#12: Rachel McCann
Finding Peace Under Pressure to Perform
If you’re nothing without the medal, you’ll be nothing with it.
Rachel McCann is plays field Hockey for the New Zealand Woman’s National Team, a team that qualified for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. A crucial part of Rachel’s training regiment is her mindfulness meditation practice. Meditation has helped her both play better and enjoy her sport more, and she’s now sharing what she’s learned to other athletes. Rachel has a website called The Happy Athlete and she hosts a podcast by the same name. I recommend both her podcast and her work to anyone who wants to learn about the relationship between mindfulness and performance.
In this conversation we explore the following topics:
How meditation has helped her in athletics and life.
Taking meditation practice to the field or court.
Emphasizing continuity over intensity.
Trying not to make too many decisions on game day.
Mindfulness as a tool for recovering from mistakes quickly.
The danger of making athletic success too much of your identity.
Dealing with the coronavirus lockdown.
Vulnerability and the ego in sports, and more…
Resources Mentioned:
The Mindful Athlete by George Mumford
Rising Strong by Brené Brown
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