[Applause]
thank you thank you so much for having
me here today so it’s a little strange
up here you’re unlike on the spot
literally and it’s really natural in
that moment on the spot to feel your
heart race to have your thoughts go wild
it’s really natural to feel that
pressure the pressure to deliver an idea
where it’s spreading
so natural but I’ve got a confession to
make
I’m actually that nervous I’m gonna tell
you a secret about why you see I’m a
sport and performance psychologist I
should be able to do this in fact I’ve
spent the past 15 years my basically my
whole career working with high
professional high level athletes in the
NFL in MLB with the fire department in
New York City but today I have a really
special opportunity I have the chance to
share these techniques ones that helped
me with you here today but first just a
little bit about what it’s like to be a
sports psychologist working in the NFL
working with MLB you know it’s been in a
just an amazing pleasure and it’s been
just so fascinating an honor to work
with these high-performance athletes but
it’s also been really humbling and it’s
also been stressful we stress out about
things like for example when I went with
the New York Mets to the 2015 World
Series should be yeah come on give me
yeah give it up a little bit
I can remember sitting there on the
sidelines really feeling like I should
just be there in the moment but I was
distracted I was worrying what’s gonna
come next are we gonna win are we gonna
move on are we gonna advance what’s
gonna happen the players that I care
about here we all worry we get in our
heads in a lot right if you worry about
things relationships as a climate the
political state your life if you worry
let me hear you say I do it’s natural to
be human but there’s things that you can
do to get better at dealing those
thoughts in our heads and I’m going to
teach you how athletes do it today but
first we have one task and that’s really
to understand the nature of being human
all here together so in order to do that
I need to go on a little ride with you
guys if you’re ready let me hear you say
I’m ready alright everybody stand up
yeah you’re in the right place ready
here we go if you’re ready to feel what
it’s like to be a human I want you to
hear I want to hear you say dance
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
okay okay okay yeah you want to continue
I love it all right I ready just give me
a second everybody you can take your
seats it’s hard to see with the lights
but I was able to see three well-known
dances here they are the full commitment
you guys are ready for Saturday night
but then there was this other dance it
was like the UH
does this count does this channel and
there’s a third dance the most famous
dance of all the one we’re doing all day
long every day everyone in here is doing
it it’s this how am I being judged right
now
who’s watching me am I good enough I’m
in my head right now natural it’s
natural to be that way as humans our
central nervous system develop to be
that way as we were evolving over
600,000 years we had to notice one thing
the predator the tiger the lion that’s
how we had to notice the negative thing
we had to notice it or we wouldn’t
survive we wouldn’t evolve but as a
high-performance athlete and yes you and
me up here on this red Ted dot we have
to learn ways of dealing with the fact
that we’re always in our heads always
worried about what’s gonna come always
worried about what’s to be and I’m gonna
teach you some of those ways we’re gonna
talk about it together but first how do
athletes condition themselves well we
know about how they condition themselves
they do things like jump rope right
physical conditioning they lift weights
certainly they do that but over the past
15 to 20 years is a new field that’s
developing mental conditioning this is
squats but it’s for your soul
these are curls but it’s for your brain
so the things that we do with athletes
are things like mental rehearsal imagery
to rehearse what you’re going to do
before you get there in your mind super
effective research that show also we
help people to get in touch with their
internal
privation there why and to remind
themselves of that we help athletes to
talk to themselves in an adaptive way
self-talk and we also focus on our
breath and on breathing but you can’t go
to the gym to do this kind of work in
fact there’s no weight that you can
actually pick up to do this kind of work
in fact there’s one weight you must put
down to really do this work well it’s
this one you’ve got to put it down
this is actually my phone and to remind
myself to get into the moment to be in
the moment I have this word on my phone
because I need a reminder I’m human too
I forget I get caught up and worry
caught up in thoughts about what’s gonna
happen with this talk what’s going to
happen in my life in my relationships
and most of us in this room can
certainly relate to that feeling so it’s
about paying attention to the moment so
how do you do that how do you pay
attention to the moment I want to tell
you a story about how I learned it the
first time I paid too much attention to
the moment these right here are my
hippie parents yeah give it up for my
hippie parents
I love them so much and one time but
think about hippie parents see see is if
they’re not that great at locking their
bedroom door so I go over to the bedroom
door I’m like seven ray right and I open
the bedroom door and I walk in on them
they’re they’re they’re breathing
they’re meditating and it starred me I
mean I wanted to put that away my
parents were weird right they’re so
weird they’re doing this thing this
mindfulness meditation it’s so strange I
don’t want to tell anyone about it no
one I want to hide it away hide it away
never tell anyone until about 15 years
later I’m going to the University of
Washington to get my doctorate in
psychology and I get there and I meet
these luminaries these professors in the
field of psychology and I go to this
faculty meeting as a graduate student
and I go and I opened the door seeking
to see the people that are gonna teach
me everything about performance about
managing stress about psychology and I
opened the door and they’re meditating I
was shocked
what and I had to confront at that one
moment the thing that none of us in this
room none of us should ever have to
confront that my parents were right all
along you might say fader okay you do
this meditation yourself you do with NFL
athletes you do with MLB athletes you do
with firefighters but you know maybe
that’s just for your hippie parents it’s
not for me
mindfulness meditation is that really
what an elite athletes gonna do when the
game is on the line someone whose are
the best they’re filled are they really
gonna do that I wonder you don’t have to
wonder
it’s the last time out he has played the
entire game
he would have played the entire game in
Game six if it wasn’t a blowout so what
is LeBron James arguably the most
talented active basketball player of our
time what is he doing in that moment
he’s now here’s another question for you
is this the first time that LeBron James
has done this no he is doing mental
conditioning he’s working on his mindset
all the time so when he gets to the
moment that counts
he’s gonna be ready just like we can we
can work on our mindset we can train our
brain using performance psychology and
sports psychology techniques to be ready
for that moment when it comes in your
life your big date some of you the way
you’re dancing look I gets tonight
your interview your test your meeting
this is one of the ways to get there but
you might say you listen fader he’s an
athlete my life’s not a game right my
life is I got things on the line here I
have real life problems you know it’s
not real life I say tell it to these
guys these are my colleagues at the FDNY
and it’s been a tremendous honor to work
with them to help to develop the mental
performance initiative where we teach
firefighters in the eleven thousand
four-person firefighting service of FDNY
how to use these techniques to be in the
moment more and that’s Jason Bresler on
the left that’s me in the middle and
chief Ginty to the right and really what
we work on is helping them to learn
those techniques self-talk breathing so
they said fader listen you want to come
work with us you got to come you think
you’re mr. mental toughness come work
with us so they call me and they just
call me up they said we need you to come
today to the rock I’m like the rock how
do I get to Arai do I swim like ha ha
has his work turns out the rock is a
training center in Randall’s Island in
the middle of the East River in New York
and they light buildings on fire and
they actually have real purposeful
practice to train firefighters so they
bring me in they have they put on the
bunker gear here
and I went in I was really prepared but
when I got into this burning building
the thing I wasn’t prepared for was the
thing that’s most lethal in a fire smoke
I got in there and the smoke hit me I
couldn’t see anything it was really
frightening and I had my oxygen on they
told me like you don’t want to just rip
that oxygen mask off it’s an instinct
and I was like not it’s not gonna happen
of course it did all of a sudden I got
in my head started thinking it started
my heart started racing but I had two
things in my head from the work I do
with athletes to help get me back into
the moment one was breathing and I’m
gonna teach you how I did it right now
if you’re ready to learn it say I am so
what we do to keep our breathing and
control is we breathe for seconds in
four seconds out and a two second pause
inhale for four exhale for four two
second pause we’ll start on the count of
three if you’re ready let me hear you
say I’m ready one two three
inhale two one thousand three one
thousand four exhale to one thousand
three one thousand four pause inhale two
one thousand three one thousand four
exhale two one thousand three one
thousand four now you have something to
go to in those moments in those fires in
your life tough discussion can go to
your breath tough meeting can go to your
breath test you can go to your breath
game you can go to your breath TED talk
that breathing that self-talk helps me
in all different areas of my life what I
said when I was in that fire the way I
was talking to myself was I was just
saying here and now to help guide myself
back to the present moment here and now
in any moment that you’re in and you
know working with NFL players it’s funny
because you know they’ll just grab you
in the locker room so an NFL player
grabs you it’s kind of like you’re like
one of those stuffed animals in a crane
you know when the in the super in the
amusement park in skirts they come up
and grab a fader yeah fader that’s
breathing technique that you hope that
you show me is really helpful and here
I’m like wow actually I’m good at my job
I’m like wait I’m trying to go back in
the plays that he was involved in
what is he talking about which one did I
help him in yellow Freder see I was with
my wife and I was about to get in an
argument and I use your breathing
technique and it helped calm me down so
once I got over there the little ego
blow that it wasn’t about football I
realized one of the most powerful things
that I’m talking you guys about these
techniques are for all of us we can all
use the same techniques that athletes
use in their life to be the best in the
field in all of the different situations
where we experience stress and pressure
my belief really is that life as a sport
in the sense that we’re playing a sport
or where we’re giving a performance when
we’re playing chess when we’re playing
violin all these beautiful moments that
we have we don’t endure it we don’t try
to get through it we play it we’re
really there and the techniques of
mental conditioning of sport and
performance psychology breath meditation
and mindfulness self-talk mental
rehearsal can really help you they’re
the ones I wrote about in my book life
as sport in which I tell people you all
and try to share with you what’s really
been helpful for me to be on all the red
dots that I have in my life both
personal and professional but the word I
used was play to be playful and I want
to just come back to that for just one
minute what I do is I bring something to
every team talk I do when I work with an
NFL team or an MLB team or any corporate
event or whoever I’m talking to in
academia with doctors I bring this bingo
ball except I call it the ball of death
and what I say and what I do is I say
this has all your jersey numbers in it
and I’m gonna pick someone at random and
that person can come up on stage with me
and freestyle rap in front of everyone
can you imagine or come up and tell a
joke in front of everyone I mean that
dot moves from six feet to being
throughout everyone here but I don’t
want to talk about it I actually decided
that we’re gonna pick someone here at
random to come up here in freestyle rap
with me up
stage you just come up here we’re gonna
we’re gonna we put seat numbers here
those doors are locked can we lock those
doors we’re gonna we’re gonna pick
someone here random to come up and rap
on stage with me so three lucky people
your numbers are on your seat just let’s
make sure you check your number right
now I’m just I’m just kidding guys
oh my god right oh my god oh my god not
me
no I don’t want to touch that die
there’s a predator there’s a lion get it
away get it away right that is stress
and the more you use these techniques
for every moment not just freestyle
rapping not just you know when you’re on
the field of play but it’s all a field
of play life is a sport I feel bad that
was mean does that mean who said oh my
god that was mean right okay you know
what you know what I think I owe it to
you guys to freestyle rap what do you
think right like I mean I I I actually I
I really put you on the spot terrible
right and I owe it back to you guys so
in in the last kind of minute here I
just want to give you guys something
which has to be playful so I just need
from the front rows here fruit okay
raise your hand yes mango okay
[Music]
baby goodfeel let’s take the mango peel
and eat that fruit take the loot oh my
god it’s not a mute this is happening
right now
come on now I’m talking about breathing
exercise if you do it then you’ll feel
why oh yeah maybe a surprise so let’s do
it together everybody if you’re in it
all kinds of weather oh my god it’s time
to stop imaginary Mike drop
guys this is the sign of New York Giants
locker room let’s stay in the moment
and let’s do it together I invite you to
begin to live life like a sport thank
you
you
thank you thank you so much for having
me here today so it’s a little strange
up here you’re unlike on the spot
literally and it’s really natural in
that moment on the spot to feel your
heart race to have your thoughts go wild
it’s really natural to feel that
pressure the pressure to deliver an idea
where it’s spreading
so natural but I’ve got a confession to
make
I’m actually that nervous I’m gonna tell
you a secret about why you see I’m a
sport and performance psychologist I
should be able to do this in fact I’ve
spent the past 15 years my basically my
whole career working with high
professional high level athletes in the
NFL in MLB with the fire department in
New York City but today I have a really
special opportunity I have the chance to
share these techniques ones that helped
me with you here today but first just a
little bit about what it’s like to be a
sports psychologist working in the NFL
working with MLB you know it’s been in a
just an amazing pleasure and it’s been
just so fascinating an honor to work
with these high-performance athletes but
it’s also been really humbling and it’s
also been stressful we stress out about
things like for example when I went with
the New York Mets to the 2015 World
Series should be yeah come on give me
yeah give it up a little bit
I can remember sitting there on the
sidelines really feeling like I should
just be there in the moment but I was
distracted I was worrying what’s gonna
come next are we gonna win are we gonna
move on are we gonna advance what’s
gonna happen the players that I care
about here we all worry we get in our
heads in a lot right if you worry about
things relationships as a climate the
political state your life if you worry
let me hear you say I do it’s natural to
be human but there’s things that you can
do to get better at dealing those
thoughts in our heads and I’m going to
teach you how athletes do it today but
first we have one task and that’s really
to understand the nature of being human
all here together so in order to do that
I need to go on a little ride with you
guys if you’re ready let me hear you say
I’m ready alright everybody stand up
yeah you’re in the right place ready
here we go if you’re ready to feel what
it’s like to be a human I want you to
hear I want to hear you say dance
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
okay okay okay yeah you want to continue
I love it all right I ready just give me
a second everybody you can take your
seats it’s hard to see with the lights
but I was able to see three well-known
dances here they are the full commitment
you guys are ready for Saturday night
but then there was this other dance it
was like the UH
does this count does this channel and
there’s a third dance the most famous
dance of all the one we’re doing all day
long every day everyone in here is doing
it it’s this how am I being judged right
now
who’s watching me am I good enough I’m
in my head right now natural it’s
natural to be that way as humans our
central nervous system develop to be
that way as we were evolving over
600,000 years we had to notice one thing
the predator the tiger the lion that’s
how we had to notice the negative thing
we had to notice it or we wouldn’t
survive we wouldn’t evolve but as a
high-performance athlete and yes you and
me up here on this red Ted dot we have
to learn ways of dealing with the fact
that we’re always in our heads always
worried about what’s gonna come always
worried about what’s to be and I’m gonna
teach you some of those ways we’re gonna
talk about it together but first how do
athletes condition themselves well we
know about how they condition themselves
they do things like jump rope right
physical conditioning they lift weights
certainly they do that but over the past
15 to 20 years is a new field that’s
developing mental conditioning this is
squats but it’s for your soul
these are curls but it’s for your brain
so the things that we do with athletes
are things like mental rehearsal imagery
to rehearse what you’re going to do
before you get there in your mind super
effective research that show also we
help people to get in touch with their
internal
privation there why and to remind
themselves of that we help athletes to
talk to themselves in an adaptive way
self-talk and we also focus on our
breath and on breathing but you can’t go
to the gym to do this kind of work in
fact there’s no weight that you can
actually pick up to do this kind of work
in fact there’s one weight you must put
down to really do this work well it’s
this one you’ve got to put it down
this is actually my phone and to remind
myself to get into the moment to be in
the moment I have this word on my phone
because I need a reminder I’m human too
I forget I get caught up and worry
caught up in thoughts about what’s gonna
happen with this talk what’s going to
happen in my life in my relationships
and most of us in this room can
certainly relate to that feeling so it’s
about paying attention to the moment so
how do you do that how do you pay
attention to the moment I want to tell
you a story about how I learned it the
first time I paid too much attention to
the moment these right here are my
hippie parents yeah give it up for my
hippie parents
I love them so much and one time but
think about hippie parents see see is if
they’re not that great at locking their
bedroom door so I go over to the bedroom
door I’m like seven ray right and I open
the bedroom door and I walk in on them
they’re they’re they’re breathing
they’re meditating and it starred me I
mean I wanted to put that away my
parents were weird right they’re so
weird they’re doing this thing this
mindfulness meditation it’s so strange I
don’t want to tell anyone about it no
one I want to hide it away hide it away
never tell anyone until about 15 years
later I’m going to the University of
Washington to get my doctorate in
psychology and I get there and I meet
these luminaries these professors in the
field of psychology and I go to this
faculty meeting as a graduate student
and I go and I opened the door seeking
to see the people that are gonna teach
me everything about performance about
managing stress about psychology and I
opened the door and they’re meditating I
was shocked
what and I had to confront at that one
moment the thing that none of us in this
room none of us should ever have to
confront that my parents were right all
along you might say fader okay you do
this meditation yourself you do with NFL
athletes you do with MLB athletes you do
with firefighters but you know maybe
that’s just for your hippie parents it’s
not for me
mindfulness meditation is that really
what an elite athletes gonna do when the
game is on the line someone whose are
the best they’re filled are they really
gonna do that I wonder you don’t have to
wonder
it’s the last time out he has played the
entire game
he would have played the entire game in
Game six if it wasn’t a blowout so what
is LeBron James arguably the most
talented active basketball player of our
time what is he doing in that moment
he’s now here’s another question for you
is this the first time that LeBron James
has done this no he is doing mental
conditioning he’s working on his mindset
all the time so when he gets to the
moment that counts
he’s gonna be ready just like we can we
can work on our mindset we can train our
brain using performance psychology and
sports psychology techniques to be ready
for that moment when it comes in your
life your big date some of you the way
you’re dancing look I gets tonight
your interview your test your meeting
this is one of the ways to get there but
you might say you listen fader he’s an
athlete my life’s not a game right my
life is I got things on the line here I
have real life problems you know it’s
not real life I say tell it to these
guys these are my colleagues at the FDNY
and it’s been a tremendous honor to work
with them to help to develop the mental
performance initiative where we teach
firefighters in the eleven thousand
four-person firefighting service of FDNY
how to use these techniques to be in the
moment more and that’s Jason Bresler on
the left that’s me in the middle and
chief Ginty to the right and really what
we work on is helping them to learn
those techniques self-talk breathing so
they said fader listen you want to come
work with us you got to come you think
you’re mr. mental toughness come work
with us so they call me and they just
call me up they said we need you to come
today to the rock I’m like the rock how
do I get to Arai do I swim like ha ha
has his work turns out the rock is a
training center in Randall’s Island in
the middle of the East River in New York
and they light buildings on fire and
they actually have real purposeful
practice to train firefighters so they
bring me in they have they put on the
bunker gear here
and I went in I was really prepared but
when I got into this burning building
the thing I wasn’t prepared for was the
thing that’s most lethal in a fire smoke
I got in there and the smoke hit me I
couldn’t see anything it was really
frightening and I had my oxygen on they
told me like you don’t want to just rip
that oxygen mask off it’s an instinct
and I was like not it’s not gonna happen
of course it did all of a sudden I got
in my head started thinking it started
my heart started racing but I had two
things in my head from the work I do
with athletes to help get me back into
the moment one was breathing and I’m
gonna teach you how I did it right now
if you’re ready to learn it say I am so
what we do to keep our breathing and
control is we breathe for seconds in
four seconds out and a two second pause
inhale for four exhale for four two
second pause we’ll start on the count of
three if you’re ready let me hear you
say I’m ready one two three
inhale two one thousand three one
thousand four exhale to one thousand
three one thousand four pause inhale two
one thousand three one thousand four
exhale two one thousand three one
thousand four now you have something to
go to in those moments in those fires in
your life tough discussion can go to
your breath tough meeting can go to your
breath test you can go to your breath
game you can go to your breath TED talk
that breathing that self-talk helps me
in all different areas of my life what I
said when I was in that fire the way I
was talking to myself was I was just
saying here and now to help guide myself
back to the present moment here and now
in any moment that you’re in and you
know working with NFL players it’s funny
because you know they’ll just grab you
in the locker room so an NFL player
grabs you it’s kind of like you’re like
one of those stuffed animals in a crane
you know when the in the super in the
amusement park in skirts they come up
and grab a fader yeah fader that’s
breathing technique that you hope that
you show me is really helpful and here
I’m like wow actually I’m good at my job
I’m like wait I’m trying to go back in
the plays that he was involved in
what is he talking about which one did I
help him in yellow Freder see I was with
my wife and I was about to get in an
argument and I use your breathing
technique and it helped calm me down so
once I got over there the little ego
blow that it wasn’t about football I
realized one of the most powerful things
that I’m talking you guys about these
techniques are for all of us we can all
use the same techniques that athletes
use in their life to be the best in the
field in all of the different situations
where we experience stress and pressure
my belief really is that life as a sport
in the sense that we’re playing a sport
or where we’re giving a performance when
we’re playing chess when we’re playing
violin all these beautiful moments that
we have we don’t endure it we don’t try
to get through it we play it we’re
really there and the techniques of
mental conditioning of sport and
performance psychology breath meditation
and mindfulness self-talk mental
rehearsal can really help you they’re
the ones I wrote about in my book life
as sport in which I tell people you all
and try to share with you what’s really
been helpful for me to be on all the red
dots that I have in my life both
personal and professional but the word I
used was play to be playful and I want
to just come back to that for just one
minute what I do is I bring something to
every team talk I do when I work with an
NFL team or an MLB team or any corporate
event or whoever I’m talking to in
academia with doctors I bring this bingo
ball except I call it the ball of death
and what I say and what I do is I say
this has all your jersey numbers in it
and I’m gonna pick someone at random and
that person can come up on stage with me
and freestyle rap in front of everyone
can you imagine or come up and tell a
joke in front of everyone I mean that
dot moves from six feet to being
throughout everyone here but I don’t
want to talk about it I actually decided
that we’re gonna pick someone here at
random to come up here in freestyle rap
with me up
stage you just come up here we’re gonna
we’re gonna we put seat numbers here
those doors are locked can we lock those
doors we’re gonna we’re gonna pick
someone here random to come up and rap
on stage with me so three lucky people
your numbers are on your seat just let’s
make sure you check your number right
now I’m just I’m just kidding guys
oh my god right oh my god oh my god not
me
no I don’t want to touch that die
there’s a predator there’s a lion get it
away get it away right that is stress
and the more you use these techniques
for every moment not just freestyle
rapping not just you know when you’re on
the field of play but it’s all a field
of play life is a sport I feel bad that
was mean does that mean who said oh my
god that was mean right okay you know
what you know what I think I owe it to
you guys to freestyle rap what do you
think right like I mean I I I actually I
I really put you on the spot terrible
right and I owe it back to you guys so
in in the last kind of minute here I
just want to give you guys something
which has to be playful so I just need
from the front rows here fruit okay
raise your hand yes mango okay
[Music]
baby goodfeel let’s take the mango peel
and eat that fruit take the loot oh my
god it’s not a mute this is happening
right now
come on now I’m talking about breathing
exercise if you do it then you’ll feel
why oh yeah maybe a surprise so let’s do
it together everybody if you’re in it
all kinds of weather oh my god it’s time
to stop imaginary Mike drop
guys this is the sign of New York Giants
locker room let’s stay in the moment
and let’s do it together I invite you to
begin to live life like a sport thank
you
you
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