Increasing Athletic Durability

Let's talk about some of the benefits you’ll see when you start practicing Energy Management. One of them being increased athletic durability. 

By durability, I mean a few different things…

First, you’ll absolutely start to see gains in terms of performance and reaching new personal bests.  –including increased physical strength and the ability to endure longer. This is physical durability. 

But I’d say the more impressive gains you’ll experience are actually in mental and emotional durability. –meaning your ability to withstand and overcome stressful situations and people. 

So let's get into how this works. . .

As we know, your energetic shield acts as a personal defense system. This is why learning to connect with your shield is so important. By working to strengthen it, you can actually become more immune to the distractions, triggers, taunts, and general chaos that you may encounter in and around competition (and day-to-day life). You see, when we become stressed, we become energetically drained. This leads to physical weakening and increases our chances for failure, flubs, injury, and illness.

When I was in the 4th grade, I had a teacher who pretty much let the students do whatever they wanted. The classroom was loud and rowdy, and there was no real expectation of behavior, or rarely any threat of discipline. The environment was not conducive to learning, and I began regularly going home sick from all the noise. I just couldn’t take it, it was too much.

Cut to twenty years later in life, and I still had this same problem. Whether I was in a loud stadium or restaurant, crowded bar, or a noisy office, my durability was still really low in these situations, and as a result, I would start to feel sick, and could become easily triggered due to overstimulation. Can you relate? 

Many people experience this issue in some form or fashion, and sometimes you’ll hear it referred to as being empathic, which it is. As humans, we are natural empaths, meaning we have the ability to feel the energy of others, including people, places, animals, and even objects. This is a good thing, and it's meant to help us communicate with each other beyond the need for spoken words and language. But some individuals will find that they are much more sensitive and will experience a type of sympathetic resonance where they'll take on the feelings and emotions of other people in their physical vicinity to the point of overwhelm and exhaustion. –like what was happening to me in the 4th grade. 

While being empathic is important and very useful, we should understand that empathic hypersensitivity can also be a symptom of a weak shield.  When our shield is weak, or if it has tears and holes in it, the energy of those we come into contact with will be able to soak in, like a sponge. If the intruding energy is low or negative, this will muddy the high vibrational energy inside your own shield, triggering a stress response that goes on to affect you negatively at all levels. 

This type of energetic intrusion can create a sense of overwhelm that leads to overall drained vitality, as well as irritability, panic attacks, and mood swings due to adrenal and hormone responses, such as spiking cortisol. This is why improving shield strength is so important. The strength of your shield determines and affects your overall physical, mental, and emotional durability both on and off the field. 

Now that I know how to shore up my shield, I don’t have the same problems with intruding energy and can maintain a greater sense of calm and ease when I have to be out in crowds or traveling through places like busy airports. 

One secret to developing high levels of mental and emotional durability comes down to not reacting to every little thing that tries to push your buttons. Not allowing yourself to become irritated with other people. Not taking offense, not taking everything personally. Even when people are trying to annoy and insult you very much on purpose,  don’t take the bait. Your calm is your superpower. Always.

Whether it's an opponent or your annoying little brother, anytime you get triggered, your energy depletes, and your vibration lowers. If you are constantly getting triggered throughout the day by things you see and hear or people you interact with, you are being drained of a lot of useful energy. If we can shore up these energy leakages, we can redirect that otherwise lost energy toward achieving our goals. 

Have you ever seen videos of the King’s Guard outside Buckingham Palace? They are known for remaining motionless at their post even while silly tourists try to make them react to annoyances–all day, every day. Think of the level of energetic durability it would take to maintain that level of calm and focus for hours at a time while you are constantly being baited to snap. It’s impressive, to say the least, but it’s indeed a superpower that everyone can learn.

In a game-time situation, developing this kind of durability will give you an edge, allowing you to focus on what truly matters (and will also save you from committing penalties). Shielding will enhance your energetic ability to withstand and endure any situation or person that may come your way. By making shielding your #1 priority, you too can increase your overall durability.

The positive effects of increased energetic durability will translate in many different ways. In terms of mental toughness, it can make it easier to get through an intense training camp or workout without turning on your coach when they push you to go even further. It can also help you shake off agitators or bullies that may otherwise be able to throw you off your game. In a group, team, or family setting, you’ll find it easier to deal with disappointing outcomes and difficult personalities--enhancing your ability to practice sportsmanship in the moment. This is a valuable leadership skill. Developing durability benefits us karmically, too, and attracts more positive outcomes into our reality. 

When you strengthen your shield, you truly strengthen everything! Body. Mind. and Spirit.

Remember, control the energy. Control the game.