Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you really become aware of what you sense and feel. By directing your attention away from your thoughts and instead focusing on the world around you, it enables you to quiet your mind and relax your body.
There’s plenty of research to support the benefits of mindfulness, including reducing stress, anxiety and pain, and improving sleep and attention. And there’s growing evidence to suggest that practising mindfulness can help you play better golf.
And it makes sense; golf is as much about what goes on in your mind as it is about how well you swing the club.
How to practice mindfulness
I can barely sit down quietly for more than a few minutes without getting bored. So when I first started reading about mindfulness, I was convinced it wasn’t for me.
I had this image of someone meditating cross-legged at the edge of a mountain. Nothing and no one around them, silently deep in thought.
But that’s not what mindfulness is about. It can be as simple as just focusing on your breathing for a few seconds. Or even just being kinder to yourself.
Interested now? To help you get started, here’s a simple, five-minute mindfulness exercise that you can practice on or off the golf course.
Mindfulness exercise: Walking meditation
Next time you’re on the golf course or out for a walk, try this simple exercise to start you on your journey to mindfulness and better golf.
- Place your hands wherever they feel comfortable and walk at a natural pace.
- With each step, pay attention to the way your body feels: the lifting and falling of your feet, the movement in your legs and your body shifting from side to side.
- Become aware of the sounds around you. Don’t label or think about them; just notice them as nothing more than sound.
- Bring your awareness to any smells around you, again just simply noticing them.
- Now pay attention to what you can see; colours, textures, objects.
- Whenever your mind starts to wander or something grabs your attention, purposefully guide it back to the sensation of walking.
Give this exercise a try and let us know how you get on. And remember to look out for more mindfulness exercises coming every month.
