A man of his word.

This is a story of discovery, reflection and well, a fair bit of irony. And this leaps, at least vaguely, the psychology of performance. To the point…

The point is that I once said that if I ever find myself doing something some pilates mumbojumbo stuff, I would most certainly come out and tell about it in public forum. I want also to mention that mumbojumbo is not my invention as a term. I may have said that multiple times, but this expression holds more drama and sounds more powerful – but again, that’s the not the point. I may have also smiled wryly at those videos, which people tenaciously follow, but that’s not the point either. The point is that I’m now proud to announce that I’m now part of this population. And yes, pay attention to the expression ‘proud’.

This all is related to my own athletic pursuit, and a knee problem apparently. The knee discards me from riding, running and most leg exercises at gym, which have been the bread and butter of my training. Now I swim (badly). And recently I discovered yoga, which I do even more badly for the time being.

Despite my wry smiles and slight arrogance towards it, I admit its awesomeness today. In my case only three times have seen me develop at my very own scale, which runs from excellent to hopeless with numerous sub-categories. I have now officially proceeded from definitely below hopeless to only below hopeless. It equals a dream of having white belt in certain combat sport or something like that.

Anyway, the yoga. It has helped me to discover weaknesses, which I can work with. On the other hand, I have consequently discovered easy gains for my performance. Improve there and become a better, more robust athlete. It helps my flexibility, stability and all things they say it does. However, being a performance psychologist I also evaluated the psychology of yoga (only in my specific case though).

I admit having struggled with all sorts of hick-ups lately. Yoga has provided me with fresh new approach, feelings of development in short term, more goals towards future, challenge, concentration, mindfulness – all sorts of things. Mainly, because it is new, challenging and I find it exciting for many reasons. Most of all, it has acted as a vehicle towards feeling better, happier and more confident. I don’t have a reason why, and I really don’t want to have one. Acknowledgedly, there are other reasons too, but it doesn't really change anything.

At the end, the point is that it may be anything that can get you back on track. Trust youe own judgment.

Anton