How a Mindset of Creating Abundance Has Helped the Best Soccer Players

Article by Zhang Xinyue of Create Abundance

In addition to being among the best soccer players in history, there’s something else Erling Haaland, Carli Lloyd, Fabian Delph, and Cristiano Ronaldo have in common. Each of these esteemed footballers is a proponent and practitioner of meditation. They have each touted the benefits of practicing mindfulness and a mindset of creating abundance for their performance on the pitch.

On the benefits of meditation, Ronaldo said, “I meditate almost every day, especially working on my breathing. In these moments, I feel like I’m in a bubble… It works. Everyone suffers from stress, and it’s fantastic to be able to get rid of it.”

Similarly, Everton midfielder Fabian Delph has said, “Gael Clichy recommended meditation to me because I was such an all-action guy. It has calmed me down.”

One of the most resounding endorsements for meditation comes from world champion Carli Lloyd, who includes meditation sessions as part of her pre-game preparation. She focuses particularly on creating abundance through positive visualization. She said, “It sounds pretty funny, but over the years and definitely over the last four years, I’ve taken that visualization part to another level. I’ve basically visualized so many different things on the field, making these big plays, scoring goals.”

Mindfulness and positive visualization calms the mind, allowing it to focus on the task of hand. These heightened concentration and focus leads to greater performance and the privilege of playing with joy instead of stress, fear, and pressure. And based on what these athletes have accomplished, it can help you excel at the highest levels of competition.

Zhang Xinyue is the founder of Create Abundance organization and author of the book with the same name. Create Abundance is a book full of advice on practicing body-mind-spirit cultivation. IT aims to promote a meaningful and applicable approach to the philosophical issues in life.

Advice from Sports Psychologists Regarding Meditation

The human mind is a powerful machine. For years researchers have known about this and a great deal of study has been done. The mind can be focused to bring healing to some part of the body and all it takes is a little practice. With people these days searching for natural ways to deal with aches, pains and problems, meditation has so much potential.

Today’s best sports doctors are using meditation to help athletes improve their performance. But they are also using it to help relieve the pain that an athlete might suffer from a sports injury.

In her book, Create Abundance, Zhang Xinyue states that:

“Insofar as we unlock ourselves completely and connect with the cosmic energy, there will be nothing we cannot accomplish.”

Mindfulness meditation is one popular way to achieve good results. This was first used in 1985 by an Olympic rowing team. They were falling behind and unable to perform the way they needed to. Their coach had heard about mindfulness meditation. It seemed like a simple thing that could be implemented without much practice.

The rowing team became much more efficient in their movements. They started to work well together. Later the coach did some research to find out why and the answer was simple. Once people clear away all the doubts and fears in their minds, they can perform better. An athlete’s performance can greatly improve with just 5 minutes of mindfulness meditation each day.

Zhang Xinyue has other quotes from her book:

“Being unhappy is actually being not kind-hearted. Growing unhappily implies the renouncement of wellbeing. No growth, no wellbeing.”