Inside Yoga 166 (9/5/2016)
Sam Allardyce, Sunderland football club’s manager has revealed that he uses meditation to cope with the stress and pressure of his job, especially at this stage of the season with his team facing relegation from the Premier League.
Reports in both his local newspaper, Shields Gazette, and the national press have reported that the 61-year-old manager has been practising transcendental meditation for the last 12 years, and he finds it very relaxing, calming and adds “you can do it anywhere”.
He said: “It helps you cope with the pressure you come under in this job. When it was brought in for the players by us at Bolton in about 2003-04, I tried it for myself. It helps you reduce your blood pressure and keeps you calmer.
“And it’s easy to carry out. Fifteen minutes, half an hour – you don’t have to be going into a quiet room with music on or anything like that. You can be anywhere at any time, as long as you find a relatively quiet place, doing 15, 20, 25 minutes. It refreshes you and makes you feel good to push on. It has helped me cope with the pressure of management.”
With just two games to go in this season, Sunderland football club are fighting to stay in the Premier League, so the pressure he is facing is understandably much higher than usual.
“It’s all about focusing the mind and then chilling out. I typically do it three or four times a week but I’m meditating more now because of our league position. I usually do 20 to 25 minutes when the working day’s finished, sometimes in my office, sometimes away from the club. I’m not a great sleeper but 30 minutes’ meditation is as good as two or three hours’ sleep, so you feel a bit better.”
Not that Sunderland’s manager is about to recommend it to Newcastle’s Rafa Benítez and Norwich’s Alex Neil, his two counterparts in this season’s relegation fight, or any other manager for that matter.
“Why should I help them,” he said. “I don’t talk to them about it because it might make them better when they play against me.”
I was surprised to read that “Big Sam”, as he often called, is a meditator, because he strikes me as one of the bruiser-types from the old style of football where the game is rougher and more physical than the modern game where technical expertise is seen as more important than a good old hard tackle. So it is a welcome surprise to see that he finds meditation beneficial.
Though I should add one criticism of Sam, taking note that meditation is also about mindfulness, in other words, being aware of actions and their consequences: I have seen Sam on several occasions during a game throw his finished chewing gum to the ground right where everyone else is walking – ready to step in!
To read more, see articles in The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/may/06/sam-allardyce-transcendental-meditation-relegation-battle
Or local paper, Shields Gazette, http://www.shieldsgazette.com/sport/sunderland-afc/latest-safc-news/how-meditation-is-helping-sam-allardyce-deal-with-sunderland-s-relegation-fight-1-7896752
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