Anxious about penalties? Try this app
ENGLAND finally broke their curse against Colombia this week of having lost every World Cup shoot-out it has contested but it still has the joint worst World Cup shoot-out record – along with Spain and Italy – of any country.
Sure, the torment is greater for some World Cup fans than others, but the penalty shoot-out is still a moment of agony or ecstasy, heart-break or triumph for all. With the tournament going into the its last laps, the anxiety will only grow.
But there is a “helping hand” for World Cup fans who can’t bear to watch their team take part in the agony of a penalty shoot-out – meditation app Calm.com has released the first meditation ever devised for helping football fans cope with the torment of a penalty shoot-out.
“The most anxious part of any World Cup – perhaps of any sport – is the penalty shoot-out,” says Michael Acton Smith, co-founder of Calm. “This is when we hide our eyes and watch through our fingers.”
Alex Tew, Calm’s co-founder and, like Acton Smith, an England fan agrees.
“After 90 minutes of normal time and 30 more of extra-time, the fate of your beloved team – and, it can seem, the hopes of your entire country – have come down to this, the final showdown; in the end perhaps to a single kick of the ball.”
As we sit frozen in front of our TVs, our heart-rate spikes and our stomach is in knots.
So in this nerve-racking situation, how can we soften our anxiety?
According to Calm.com, meditation boils down to doing two things: Focusing on the breath pulls us into the present moment and when anchored in presence, avoid future-based thoughts and the anxiety they create.
It is in the present, this precise moment, Tamara Levitt, Calm’s Head of Mindfullness explains, that lies our best hope of finding peace:
“In this instant, we are neither yet victorious nor vanquished. As of this moment, there is no goal, no win, no loss. There is only the here and now, and in the peace of a single breath, we’re able to remain open, curious, and excited.
“So during the stressful moments of the tournament, remember you have within you the ability to calm your anxiety. Focus on the breath, the very thing that connects to stillness.”
For that agonising moment, fans can also try a short, three-minute breathing meditation – called “Penalty Shoot-Out Breather” – during the anxious break between the end of extra-time and the start of the penalty shoot-out, that typically lasts around four minutes.
Crucially, says Tew, they are also designing a special “gratitude meditation”.
“It’s to give thanks that this World Cup will be the first in memory when Germany won’t be able to beat them on penalties.”