Presence

Transform scattered thoughts to focused energy with this protocol

There's a power in presence. It's a force that transforms our scattered thoughts into a beam of energy. Imagine a river: when it flows wide and shallow its power is diluted. But narrow that river, channel its flow through a tight canyon, and it gains tremendous force. Presence works the same way. It takes our diffuse energy and sharpens it, making it more impactful; and this power fuels us. Focus demands presence, and flow emerges from focus. Achieving a flow state requires us to be fully present so we can access this super power, which we will explore later in this book.

The breath is the easiest, simplest, and most potent way to come to presence-focusing on our inhales and exhales grounds us in the now. Presence is a skill that can be cultivated with practice. Before training, in class, in conversation with friends, the more we practice coming back to presence the more we can leverage it in competition. At the highest levels, the more present athlete wins. Why? Because presence frees us from the chains of past mistakes and future anxieties. In the ESPN documentary series "The Last Dance," Mark Vancil captured this essence perfectly when he said about Michael Jordan: “Michael is a mystic. He was never anywhere else. His gift wasn’t that he could jump high, run fast, shoot a basketball. His gift was that he was completely present.