After reading an interesting article on peak performance in Mindful magazine I thought I would write an article about what I learned. It was about a mediation teacher and mindfulness expert George Mumford. George helps people find their “masterpiece” within by helping navigate their thoughts and emotions. He has helped athletes, business leaders and prisoners even though he got into mediation while overcoming a personal struggle with drug addiction.
Meditation was the outlet that helped Mumford through overcoming his addiction and he found the practice shortly after coming out of detox. As a child growing up he was incredibly sensitive and would often feel sad for weeks when finding that a neighbourhood family was moving away. He always felt many emotions but didn’t quite know what to do about them. Once he discovered meditation he learned how to hold difficult emotions in his heart instead of reaching for other substances to self medicate as a way to feel better.
George has now learned to use his mind to accept things instead of always having to have all of the answers. He transitioned from having to do things “his” way and began to learn about being in the flow of things. He is now more interested in learning how the universe works and aligning with the way things are instead of the way he may want them to be.
The lessons George has taught have impacted Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neill as he has worked very closely with Phil Jackson for years. He is now helping with the New York Knicks to implement this practice. One of George’s colleagues was doing a workshop with regards to the successful work George was involved in with prison inmates and teaching them meditation. As luck would have it Phil’s then-wife June was attending that same seminar. When she told Phil about the work George was doing he was very intrigued and ended up bringing him in to work with the Chicago Bulls.
Phil had been working with meditation for a long time as he was trying to help his players cope with the high pressure of their lives in basketball. There was no doubt that George brought that teaching to a new level for the Bulls team. Since he also had a basketball background from playing at UMass and was also Dr. J’s roommate in college he made quick inroads with the players. George really helped the players connect with a deeper part of themselves and Phil started noticing the focus and the energy improving. Phil said of George “He opens the doors for players to have ah-ha moments.” He also went on to mention “A lot of guys in the NBA have been taught about emotional control, but they’ve never been taught about why thoughts arise and where they get sucked into them. George helps them to understand that they are not their thoughts. They can get into that space where they’re just watching their thoughts and allowing them to happen without acting on them.”
George helped the Bulls with their second three-peat championship, which included the 1996-97 record setting 72-10 season. He also helped the Lakers to win their three-peat series as well. Here are the three main lessons that George likes to focus on:
1- Be Still and Know
“When the mind is still” George says “You have an inner knowing when and how to strike. It’s playing the game on a spiritual level. You may not know what you’re going to do next, but in that moment you have the ability to see and act simultaneously.” Athletes refer to this as being in the zone which is a state where time is altered and everything is done effortlessly. It is a time when there is no feeling of mine, me, I in terms of getting things done. The best way to be in the zone is to not try to get there. The harder you try to be in that space the further away it gets.
When an athlete is in the zone it is a unique mix of being in a high state of arousal and also being present in the moment. Most players are able to do this when they have gotten to a state of being comfortable when they are uncomfortable. It is likened to being in the eye of the hurricane in that there is chaos all around but not only is the athlete calm in the pressure of that moment they are also performing at their highest level.
2 - Forget Yourself, Find Yourself
Mumford helps players to work on the paradox of forget yourself, find yourself. Instead of focusing on how you are doing they are to focus on what they are doing. He said it helps people to see it isn’t about getting the credit because the results are much more valuable in terms of belonging to something more valuable than yourself when you are part of a team.
George was working with Michael Jordan during the time when he gave up baseball and came back to the Bulls part way through the season. Jordan credited George with making him a better leader because he helped the superstar to related to each of his teammates as individual people. It really helped to communicate and get clear about what each teammate was and what they wanted to be in the dynamic of the group. It is that interconnectedness that goes such a long way to bonding teams together instead of holding them to high standards they are uninterested in reaching.
3 - Mindfulness Alone Isn’t Enough
George says “Mindfulness alone isn’t enough. It has to be supported by steadiness of mind, right effort, and wisdom. It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. You have to have all of the pieces and then you can start fitting them together.”
Coming to the experience with the right outlook is important. If the intention is to humiliate or dominate then that is very different from seeing how much you can grow, improve and compete at your personal best. If you come out saying it doesn’t matter who the opponent is the intention is to perform at your personal best. Athletes that do this and hold themselves to this standard prove that there was always another level to reach for themselves.
When you force things to happen it is very different than letting them happen and seeing things evolve. It comes from a place of ease where you let things happen and pick up the vibe of what needs to come next. Everyone can experience different teachings because we have our own unique experiences to go through. George’s methods show that meditation isn’t about sitting in a quiet room breathing in and out it is really about living life in that flow and using it on a continual basis as a baseline for being.
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