Resources from Master Performing Workshops

This page contains resources for past workshop participants. If there is a resource that I mentioned in our workshop and you do not see it here, please email me and let me know so that I can add it.

I will likely add to this list as time goes on, so feel free to re-visit. If you have been to a recent workshop, then I also suggest to you this post: http://masterperforming.ca/defining-optimal-performance/

1) This TED Talk is very fascinating; a journalist discusses memory, as he experienced through covering and then partaking in a memory contest. He discusses “elaborative encoding”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6PoUg7jXsA&feature=youtu.be

2) This TED Talk by Kelly McGonigal explores stress, and its effect on out long-term health, but with this twist: She discusses the idea that it is not stress itself, but rather –our interpretation- of the stress, which may be harmful to our health. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcGyVTAoXEU&feature=youtu.be

3) Recommended book: In Pursuit of Excellence, by Terry Orlick. I recommend this book as excellent “consumer-grade” sports psychology. That is, it is not a textbook, and its intended audience is not academic, but rather it is meant to be read by the person (that’s you!) who will ‘consume’ and employ its concepts. It addresses Olympic Commitment in a practical, no-smoke-and-mirrors kind of way. http://www.zoneofexcellence.ca/pofe.html

4) Amy Cuddy, “Power Poses:: https://www.ted.com/speakers/amy_cuddy

5) Caveat to #4: The researcher who co-ran the study on which Cuddy (above ) has built her Power Pose position is named Dana Carney. Carney has published a statement in which she effectively disassociates herself from the topic of Power Poses, citing that there may have been researcher bias, skewed results in testosterone measurements due to other mitigating factors, and also failure to consider biological gender of participants when measuring testosterone levels. Here is Carney’s statement (warning, if you’re not accustomed to reading scientific articles, there will be some baffle-gab to sort through) 🙂 http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/dana_carney/pdf_My%20position%20on%20power%20poses.pdf

6) PMR: Progressive Muscle Relaxation: You will find -many- scripts online. No need to pay anyone for one! Here is a good one https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/Progressive_Muscle_Relaxation.pdf  and this You Tube link shares the child-oriented PMR script of Terry Orlick (from #3 above) who has done marvelous work with stressed/anxious/traumatized children.

7) Headspace is a mindfullness app which a workshop participant mentioned. I do not personally know the app, but if you are interested in exploring it, here it is: https://www.headspace.com/headspace-meditation-app

8) The book “Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Un-Celebrated Organ” by Giulia Enders. I have not read it personally, but I am told it is “a great read and at times very funny.”

9) Another book recommended by a workshop participant “Heart: The Inside Story of our Body’s Most Heroic Organ” by Johannes Heinrich Von Borstal.