What the heck is a mantra? “The word mantra can be broken down into two parts: “man,” which means mind, and “tra,” which means transport or vehicle. In other words, a mantra is an instrument of the mind (Tris Thorp, What is a mantra?). While it’s rooted in meditation and yoga, when developed and used properly, the mantra is also a powerful psychological tool to assist performers in entering into a desired state of consciousness. Mantras are easy to develop and can be used in a variety of situations. They are powerful and can be used to replace negativity, to calm and relax, as well as, to energize performers.

Step #1

When developing a mantra the first thing that’s important to understand is what you need it for. During practice or before competition? Replace negativity, or relax, or psyched up and motivated? For example, one of my junior tennis players uses a mantra the night before a major match to deter him from his usual negative thinking. He typically thinks, “what if I don’t play well tomorrow”. When he notices that, he changes it to his mantra – “I am going to follow my game plan and play my game.” As a second example, one of my high school swimmers uses a calming mantra to calm her down behind the blocks – “Relax. You’ve got this.” Third example comes from one of my golfers who needs to energize before he steps up to the first tee – “I am so excited. I can’t wait to play golf today.”

Step #2

Once you have a sense of when and why you need a mantra you can start to brainstorm options. One way to start this process is to think about the one big nervous, negative thing you think about your performance – i.e., my forehand is terrible. Say your negative or doubting thought over and over in your head or out loud if you are alone. How does that feel?

Now, change that into something more neutral/positive – I am ready, let’s do this or I’ve got this. You don’t necessarily have to replace it with something related to your forehand. Your ego has chosen to focus on your forehand but could have chosen to focus on many other elements, like I am tight, I am nervous, or worse I am not going to win, or there’s no way I’ll beat that opponent. Once you have a neutral/positive thought to replace it, say that over and over in your head or out loud if you are alone. How does that feel?

I do this awareness exercise when I give presentations and the reactions and realizations can create change immediately. Why? Because you:

1. Bring awareness to your own self-doubts and negativity and how it feels.
2. Learn to transform negative thinking into something more neutral/positive.
3. Realize that you do have control over your thoughts and learn to manage it.
4. Feel the results of thinking more neutral positive.

Step #3

Your unique mantra can be whatever you want it to be as long as you get the desired outcome at the desired time. A mantra can be a phrase you make up or it can come from a song lyric, poem, or book. I suggest a mantra be somewhere between 1-3 words because then it’s easy to remember.

Step #4

Once you have a mantra that ‘works’ you should use the same one over and over again. Practice it during training or practice so that it replaces any anxiety, negativity, and/or self-doubt. When you practice it and make it part of your routine, it becomes the automated response. It is more engrained in your process to stop things from heading in the wrong direction.

A postive mantra to reach your peak

99% of my clients use mantras before and during practice and competition. It gets them into the right (positive, confident, energized, calm) headspace versus a more doubtful, fearful, negative space that you just show up in.

Learning to change your thinking is hard. Our environment sets up our thinking patterns and they become habit, and sometimes this means we can be hardwired to think negatively. However, you can change this over time, and learn to think more neutral/positive.

The more you use neutral/positive language about yourself and your performance; motivation and confidence build up which makes it part of your life, not just your performance.