EXERCISE AND COVID - PART 3: RELEASING NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

by Eric Leskowitz, MD, David Meggyesy, Greg Warburton, Barry Robbins and Scott Ford

Releasing Negative Emotions

A major barrier to optimum sports performance, as well as to emotional and physical health, is the persistence of troubling emotions like anxiety, anger and shame. These feelings can become trapped in the body/mind system and thereby diminish one’s physical ability to perform. The techniques of energy psychology help release negative emotional states from the body/mind by working with affirmations of self-acceptance while tapping one’s own acupuncture points. They can help with anxiety about a batting slump (Howard, 2014), and have been used widely by elite athletes at the college and professional level. Stress after traumatic events can be alleviated (Church, 2013) and so can fears about Covid. Here is mental training coach Greg Warburton’s 3-minute method for emotional self-management to gain a relaxed, energized body and a calm mind.

Greg Warburton:

Athletes say to me, I am tired of fighting my head and my body to stay calm. I would like something I could physically do to relax and energize my body and calm my mind.

In response, I developed the 3-Minute Body/Mind Energy warm-up that serves as a daily practice for boosting mental and emotional fitness. I say to athletes, using this practice is much more efficient than trying to think your way to a good place when you are already upset.

- Minutes 1 and 2: Center and balance your energy flow using the hook-up and cross crawl. For your body-mind to function optimally, energy must cross over the midline of your body.

a. Begin balancing the energy crossing over the mid-line with the hook-up. Hold this posture for 1-2 minutes while comfortably breathing.

b. While sitting or standing, alternately connect your left elbow with your right knee, then your right elbow to the left knee, and so on for 30 seconds

-- Minute 3: Emotional Freedom Techniques

Tap the sequence of 14 acupressure points while affirming full acceptance of yourself despite any negative emotions that may be arising.

You are percussing energy points to open the natural energy pathways in your body/mind system; thus, consistently achieving relaxation of your body and calming your mind. I teach athletes that poor performance and emotional distress have more to do with blocked energy in your body/mind system than they have to do with lack of determination, willpower or a negative attitude.

Watch the video: 3 Min Daily Pandemic Energy Warm-up (21 min)

READ MORE:
 PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6


* This article was originally published in The International Journal of Healing and Caring, Volume 20, No. 3