At the heart of the human performance, there is a space of 'natural change', a place where change happens effortlessly and spontaneously. In this session, Adam Ashe gets an insight into skills and practises and their relevance to his performance at each moment. Often, athletes with flair and the so-called X-factor are labelled as unique, and given license to run it freely while others must conform to the coaches constructs! What if ALL your athletes have this creative genius?
So what is this unstoppable energy some teams display when every single player is 'on their game', and what does that mean - on your game? Adam Ashe used to believe he needed to be in a particular state of mind to be able to perform at his best, then he realised, there is no perfect state to find. Your natural state of Presence is all that is required to be able to perform perfectly well in the moment.
Professional Rugby Player for the Glasgow Warriors, Adam Ashe talks about his experience after being out injured for a quite a while. His return to form elevated by a profound understanding of how the human mind works. Unburdened with needing to find the ideal state of mind to perform, he now has an undeniable knowing that he has the capacity inside always to excel, no matter what's going on inside his mind.
Denise talks with Grayson Hart about making mistakes while in elite and national roles in sport. 'You are brave enough to try things, but when they don't work, it used to feel horrible and affect me for days, now it's so much easier, lighter.....!". Grayson tells us how in the first five minutes of a recent game for the Glasgow Warriors he threw a ball at the feet of his team-mate and he got smashed. Usually, he would have written off the entire match, nowadays he has the clarity of mind, to stay in the game; his head cleared and he produced an exceptional performance for the remainder of the match.
Grayson Hart talks about the positive impact on his family life, especially his relationship with fiance, Chelsea, since learning about 'state of mind', and how human beings go in and out of these mood states all day long. He is now able to flow through low times, rather than get annoyed or even depressed. Both Grayson and Chelsea profoundly realise the other is not causing the way they each feel.
A selection decision by the Glasgow Warriors coach has Grayson Hart not claim his usual spot on the starting line up! How does Grayson experience and then deal with this practical circumstance now versus before he had an understanding of the Three Principles behind the human experience – “It’s not personal”.
Grayson Hart, Professional Rugby Player and Denise Holland, a former National Coach (Netball) compare life with and without an understanding of the Three Principles behind the human experience; responses, behaviours, perspectives, communications, relationships as well as the impact on performance results. Grayson explains how he now shows up within the elite training and competition environment, and interacts with team-mates and coaching staff.
What if we all had innate mental health and just did not know we did? What if we did not have to work it all out, find ways to feel better, less stressed, hurt and depressed? What if all we are trying to get free from is our imagination, our story of what and who we are as the person? What's behind our individual realities, that which is the same for all of us and is reliable to give us what we need when we need it?
Here, we go beyond the conceptual idea of learning something to give human beings a boost or gain in performance output. Instead, by understanding your mental life, in a profound, insightful way, you're not working ON the performance produced by the human body and mind, you're getting a sense of the power behind all sports performance, the source and nature of all human life. You will no longer be inspired to chase, a better result, a more delightful feeling, you'll just live from a new dimension of knowing what's going on, and this is everything and nothing!
Is your range of skills always available to you? YES, once learned, developed and mastered, it doesn't go anywhere? What's going on when athletes can not perform to their skill capability no matter how hard they try? Or is it this 'trying' that's the problem? Is it conceivable that human beings are 'naturally' designed to express and manifest inspirations in performance? Remember as a child playing freely without a care in the world; I can imagine your performances were consistently within your mid-upper range and that rarely was this interrupted or disturbed. Be that!
Lack of confidence is a hot topic in elite sport, as soon as players are inconsistent in their performance, or under-achieve, suddenly you believe you are weak minded, and there is a 'confidence' issue, but is this true? How is it youngsters are highly willing and able, totally unrestricted, in their endeavours to play their sport, yet somewhere in maturing into adulthood, they lose all their natural capacity to 'just play'? What if there is no 'lack of' anything? What if, the only thing happening is that your innate source and spirit to perform is simply covered up by transient 'thinking', which doesn't serve you? You don't need to 'find' so-called confidence; you already have all you need already wired into the human system. It is a matter of subtraction, not addition.
This session explores personhood; our thought created self-image, identity, personality and character, we call this our personal mind as opposed to what we call in this work, Universal Mind, which flows through our physical bodies and minds, and is that the divine intelligence, source and wisdom of all things. Our individual entire belief systems are created inside our mind, and projected out into the world the form; they do not come about as a result of what happens to us or the circumstances around us, even though it looks like they do!
Many people ask for clarification on what it is Denise means when she uses the word ‘Spiritual’. This session looks deeper into her understanding of the formless, ‘spiritual’ nature of our human existence – that which is at the heart of all human performance. Denise is not referring to ‘religion’, in any of her work, although it appears to her that all religions are pointing to the same thing, the Oneness of life, a great unfolding, intelligence that IS all things, form and formless
Together, we explore coaching from a quiet mind versus a busy mind. It is not imperative that sportspeople have a calm mind, to be effective, we know that excellent ideas and performance come even amidst the most turbulent times. However, regarding sustainable productivity, and effectiveness, the magic happens when people naturally fall out of their troublesome thinking into a state of mind which allows for higher download, of wisdom. What is the real cause of our head noise? Realising this innocent misunderstanding of where experience comes from, gives you the opportunity to show up fresh in every moment, build rapport and an authentic connection with all those around you, in life, sport and business.
During this very first episode of the podcast show PODIUM - Spiritual Truths Behind Elite Sports Performance, Denise explains her inspiration for producing this show; the audiences it is for and the type of transformational impact on sportspeople's lives. With over 20 year's involvement in sports performance, Denise was at the cutting edge of mental skills development, used to control, manage and manipulate a person's thinking to be on their game when it counts. Now she profoundly realises there is something else on offer which revolutionises mental well-being and transforms results.
Most sportspeople can relate to the 'performance zone' state, where the mind is relatively quiet, and the performance seems to flow automatically with effortless ease, but few are awake to understanding the source and nature of this phenomenon. Denise starts out on sharing her discoveries after 20 years involved in performance sport as both a national athlete and national coach in her game, netball.