As an athlete or sportsperson, you understand the frustration of being at the top of your game only to falter in the heat of competition. The Athlete's Ascent shows how you can harness the wisdom of martial and Zen arts to develop the profound connection between mind, body and breathing that leads to the coveted flow state. Drawing on a lifetime of deep practice, Jayne Storey has streamlined centuries-old disciplines - including Tai Chi and Zazen meditation - into a simple, proven and trusted Performance Practice that helps both amateur and professional athletes ascend to higher levels of enjoyment and performance. Read this book and develop a daily practice to: * Strengthen the all-important mind-body connection * Uncover the link between formal meditation and being 'in the zone' * Overcome nerves, anxiety and mental interference in even the most high-pressure competition situations * Stay in the moment and elevate your movement routines and ball-striking to new heights
Jayne Storey is the founder and head coach at Chi Performance. Her unique approach employs ancient disciplines which help develop the mind-body connection. For over two decades she has taught these Eastern principles and practices to golfers and other sportspeople to help them perform in a way that is effortless and sublime. She is the author of several books, including Breathe Golf and Connected Golf.
Foreword - Introduction - Part One: A New Look At Performing Under Pressure - Shifting The Paradigm - Overcoming Performance Anxiety - Performance Practice - Stillness - Intention - Visualisation - Flow - Natural Movement Principles - Investing In Loss - Part Two: Ten Essential Principles Of High Performance - The Principles - Principle One: Controlling Your Biochemistry - Principle Two: Quietening Your Mind - Principle Three: Holding The Centre - Principle Four: Relaxed Readiness - Principle Five: Listening - Principle Six: Self-observation - Principle Seven: Making Time - Principle Eight: Just Enough - Principle Nine: Wonder And Awe - Principle Ten: Downtime And Recuperation - Part Three: Twelve-Week Mind-Body Performance Challenge - Introduction To The Challenge - Week One - Week Two - Week Three - Week Four - Weeks Five To Eight - Weeks Nine, Ten And Eleven - Week Twelve - Conclusion - Bibliography - Acknowledgements - The Author
'When I read this book, I wanted to get started right away. The Athlete's Ascent teaches you the fundamentals of creating flow to enhance the quality of your sporting movements. The book is structured in such a way that it provides you with the right keys and choices to perform your best under pressure, and the why and how are clearly explained. I recommend this book for every player who takes their sports performance seriously. This work is special - for most athletes, it will be the key to achieving the best results.' - Patsy van Baarle-van Rompaey, PGA Advanced Professional, Master Performance Coach, elite horse rider (Belgian title, early 1980s), Belgian national elite surfer (1990-2001) 'Jayne's is a voice that is sorely needed in the world of sport performance, and I applaud her for the courage to speak to this need and to do so in such a coherent and effective manner. The Athlete's Ascent is required reading for all the athletes I work with, as it provides a touchstone for the core ideas surrounding sport and performance that challenge traditional approaches. Jayne's work speaks to that beautiful and complex space in sport where mind and body unite to create effortless movement - a space that is hard to describe and commodify and, as such, a space that is seemingly counter-current. This is an engaging and practical book, outlining key philosophical arguments for the need for new approaches and perspectives, and offering strategies and systems to cultivate the habits required to adopt this new paradigm and approach to performance. As in her earlier work, Jayne masterfully blends Eastern philosophies with Western ideology to create a unique and novel opportunity for athletes to excel under pressure.' - Jon Roy, Canadian performance coach, recognised for creativity and excellence over twenty-five years, with a passion for mindset architecture across all sport 'To achieve high performance and enter "the zone" or "flow state", the ability to control the biochemistry and inhabit the present moment are the biggest challenges facing athletes, as they require a level of attention that goes beyond the traditional mental game. In The Athlete's Ascent, Jayne Storey not only explains for our better understanding how brain- body chemistry affects movement in sport, but offers a solid practice based on her many years of personal experience. Once adhered to, her methods will bring you the Gold. You need to dive in and do the training in order to find out for yourself.' - Andy Knibbs, tennis coach and Inner Game Global Facilitator 'To perform at our highest level, we need to take a holistic approach. The Athlete's Ascent is a refreshing journey that will help readers get out of their own way when facing the most intense pressure. Jayne does a wonderful job of exploring concepts that have helped humans perform at their best for thousands of years. If you want to take your game to the next level, this book should be part of your toolkit.' - Jon Sherman, author of The Four Foundations of Golf 'What do Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, Novak Djokovic, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and JJ McCarthy all have in common, other than being the very best at their respective sports? They all have a daily meditation practice. This allows them to be more aware of their mind-body relationship when the pressure's on. As a former PGA Golf Professional, I can say that while most of us are not blessed with the physical tools these elite athletes have, we can all practise the techniques Jayne lays out in The Athlete's Ascent to improve our own performance. After reading this book and working with Jayne, I feel strongly that the difference between the above-mentioned sportsmen and the hundreds they have competed against is the ability to quieten the mind in the biggest moments. This helped them to win more consistently against their peers, often by the slimmest of margins. This book gives you the road map to do the same thing. If competing at your maximum level more often is important to you, The Athlete's Ascent will be critical for your success.' - David Collins, former PGA Golf Professional, Florida 'If you are an athlete who regularly participates in competitive sport, The Athlete's Ascent is a must-read. You will begin to fully understand why many players have become lost in one of two areas: either they are drowning in "technical" thinking, trying to perfect movement through conscious direction, or they have become consumed by attempting to "think correctly" as a result of much of the current psychology literature. Both approaches will leave you short of your true potential - a potential that is released when you understand more about the mind-body connection and the genius of the body when it is allowed to flow naturally. Jayne's work is the embodiment of someone who has applied herself over many years to diligent daily practice. In this book she offers no promise of ridiculous shortcuts but invites you to commit to the path of mastery. If you read this fantastic work and then apply the wisdom contained in these pages, you will make a significant difference not only to the sport you play but, perhaps more importantly, to the life you lead.' - Karl Morris, performance coach and owner, The Mind Factor 'As a novice golfer in my fifties, starting a new sport was daunting. So I was excited and relieved to read in The Athlete's Ascent that I would already have learned many of the movements needed for golf, through other sports I have played throughout my life. The years spent turning and breathing around a longitudinal axis in competitive swimming, or gripping for sheer life on edges at 40 miles per hour on a line I'd committed to at the top of the ski hill, or simply running up the spiral stairs with too many bags as a kid, feeling the force throw me up and in, as I went around - my joined-up bodymind can handle all these moves. So I can trust it will be the same with a golf swing. I just have to learn to stay out of the way, and in this book, Jayne expertly provides all the tools and practices needed to do this.' - Katie Bayne, multidisciplinary athlete, Atlanta, Georgia
