we have to be at our best all the time. It's not okay to feel down or to have a down day. He gives us permission to feel, "No, that is fine." I'm definitely resonating with that message today. As we do this check-in, I'm thinking to myself that today this video has been really hard for me to record. It's been really challenging. I was getting very frustrated. That Michael's actually reminding me that it's okay to be okay. You know, it's okay not to be okay, actually. Um, so yeah, this is a good inspiration, a good group of quotes and ideas to be inspired by. So for today's practice, as I mentioned, it's inspired by athletes, and we're going to do 2 minutes of deep breathing. You often see athletes taking these deep breaths before or they jump on the field or jump in a pool or get on a court. And that's because these deep breaths helps calm our nervous system, helps regulate our nervous system, helps us sharpen our focus and be more peaceful so that we can be at our best. We can be just present. So for 2 minutes, we're gonna take deep breaths in and out. We're gonna breathe in for 5 seconds and breathe out for 7. And I'll keep track of that for all of us. You're gonna hear some music in the background as that'll be our timer. Okay guys, so let's gently close our eyes. Let's just feel present in our body. In a few seconds you'll hear music start, but just listen to my voice and my counting and enjoy.
So let's breathe in for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Out for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. In for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Out for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. In for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Out for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. In for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Out for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. In for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Out for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. In for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
In for—
out for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. In for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Out for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. In for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Out for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. In for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Out for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Awesome, guys!
Gently open up your eyes.
Cool, right?
How's everyone feeling? Feeling pretty good? Yeah, yeah, I'm feeling a little bit better, a little bit more calm.
Excellent, great.
Well, thanks for joining me for another day of this self-love practice. I've been doing these videos to work on my own self-belief and my own self-love, so it's so nice to really share this practice with all of you, to learn and grow as I do with all of you. So please come back tomorrow if this has been helpful. Either way, if you know somebody in your own life that could use a little bit more self-love and self-belief, feel free to share this video with them. But no matter what, have a great day and don't forget to love yourself. Take care.
