For the past couple of weeks, I have seen focus in action. We’ve just completed our annual senior tennis tournament, the largest of its kind in the United States with 650 players competing in age groups from 35-90. My husband Ed has streamlined the organization of the event over the past 13 years that we’ve had the tournament and, as you can imagine, it takes a village to make it all happen. We have stellar volunteers and terrific support. When I’m not at the studio teaching yoga, I’m running the tournament desk, the control center of where players check-in for matches and get sent to assigned courts. We can have over 90 matches in one day and we make it all happen with a coordinated effort using walkie-talkies. Needless to say, banks of time exist when it can be rather hectic and it’s during these times that I need to be focused. Distraction equals confusion, so effective concentration is truly beneficial.
Of course, just watching high-level tennis players compete, one can see how the mental game plays a huge role in a players ability to get through the rough patches. Some players get mentally tripped up, lose concentration, and spiral into behavior that often doesn’t enhance their game (or their image!). They can lose focus and connection to the present moment, indulging in negative self-talk as well as an occasional snarky comment.
Thinking about focus and tennis brought back a memory of when I was beginning to play more competitively and would often get comments from an experienced coach at our tennis club. He had a Southern drawl and once said to me, “Jayne, you get too distracted when you’re playing. You need to look at the server who’s about to serve and repeat three words…ball, ball, ball.” It was my first tennis mantra and it worked in those moments when I was no longer present. It drew me into a single-pointed focus, and I can now relate this to my yoga world as this is “Dharana”, found in the eight-faceted path of yoga within the Sutras and means “concentration”. It’s a step along the pathway to meditation where we pull our senses inward (pratyahara), focus on one thing like our breath or a sensation in the body (Dharana) and slide closer to a change in the brainwave often called meditation (dhyana). What a lesson I was given! Not only did I get better at focusing on the tennis court, but I became more experienced in seeing the practical application both on and off the tennis court.
It’s not just the tennis court that a “ball, ball, ball” mantra works, but any simple statement such as “slow down”, “breathe in, breathe out”, “relax the shoulders”, “feel the sensation in your hands”, “Om Shanti” or “be here now”. And I’m thinking that at no other time in humanity have we had more opportunity to be distracted. We are bombarded from multiple sides on a daily basis so it’s no wonder we have feelings of being scattered, confused, and mentally fatigued. By practicing focus, we are better able to connect to the inner space of calm, particularly when we become conscious of that distraction. If we can find ways to feel the moment using our senses (seeing the ball, sensing the breath at the nostrils, or dropping our shoulders) we come straight back into the now, even if it’s for a nano-second. In that nanosecond, we release our grip on the spiral that tempts us away from our center. The more we practice, the better we get at recognizing we are no longer where we wish to be…in an optimal state of concentration, leading to greater ease and flow in what we’re doing.
So the thought of this week is to give yourself short bursts of time to practice concentrating. Find a keyword or phrase that snaps you back into the moment and make it your life mantra for the week. And if you don’t know where to start, maybe try…ball, ball, ball.
