Mamba Mondays | Meditation

His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface, he looks calm and ready to drop bombs
But he keeps on forgetting what he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out
He's choking how everybody's joking now
The clock's run out, time's up, over, blaow!

Eminem’s lyrics to Lose Yourself describe how I feel before big games when I let my nerves get the best of me. One thing that has helped me control my emotions and nerves is meditation.

Kobe Bryant, one of the best basketball players and athletes of all time credited much of his success to meditation. Kobe said that he would meditate every morning for 10-15 minutes. Doing so would set him up for the rest of the day. It was like having an anchor, and when he didn’t do it, he felt like he was constantly chasing the day as opposed to being in control. When he meditated in the morning, Kobe felt calmer and poised, and he was set and ready for whatever came his way.

Kobe suggests setting aside just 5 minutes of quiet, mindful time each day to listen to your inner self. Sit in silence and allow your thoughts to come forward, and when they do, just observe them. We spend so much time observing everything around us, but we don’t take the time to slow down and observe what is inside of us.

Kobe learned about mindfulness and meditation from his coach, Phil Jackson. Before leading Kobe and the Lakers to 5 NBA Championships, Coach Jackson led Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls to 6 total NBA Championships. Coach Jackson was big on mindfulness and meditation, and he regularly made the team sit silently in the dark while focusing on their inner thoughts. Kobe said this helped them play with poise in hostile and stressful situations. The pressure didn’t affect him and his teammates because they never got too high or too low; meditating helped them stay in the moment and feel very secure in who they were.