First of all, let me kick off with a dictionary definition of what mantra actually is:
man-tra
Noun
1. (originally in Hinduism and Buddhism) A word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation.
2. A statement that is frequently repeated; a characteristic formula or refrain.
Whilst out on a club efforts/intervals session on the sea front with Bournemouth AC recently, when we were gearing up for the final interval, World 50km champion and leader of the session, Steve Way determinedly shouted out the words “leave it all out here” referring to using up your reserves and really pushing it hard for the last rep. No sense in doing intervals if you don’t really push yourself after all, eh?
I was properly heavy legged up until then. Though as I repeated those words “leave it all out here” I mustered up more energy, I chased down a couple of guys who had been consistently in front of me and kept on repeating that to myself.
It worked wonders. The new expression served up by someone who inspires me combined with repetition and a sense of meaning as I repeated it to myself, really worked wonders.
It is this “sense of meaning” point from that previous paragraph that punctuates this hypnosis audio track a great deal. I mean, any old repetitive thoughts are often the domain of runners whose internal dialogue turns into something akin to that of someone suffering from OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) from time to time… Most regular runners will know what I am talking about I think.
It is easy to repeatedly utter words in your mind when running, it easy to continually count your steps or your breaths or even to devise repetitive strategies that simply distract your mind from what is happening in your body.
If I am going to use a mantra, it needs to be more than another way of distracting myself or dissociating from my ongoing experience. It needs to be more than just an aid to my concentration. I can do that in a number of more productive ways.
So this audio session has two tracks – the first one shows you how to construct and create the most powerful mantras for yourself. The second track is a hypnosis session that installs and supercharges your mantras for use when you are actually out running.
You’ll end up with a number of very powerful, resourceful mantras that you simply say to yourself when running and they’ll elicit wonderful responses within you when you need them.
I consider my running mantras as essential as my running shoes and GPS watch these days – so if you are a runner, come and get your mantras organised and ramped up ready for use and advance your running performance as a result.
