MEDITATION CASE STUDY: LISA UNRUH

Olympic silver medallist Lisa Unruh recently won the indoor World Cup stage at Nimes, the first major event on the 2021 calendar. She has been using meditation for many years. In this interview, given to the German magazine Bogensport, she opens up about the practice – and gives tips for beginners.

When did you start meditation and what was your goal?

My life has been focused on archery for years. When I started meditation at the end of 2015, my goal was focused entirely on sport. I wanted to improve my ability to concentrate and focus. So I read a book called Meditation for the Defiant. Numerous exercises are described, including ones to sharpen awareness.

What are these exercises about?

On an ordinary day, we do many unconscious things; like we are running computer programs. We get up in the morning, brush our teeth, and a repetitive sequence of habitual actions begins. For some of the exercises, you simply start out by changing these habitual routines and rituals. It's little things. For example, when you get up you decide not to brush your teeth first as usual, but to shower first. When you then start brushing your teeth, you will be aware of how you are holding the toothbrush in one hand, and that morning you decide to change this ritual as well and take the toothbrush in the other hand. They are simple changes that you can implement with little effort, and the aim is to be more aware of the automated actions of the daily routine.

In fact, meditation does not have its effects on the ability to concentrate and focus immediately after the first practice. The process takes weeks and months. But at some point you find yourself in a situation in which you are focused and calm, and you remember the past in which similar situations threw you off. You need time to have such an experience, but you will experience it and notice the change in the process. At that moment, you realise that meditation has brought you further.

Do you feel an effect that sets in immediately after meditation?

I have to admit that in situations with extremely high stress levels it can be difficult to switch off your thoughts while meditating. If I do not succeed in breaking free from these rushing thoughts, I will not get into the relaxed state of meditation. But in all other cases relaxation sets in, and then meditation can also be used, for example, to help you fall asleep better.

Can you describe some of the exercises you do?

I do various exercises, including breathing exercises. I count my breaths. I perceive how the abdominal wall rises and falls when I breathe, or I perceive the flow of cool air in my nose when I breathe in. Meanwhile I am free of thoughts; if thoughts arise, I simply push them on and concentrate again on counting and perceiving the points mentioned. This exercise trains you to keep your focus and concentration. At the beginning I only counted the breaths to ten and then counted them backwards. I now count up to 40 breaths. Thoughts come up again and again today, which I calmly push aside and realign the focus.

Then I do the Kapalabhati exercise that comes from yoga. It is also a breathing exercise in which you forcibly exhale. I suddenly expel the air I breathe, and in doing so I push the diaphragm inward. It is perhaps comparable to breathing when we get water in our nose while swimming and then suddenly exhale through our nose. This is followed automatically by inhalation.

These breathing exercises are also important because we often switch to shallow breathing in everyday life and especially under stress. In the morning I start with exercises that have a waking effect, in the evening I do exercises with a calming effect. There are days on weekends when I do without it. Then I listen to my body, and sometimes I notice that I don't need the exercises at the moment. But I meditate about five days a week.

Are there meditations that you use situationally, for example as a short meditation in a competition?

I also use the breath counting that I described in competitions, for example. If you do these exercises regularly, breath counting takes effect after just two minutes.

Do you have a tip for getting started?

Everyone can also do the breathing exercises very easily. It is important to have a comfortable meditation posture so that you are not distracted by uncomfortable sitting, because that simply has a disruptive effect. (I have a meditation block that I sit cross-legged on, but you do not have to meditate cross-legged. Counting while breathing is another good tip for getting started, because counting alone avoids disturbing thoughts.

Do you think that the meditation experiences helped you in RIO?

Yes, definitely. And in Rio I meditated every day – really every day.