Do you have a mantra?
Something you repeat during a workout or a race when it’s grind time?
There’s a lot of evidence that using mantras during meditation, anxious/stressful moments, events, etc. actually work.
From reducing anxiety and calming the mind to helping with focus and reducing fatigue – there is something at work here!
The mantra I use is inspired by the Iron Age Athletics brand and logo.
It’s “Feed the Lion”
When I’m feeling extra fatigued and still need to grind – I start the chant in my mind – and often it creeps out and I’m saying it out loud (which is actually kind of fun).
It kind of settles me – get’s me hyper focused – and helps me keep going when I want to quit.
Here’s how I captured the “Feed the Lion” manta:
When you start to feel it – the tiredness coming on, the weight of prolonged effort stacking on your back, the effort becoming more and more of a challenge…
When you start to hear the negative messages from your brain – the messages to slow down, to rest, to quit…
That is when you unleash the lion. That is when you feed the lion.
That is when you shovel those messages of doubt, the tiredness, the heaviness – that is when you shovel them into the lion’s mouth like you’re feeding coal into a red, hot burning furnace.
Let the lion feast on the quit – with its enormous, intense, selfish appetite. Let him feed and make you stronger!
What’s your mantra? And what does it mean to you?
