Week 2 (Education+Acquisition)

I met with the client this week for an hour and a half. The aim of the session was to educate them on the use of controlled breathing and begin to help them use it in training, allowing them to get used to the technique and how it works. I chose centring as it has been proven that the uses of centring are to “control stress and muscle tension, block out negative or distracting thoughts, and re-focus attention on task-relevant cues” (G,Miller 2012) This makes it fit my client perfectly as they need to reduce their stress and block out the negative self talks that they sometimes end up doing during a competition. Therefore I feel that this will be the best technique for my client as it allows them to irradiate the feelings that cause them to have a higher anxiety level prior to their competitions.

In order to help my client get the idea and concept of centring I met them at the driving range, as this would be a familiar surrounding for my client to begin using the new technique. I guided my client by telling/showing them the 6 steps that are associated with this controlled breathing.

1) Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, arms hanging loosely by your side

2) Close your eyes and breath evenly - try to keep the tension in the upper body to a minimum as you breath

3) Inhale deeply from your abdomen (your stomach will extend) and be aware of the tension in your face, neck, shoulders and chest. As you exhale let the tension fall away and focus on the feeling of heaviness in your stomach

4) Continue to breath evenly and deeply and focus your attention on the centre of your body, the area just behind your naval button

5) Maintain your attention on that spot and continue to breath evenly and deeply, feeling controlled, heavy and calm

6) As you breath out think of a word that encapsulates the physical feeling and mental focus you want e.g. "relax", "calm" 

After a few practices of using thus controlled breathing technique my client really began to feel the effects on their performance “I feel like this technique really help keeps my nerves down as when I was concentrating on my ‘centre’ I began to forget about the pressure that was being placed on me, I feel that this could be a really helpful technique to help me reduce my anxiety” 

After this session I asked my client to practice this controlled breathing once between now and the 

next time we meet and keep a note on how it made them feel and if they think it was helping.