Hello,
Golfers and meditators.
Welcome to today's session,
Mindfulness on the Golf Course.
There is a saying that if you have a great round,
You're inspired to get out and play again to keep the flow.
And if you don't have a great round,
You're also inspired to get out and get redemption.
What an interesting and challenging sport.
So today's focus is how we might be able to bring a little more presence onto the course during those moments of frustration or when the flow seems to falter.
Those opportunities when we can exchange our reaction for response,
Choosing how to approach the next shot,
How to regain composure,
How to stay in the moment.
And so this session is about our breathing,
Focusing on deep,
Calm belly breathing.
Take a few breaths right now and just notice where you're at,
Not changing anything,
Just noticing your inhale and your exhale.
And beginning to notice where you're feeling movement in your body as you breathe.
Is it in your chest?
Are your shoulders tense?
Is it in your belly?
You might even want to put a hand on your chest or your stomach to feel into this experience.
Noticing what you notice,
Being right there.
And now together,
Since we're paying a little more attention to this natural occurrence of breath,
Together let's take a nice,
Long,
Slow,
Deep breath in.
And let that go.
Let's do that one more time.
Inhale.
Gently exhaling.
And next,
We'd like to focus on the concept of belly breathing,
Which is when you allow the inhale to have your belly expand gently out and on the exhale,
It contracts back in.
Moving toward your.
.
.
So take a moment,
See if you can now consciously alter your breath,
Noticing if you can get your belly to expand on the inhale.
And on the exhale,
Contracting in.
This doesn't have to be a big movement.
The idea is for a gentle flowing back and forth.
So taking a few more moments,
Inhaling as your belly expands,
Exhaling and having it come back in.
What happens when we belly breathe is that we are allowing the breath and ourselves to slow down.
When we breathe from our chest,
We're often in a shallow state.
The air doesn't have as much room to travel.
When we can move the breath into our belly,
We're able to create that beautiful rhythm,
That tempo,
Which we're always looking for in our golf swing.
And it's a great way,
Just before going up to the tee or before any shot,
Just noticing where your breath is at.
Creating that opportunity for more responsiveness as opposed to reaction.
And each of these little moments is that fine tuning we're constantly looking for.
So that our putts are softer and smoother.
That our swing is more fluid and controlled.
That our aim and our visualization is even more finely tuned.
So the next time you're out on the course,
My invitation at any time is to notice your breath and invite in that belly breathing.
Get them long,
Get them straight,
And have a great time out on the course.
