Elite athletes learn to sense how their bodies respond to all sorts of variables.  They learn this so they can then adjust their bodies’ arousal level to match the moment. If they are too revved up, they can calm themselves down; if their energy levels are low, they can rev up a bit. 

I hope you can see how useful it would be to be able to fine-tune your body to match and respond to the demands of the moment. 

To help you do this, try this:  Find a quiet place to sit and close your eyes.  Slow your breathing down by exhaling slowly through your mouth several times, inhaling through your nose. Once you are quiet, with your mind’s eye, do a body scan, beginning with the top of your head and moving down to your toes. 

Just notice if you are holding any tension anywhere in your body.  If you detect tension, try to release it with your out-breath. 

A typical body scan goes like this: 

• With your mind’s eye, “see” in slow sequence:
• The top of your head
• Your forehead, eyes, nose, cheeks, mouth, lips, and jaw
• Your neck
• Moving around to the back of your head, the back of your neck
• Moving down to your shoulders, your upper back
• Middle back, spine, lower back and seat
• Now back up to the front of your shoulders
• Your clavicle, your sternum, upper chest and rib cage
• Your upper stomach and your lower abdomen
• Now your upper arms, elbows, forearms, wrists, hands and fingers
• Move down to your pelvis
• Your upper legs, knees, calves and shins
• Now down to your ankles, the soles of your feet
• The tops of your feet and finally your toes 

The above exercise is an introduction to your body, if you will. I realize that this is impractical to do on a regular basis but if you do it a few times, you will learn how to quickly identify and release unwanted tension in your body. That way at practice or especially at high stakes events like tryouts or competitions, you’ll be able to better control your body’s response to stress.

Cheerleading requires enormous energy and sometimes, you might feel too pooped to practice.  As a cheerleader, you are likely deeply invested in your sport and not much can stop you from pushing forward, even so – you’re human and you’re busy and maybe you’re engaged in way too many activities so you get tired and your performance may suffer. 

Here’s a simple visualization exercise that might perk you up.  Ready? 

•  Sit in a quiet place with hands placed in your lap.
• Exhale slowly three times. 
• Now inhale slowly through your nostrils and watch, with your mind’s eye, a white cloud of pure oxygen filling the lungs completely. 
• Suspend the breath for a few seconds (three to five) and watch the clean air travel to all extremities of your body.  Imagine that the pure white cloud is cleansing your body of all toxins, of all stresses, all fatigue.  
• Exhale slowly and watch the “smoky de-oxygenated cloud” exit the nostrils as carbon dioxide.  See it dissolve and disappear.  
• Suspend your breath for a few seconds (three to five) and imagine the emptiness of your lungs and the purity of your internal self. 
• Repeat this process several more times and notice the calm relaxation take over.
•  

You know what it’s like: you zero in on one cheer routine or one stunt and do it over and over until you get it right.  But sometimes it seems the harder you try, the worse you do! 

Well, there’s a reason for that and it has to do with the science of concentration.  I won’t go into all the technical details here except to say that when you engage in narrow-focus attention for too long (like when you rehearse a cheer move over and over), it literally affects your brain!  

Yep – you see the brain is the master control panel for your mind and body and if you are stuck in narrow focus, this will induce changes in your muscle tension, breathing, and even the flow of neurotransmitters and hormones. 

You see, everything is influenced by how you pay attention. 

Now narrow focus serves a purpose.  It allows you to see and deal with urgent or important situations and so it can be helpful in the short run but if you stick with narrow focus, you’ll be revving up your brain in ways that aren’t healthy, leading to chronic stress problems. 

So, what can you do? You can take mini-vacations or “focus breaks” periodically throughout your cheer practice to offset the negative impact of too much time spent in narrow-objective focus. 

For example, make it a habit to occasionally pause during cheer practice and allow your eyes to gaze at some open space.  The open space can be a big blank wall or a ceiling.  Just take in the largeness of the space. The trick is not to zero in on any one object but to soften your gaze as you take in a sense of background or space. Exhale slowly three times while doing this.  This should not take too much time away from your practice and – you will return to it feeling more relaxed and refreshed. 

When you gently direct your gaze to and imagine feeling space, your brain will respond by changing its electrical activity.  In other words, you will be able to induce alpha waves which are associated with feelings of well-being. 

So, take a mini-break, gaze out a window, at a wall, at a ceiling, or close your eyes and visualize the vast expanse of sky or the ocean.  You’ll feel better and then you’ll be able to return to your cheer practice with the ability to perform at an optimal level. 

In my last posting, I wrote about developing a championship mindset. I emphasized how important it is to be objective in your self-assessment. Below is a handy self-assessment tool, which you can you use either after a practice session or a performance. 

It may be useful for you to see this as an invitation to get to know yourself better. Remember the best performers are eager to learn as much about themselves as possible. 

If you use this self-assessment sheet on a regular basis, you’ll be able to keep track of how you feel, how you perform and how you improve! 

In the future, I will write more about how to manage your anxiety in high stress situations. 

If you would like a pdf of this self-assessment sheet write me an e-mail and I’ll be happy to send one your way. 

AFTER-PERFORMANCE SELF-ASSESSMENT SHEET 

Event: ___________________________________ Date: _________________ 

1. How anxious were you before today’s performance? 

0____    5_____      10____

low      not bad     high 

2. What were the things that caused you stress? 

3. When did you feel most stress…before, during, after? 

4. How did you experience the stress?  In thoughts, feelings, actions? 

5. How did you manage your anxiety?  How effective were you in controlling it using these techniques? 

6. Describe in detail your self-talk.  Remember key words and phrases you used. 

7.  What, if anything, have you learned from this performance that will help you plan for the next one?