Looking for Details on Doing Breathing Exercises While Waiting for Your Turn

Cuebacca

Cuebacca

________
Silver Member
I was going to start a thread on slow play and how to deal with it, but I did a search instead. :D One technique I liked was doing breathing exercises, but I couldn't find any specifics mentioned.

I suppose I can do a Google search or buy a book (could there really be an entire book on this?), but I'm also wondering if anyone would like to share the breathing exercises with the forum.

What specific breathing exercises do you use while sitting in the chair waiting for a turtle to finish his inning? Is it just a matter of slowly taking deep breaths, or is there more to your breathing exercises?

I think I'll also get a magazine. Would reading Billiard Digest during a match be considered cheating? :p

There is really just one opponent I play against whose rhythm, combined with numerous other shark traits, has been throwing off my game. I think the breathing exercises could help me avoid frustration. Any tips? Thanks in advance.
 
I like Wimpy's move the best....

... just fall asleep and tell them to wake you up when it's your turn.
 
I heard/read that you can think far better when standing or pacing than sitting - that there is 20% more blood flow to the brain. (for that reason I pace during important biz calls, lol). This (Duh) brings significantly more oxygen to bear and you function significantly better.

Slow, deep breaths also calm you, and allow you and your muscles to flow/perform better. I try to take a very deep breath just before I step into a shot and just before I pull the trigger on a golf shot.
 
Breathing is something we all do of course, and most people give zero thought to it and almost none of the pool literature even mention it. But focused breathing is one of the most powerful things you can do for your your game, and for your life.

Yes, there are books on it. (Google, Amazon, etc)

Yoga, in it's simplest form, is first of all breathing, and secondly stretching. Check out yoga. It will change your life, health, game.

I use focused breathing not just while waiting to shoot, but also while shooting.

Details will follow, but right now I have to go do my morning yoga (breathing and stretching) exercises.
 
Black-Balled said:
Sit up straight, breathe in fully- visualize filling your torso with air from the stomach upwards, hold for 1-2 seconds, exhale all the way.

Pass bong to next participant.
Click to expand...
<------ Funny Cheech!

Black-balled, gotta ask, what is that freak show on your avatar? I think it's a dude, but I don't wanna look anymore for fear of contagion!
 
Click on the link below to my site. Select Articles and then select "Competitive Anxiety." About half way through the article I present specific directions for how to learn and use deep breathing. This presentation is similar to what I taught patients for the years I was a practicing psychologist.

You can find additional information from many counseling departments on college web sites. The systematic approach I present is for pool players and shows how to learn the sytem so that it can be used in many different ways before and during a match.

Hope that helps.
 
Cuebacca said:
I was going to start a thread on slow play and how to deal with it, but I did a search instead. :D One technique I liked was doing breathing exercises, but I couldn't find any specifics mentioned.

I suppose I can do a Google search or buy a book (could there really be an entire book on this?), but I'm also wondering if anyone would like to share the breathing exercises with the forum.

What specific breathing exercises do you use while sitting in the chair waiting for a turtle to finish his inning? Is it just a matter of slowly taking deep breaths, or is there more to your breathing exercises?

I think I'll also get a magazine. Would reading Billiard Digest during a match be considered cheating? :p

There is really just one opponent I play against whose rhythm, combined with numerous other shark traits, has been throwing off my game. I think the breathing exercises could help me avoid frustration. Any tips? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

There are actual physiological benefits to deep breathing that can help your mental game immensely. Most people hold their breath during times of stress....or their breathing gets real shallow. This triggers the "fight or flight" response in the body....and adrenaline gets released. Blood pressure rises, pulse quickens, the mind starts racing.

Deep breathing, or belly breathing, can help alleviate all of that very quickly and return the body to a normal, relaxed stasis.

If you don't want to buy a book, try looking up belly breathing or deep breathing on wikipedia...and then do some research on the related links, etc.

Melissa
 
Sit up straight, breathe in fully- visualize filling your torso with air from the stomach upwards, hold for 1-2 seconds, exhale all the way.

Pass bong to next participant.

(part2 theere is a joke, 1 is the sports psyche truth)
 
Great tips and references for further reading on here. Thanks everyone! I'll check these out tonight. :)

Edit... unrelated, but I think something funky must have happened with the forum's clock; the order of the posts seemed to have changed. :confused: lol.
 
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Cuebacca...

Ok, thanks for waiting until after my morning breathing (and stretching) exercises to respond more fully to your question about breathing as a way to deal with some of the frustrations involved in billiards competition.

I've read the reference given by JoeW (above) and it is good stuff on how to relax. So I won't try to add to his expert writing on this topic.

However, breathing can do a lot more for you than just relax. Breathing exercises can help you gain energy, and this purpose is especially useful during the later matches in a long tournament (if you are lucky enough to win enough matches to get tired... ). I'd like to see what JoeW says about this aspect of breathing. You could also consult with any sports trainer (think weight lifting where breathing for short term energy or marathon running for long term energy).

You can step up the results you get from breathing exercises by also doing visualization and affirmation during focused breathing. JoeW touches on some of this.

The best place to learn all of this is with yoga, so my recommendation is to take a few classes, seek out a yoga instructor, and begin the journey.

When I started getting back into pool after being away from it for 40 years, I was amazed that there was nothing I could find about breathing in the pool instruction books. But my experience with yoga convinced me that it was at the core of successful shot making and competitive performance. Read the book "Zen and the art of Archery" to see the parallels between archery and cue sports when it comes to breathing, focus, relaxation, and more. "Inner Tennis" is another classic.

Breathing sets the rhythm of our game, and every shot. When I have one of those off-the-rail table-length straight-in shots, I take a breath, and exhale right before I release the shot. That way I am my point of greatest relaxation. Works like a charm.

JoeW mentions that breathing exercises take practice... like everything else that is new to us. Stay with it, and a whole new world will open for you.

Namaste'
 
Melissa Herndon said:
There are actual physiological benefits to deep breathing that can help your mental game immensely. Most people hold their breath during times of stress....or their breathing gets real shallow. This triggers the "fight or flight" response in the body....and adrenaline gets released. Blood pressure rises, pulse quickens, the mind starts racing.

Deep breathing, or belly breathing, can help alleviate all of that very quickly and return the body to a normal, relaxed stasis.

If you don't want to buy a book, try looking up belly breathing or deep breathing on wikipedia...and then do some research on the related links, etc.

Melissa
Click to expand...

Good post, Melissa. Deep, concerted belly breathing slows the heart rate, increases the flow of blood to the extremities, counteracts the stress hormones like cortisone and epinephrine, relaxes the muscles and increases the flow of re-oxygenated blood to the right hemisphere of the brain. Quite a bang for the buck! These exercises constitute a significant component of sports psychologists' recommendations for arousal control. It also helps with visualization.
 
Breathe in.................

Breathe out............

Repeat as necessary.

:boring2: :boring2: :boring2: :boring2: :boring2: :boring2:

td
 
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