Level-up your mindset. Learn how to practice “Beginner’s Mind” to make you a better athlete & person.
I finally made my way through the Queen’s Gambit on Netflix, and all the while I was thinking what an awesome beach volleyball player Beth Harmon could’ve been. Beach volleyball is a mind game - at the highest levels, it’s equated to a chess game. Seeing the game in your mind, anticipating your opponents next moves, baiting them into a shot that you’re ready for when the score is 20-19 to take the game - the mind game of beach volleyball is one of the most enticing parts of the game for players of all levels.
Playing mind games with your opponent is one thing, being in control of your own mind (and therefore being harder to be ‘controlled’ by the other team) is a whole different ball game. My first, first-hand intro to this mind-body connection was through yoga. Yoga is about immersing yourself in mindful awareness. Awareness of your breath, awareness of your edge, awareness of where your body is at, awareness of your thoughts, emotions, feelings - being at the same time deeply self-aware, and deeply self-accepting. This is, in essence, mindful awareness.
For my St Pete friends - The Body Electric Yoga is my favorite studio for mind-body practice. Check it out!
Mindfulness can be boiled down to seven essential attitudes (according to Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn in his book “Full Catastrophe Living”). The beginner's mind, non-judging, patience, non-striving, acceptance, letting go, and trust. Over the next few months, I’ll be blogging about each essential attitude and how to apply them to your volleyball game, and your life. Read along, and join me in challenging yourself to practice each attitude of mindfulness for one week.
🔥 Ready to become resilient and mentally tough on the court? Check out The Mindset Program to see who is eligible and what you will learn 🔥
Mindfulness Attitude #1: The Beginner’s Mind
The mindset of having a beginner’s mind is exactly what it sounds like - approaching situations, approaching your day, approaching your life as if it’s the first time you’re doing something. Our minds have a tendency to constantly replay the past or anticipate the future, a beginner’s mind is a state in between. When you are a beginner at something, you are:
Free of expectations. You are new! You don’t know what should happen because you’ve never done it before, you have no preconceived ideas.
Full of curiosity.
Open to possibilities.
Having a beginner’s mind is the idea that you allow yourself the space to be completely open to what IS versus expectations of what SHOULD BE. It’s curiosity without expectations, which leaves you open to any and all possibilities of what might come your way. Knowledge and experience can be really useful, but it can also hold you back because it can cause you to have expectations.
“If your mind is empty...it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few”
How can you apply this to volleyball?
When it comes to beach volleyball, cultivating this mindset can be extremely difficult - the better you get, the more you know, the harder it is to step back and let the game BE. For example, when you’re in the middle of a match, it’s so easy to play against an opponent that you know SO well - you’re not a beginner because you’ve played against this team before. You have all the expectations in the world of what they ‘should’ be doing because of your previous knowledge, however, that day - they’re not doing what they normally do. Another scenario that’s common is DURING the game - like I mentioned above, our minds have a tendency to replay the past or anticipate the future. Replaying the past can be the reason you lose in beach volleyball - over-anticipating what’s coming next will create a situation where you are not open to the possibilities that actually exist, and you might get caught leaning towards that line shot when in reality, there is a possibility they can hit the cut shot. It’s incredibly important in the game of beach volleyball to practice this mindset because every single day, every player and every team is different in some way. Allow yourself the curiosity to see what’s actually happening in the game (versus what you expect to be happening), and go from there.
I’ve been playing beach volleyball for over 10 years and I’ve had some incredible coaches and experiences along the way - I’m not exactly a beginner. It can be really challenging for me to practice having a ‘beginner’s mind.’ Recently, I was challenged to do this. From 2015-2019 I had pretty much the same beach volleyball coach - I was lucky enough to work with the same team of Brazilian coaches that I trusted. It wasn’t until 2020 that change happened for me here, and I worked with 4 different coaches in one year (totally not something I was used to). Last year, that experience really challenged my beginner’s mind - no good could come from that situation if I couldn’t allow myself the opportunity to let go, and be curious about what each new coach I worked with could bring to my game.
Practice or Post-Game Journal Prompts
What was a time I found myself thinking I knew what was going to happen next? How did that expectation help my game? How did it hurt my game?
What was a time at practice that I could have been more open to possibility? How can I practice this next time?
What was a time that I was frustrated on defense? What would have happened if I had practiced curiosity when I noticed my frustration?
What part of my game do I feel the most stuck? In what ways can I practice a beginner’s mindset to open up possibilities for growth?
Benefits:
Creativity: opening yourself to possibilities leaves room for new ideas! For example, allowing myself to try things my new coaches want me to (even if I think I know better) can allow me space to potentially find something new for my game that works even better.
Intentional awareness: it’s so easy in life to be on autopilot. When practicing this mindset, it can help you slow down and be in the moment.
Positivity: expectations can ruin your day when they’re not met. It’s hard to have a bad time when you have no expectations!
Here’s the challenge this week: practice cultivating a beginner’s mind in everything you do. Not sure where to start? Look below!
Start identifying expectations. Spend a day with the intention of becoming aware of expectations that you might have. How can you flip it? What would happen if you had no expectations about this? What would happen if you had the opposite expectations?
Channel your inner kid. What would a 6-year-old do? They would ask WHY. Approach your day by asking simple questions - why is it done this way? How do you do that?
Stop using SHOULD. Should is the biggest indicator that you have an expectation. When you notice yourself thinking or saying something should be a certain way, step back and re-evaluate how you can be open and curious about all possibilities.
Let go of being right. This is a tough one - give yourself a day to know nothing. How can you let others around you be the experts - how will this change your perspective?
Journal Prompts
What expectations have I been holding on to? How are those expectations serving me? How are they not serving me?
What’s an area of life (or your game) that I tend to replay the past? How can I practice a beginner’s mind in this area - being open to all possibilities with a curious mind?
What areas of life (or your game) do I know the MOST about. How can practice a beginner’s mind here?
