You’ve seen off the competition and played your heart out to land yourself and your team into the playoffs.

The excitement of what’s to come is reaching fever pitch and all of a sudden your self-belief comes crashing down and you are unsure if you can get that self-belief back.

Perhaps you are now questioning yourself and your abilities? Feelings of stress and overwhelm can begin to take hold.

At practice, you find yourself nervous and on edge, unable to get into 'The Zone' where your game flows naturally.

So what can you do?

One of the quickest ways to get your self-belief back into gear is to check in with your breath. 

Monitoring your breath is a great tool to understand how stressed you are.

• Short quick breaths = physical, emotional, or mental stress. 
• Longer slower breaths = physical, emotional or mental ease. 
• The optimum state of physical, emotional or mental energy for success = relaxed and alert.

Aim to be breathing at a rate where you feel comfortable and powerful.

Here's what you can do to get to that productive and rewarding breathing rate.

There is a very effective breathing technique that is enjoyable to use. The technique called Ujjayi Breathing and if practiced for 10 minutes a day for one week, to begin with, will allow you to become calm, focused, productive and powerful again.

Let's practice:

1. Inhale and exhale slowly through your nose.
2. Now close your windpipe just enough to make a hissing sound as you breathe - you are regulating the flow of breath in and out of your body, using your windpipe like a hose (think of Darth Vader in Star Wars).
3. Focus on making your breathing smooth, easy, relaxed, and effortless - within minutes you will start to feel more physically and mentally relaxed.
4. 10 minutes of this technique every day will help you to get out ahead of your stress. Then you can use it whenever you feel yourself getting overwhelmed or stressed. 

Very quickly you will be able to use this technique to refocus, gain a competitive advantage over your opponents, and get back on the path to victory!

Do you want more help to develop your own Hockey Confidence?

HERE you can get your very own copy of 'Hockey Confidence: Train your brain to win in hockey and in life' - a #1 Best Seller on Amazon and featured in the top 10 for Sports Psychology: Now Available On Audible!

HERE you can access NHL Hockey Winning Mindset Tips to dominate on the ice.

Warmest, Izzy.

PS. If you would like to find out more about how you can Master NHL Mental Performance Levels to get better results by looking at the possibility of working together complete this short questionnaire.

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