The Super Brain
How many times have you told yourself “I can’t do this with my body”, “my brain is stuck” or “I could do this during practice”?
Athletes have super brains. The instinct to survive is rooted in our brain. When we suffer a physical or emotional injury, such as being humiliated by our teammates, parents, fans or supporters, our first instinct is to stop doing whatever it is we’re doing. Athletes, on the other hand, keep pushing in spite of either emotional or physical injuries and accept new challenges irrespective of the risks their body might run. The discipline, commitment, hard work, ambition and perfectionism that athletes show beyond their instinct for survival lead me to believe that athletes have a “super brain”.
Regardless of this constant pressure, athletes are able to perform well. Some negative experiences are “metabolised” or re-elaborated, whereas other remain “stuck” in our body and mind and remain just as intense as they were in the first place. This may be due to either their particularly traumatic nature or their being the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back”. If you think about it, small water drops are more than enough to dig a furrow. There is no need for a tsunami.
The traumatic and emotional events that athletes experience tend to pile up at an unconscious level, thereby leading them to feel in danger, and thus insecure, discouraged and physically tense when asked to perform at a high level. All of this stands in the way of an optimal execution of any assigned task.
Only hyper-rationalisation and cognitive techniques have an impact on the symptom prior to the actual performance; however, they do not address the core of the issue, namely its cause and development. Therefore, these techniques, albeit helpful, do not provide any solutions. We are not born with fear; rather, we develop it as the consequence of a negative experience. Oftentimes, said fear is developed even before one becomes an athlete. Mechanisms such as strictness, control, perfectionism and self-criticism are rooted in our own past and contribute to the perception that we have of ourselves and our self-worth. Thus, if you want to improve your performance levels, you need to remove the obstacles that make part of your personal history.
At the beginning of the performance expansion process, some athletes erroneously think “if I stop being critical and strict, I will not achieve the same results”; this raises the question: “do we perform better when we are afraid of something, or when we are in a state of calmness and mental clarity?” The truth of the matter is that we all feel more motivated, energic and competitive when we are applauded, incited and congratulated rather than criticised. A negative approach puts us under more stress, thereby increasing our anxiety and fear, which leads to non-optimal performance levels and untapped potential. So why do we believe we should be so strict when it comes to ourselves? The answer is that our experiences have taught us so.
In order to obtain the best possible result, advanced techniques require implementing: witness www.performanceexpansion.com, which has the ability to go deeper than the outer part of the brain (namely the neocortex) and reach the deepest one (the subcortex). The neocortex covers most of the brain and takes care of the most complex mental activities, such as socialisation, language, awareness, problem-solving, rationalisation and planning. The subcortex is underneath the neocortex and includes areas of the brain that are paramount for the optimisation of performance. The subcortex is called primitive or reptilian brain, since animals that existed before mammals used have it, including dinosaurs. The primitive brain is responsible for our instincts and our will to live. This area (also called limbic system) enables us to have quick reactions and retain emotions. Subcortical areas (namely the hippocampus and the amygdala) play a fundamental role in creating memories and re-elaborating most of our emotions, including anger, sadness, disgust, surprise, happiness and, most importantly, fear. When an athlete has a negative experience, this latter is recorded in the subcortical area, which in turn triggers an anxiety reaction every time a certain task is to be performed. Rationalisation and planning require us to use our neocortex, which is why we don’t really believe that “it’s all going to be fine” after a negative experience, even if we say otherwise. Performance expansion techniques, other than healing the neocortex, provide direct access to the subcortex, which is where the core of the problem lies. On top of removing impasses and healing one’s past, these techniques allow for an enhancement of one’s resources and skills, thereby leading to the optimisation and improvement of performance levels.
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