The Play Zone
AUGUST 8, 2021
Between your potential and performance on game day is your physiological state. A body in a state of defense simply can’t perform at its full potential, no matter what you think. It’s only when you feel safe and comfortable in your body that you can play free, be bold, and connect with your highest potential. This safe state in your body is the neural platform for optimal performance and resilience.
The question becomes how do you cultivate a state of comfort in your body while engaging 100% in your craft, and manage your bodily state to support optimal performance, especially in the biggest moments on the grandest of stages in the most decisive situations.
In the world of sports psychology, the answer to this question has been “it’s all in your head.” Mindset. Positive thinking. Controlling your thoughts. Mastering the mental game. But that’s not where it actually starts. Your psychology sits on top of your physiology, structurally, functionally and metaphorically. You can’t think your way into freeing up. You can’t think your way into safety. You can’t think your way into your highest performance. You must feel it in your body. Your body must feel safe. The mental edge in sports performance resides in the body. Body and brain aligned - body supporting brain, and brain supporting body. When there’s a mismatch between what your body is feeling and what you think should be happening, your body always wins.
The question then becomes, how do you feel safe and comfortable in any situation, environment or challenge?
This is the secret skill of the champion. The code of entry into the Play Zone. The confidence to swing big and play free in the most important and pivotal moments. The ability to reliably drop into that state of flow, concentration, creativity and connection with your highest potential and optimal performance. The capacity to “feel safe” and raise your level in the same environments, situations and conditions that send your opponents into states of defense and collapse.
It’s not magical, it’s physiological. Beneath the Play Zone is a physiology. It’s not genetics, it’s skill. A skill that can be learned, practiced and habitualized. The skill of constructing and sliding into your comfort zone, a “Container of Safety” that supports your Play Zone “on demand”.
Physiologically, the Play Zone is a blended bodily state of relaxed calm with mobilized energy. It’s an in-body connection to your highest potential, passion and purpose. It's a state of Engaged, Focused and Creative Play that matches your performance on game day, with your highest potential through an awareness of, and alliance with, your body. Being in the Play Zone is why you play the game. Enter now!
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Although this might sound soft, this is actually hard science based on a neurophysiological framework developed by Stephen W. Porges Ph.D to optimize resilience and performance. Beneath the emotions, behaviors and reactions is a physiology - a body that feels safe, in danger or overwhelmed by threat. A body stuck in defense results in a player that under performs when it really counts, easily overreacts, tightens up, gives up too quickly, and no longer likes the game. In other words, the fear of losing takes over and the player fights, runs or hides until the body can’t fight, run or hide any longer. There is a solution - to recognize and regulate physiological state “on demand” for optimal performance in any situation, on AND off the court.
Sincerely,
Michael Allison
Enter Your Play Zone
Contact us below to find out how you can get involved in the Play Zone movement.