The Power of Mind™

As a Mind Skills Coach and Exercise Specialist, Naomi Saunders uses the mind’s connection with the body to:

  • improve performance under pressure
  • develop enhanced athletic potential
  • help prevent injury and accelerate recovery from stress and injury.

She is dedicated to providing her clients with valuable tools and assistance to achieve success on a higher, more consistent basis.

“Mental toughness is not something you have on a game day. It is a habit of mind that becomes a part of your pride and your self-image. It is something you carry with you everywhere – patience in a line of traffic, attentiveness in a classroom, nobility on the practice floor. It is a quality of mind.”

John Wooden, Legendary US College Basketball Coach
Took UCLA to 10 National Titles.

Why sports mind skills training is important…

 

Mental skills, i.e. the mental game, are as important to success in sports and performance as the physical skills you use to excel in your arena. The mind is a wonderful thing and it can be trained – highly trained – just the way our body can and is trained. At this point in time there is as yet much that we do not know about the function of the human brain. However, an increasing number of experts in the field have discovered the plasticity, i.e. the ‘change-ability’ of the brain.

This plasticity gives one the ability to learn new skills at any age. Just as you spend time training your body for your sports performance, it is also possible and advantageous to train the brain.

Athletes at all levels often report that their performance – and winning – was hampered by:
  • Losing concentration
  • Tightening up
  • Choking
  • Losing one’s game
  • Distraction
  • Playing while injured
  • Performance anxiety
  • Fatigue
  • Stress

“My ability to fully focus on what I had to do on a daily basis was what made me the successful player I was. Sure I had some natural ability, but that only gets you so far. I think I learned how to focus; it wasn’t something that I was necessarily born with.”

Hank Aaron, legendary baseball player
Held the MLB record for career home runs for 33 years
Only player to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times

More and more top athletes, including tennis champions Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Olympic figure skaters Sasha Cohen, Michelle Kwan, have discussed the importance of mind sport skills in media interviews. When their game is off, they place their mind skills training as a first priority.

Sport psychology is respected by many coaches because mind skills support the combined elements of a situation: within one moment there is a combination of factors –pressure to win, fear of losing, fatigue, muscle strain, concentration, anticipating the opponent, searching for strategy, positioning the body, and flowing into the next move, to name a few.

The ability to handle the complexity of factors comes more from emotional and mind skills than talent alone. Her approach builds the ‘muscle’ of inner awareness to:

  • Improve one’s mental game.
  • Develop pre-performance routines
  • Strengthen one’s mental toughness, especially under pressure
  • Discover and move past unproductive movement patterns and rigidities.
  • Gain flexibility with changing strategies

Her methods include an expansive interior focus through positive visualizations and other forms of mind training. As a result, individuals come to understand how they unknowingly restrict and limit their potential and sports performance.

Scheduling Sessions with Naomi

  • Naomi is available for individual, group and team consultations.
  • Her sessions can be scheduled at your location as she travels extensively.
  • Please contact her directly to learn of upcoming sessions and locations.
  • She can be reached at naomi@movementmax.com or (415) 624-6442