Brain Research

One of the things I like doing the most is to take lots of ideas that strike me in some way, roll them around, take a walk with them, and have them blend together. In the study of many different things in school and life, finding blended central principles leads to truth, and really that's what education is all about. I ended up writing my undergrad thesis on the alternative assessment of identity, but I also put a lot of work into creating a type of "consilience" (E.O. Wilson) regarding principles within highschool biology and "life".

I am teaching about the human body right now and we have gotten into the nervous system, so we are looking at a lot of brain research. Wow! It is one of the most fascinating topics out there, and it applies everywhere from motor functions applied to sports to emotions to psychology to academic learning and on and on. Wilson, in his book, even has a chapter devoted to the collaboration in the field of neurobiology between biologists, psychologists, philosophers, and people within the humanities.

This blog is a little bit of my pulpit, so I get to preach a little. My oldest brother and I recently had a discussion on coaching and wrestling. Whenever we get together we also invariably discuss "the world". He said that if he were to coach, the biggest thing he would like to see come about as a result of boys participating in wrestling is producing men that can deal with situations and control their emotions. I find this to be an incredibly important task within sports and education.

I recently read an online discussion about bad habits attained among high school wrestlers, and a couple of people discussed that kids weren't "mean" enough and the reason college wrestlers were so much better was because they were meaner and enjoyed beating people up. Now, wrestling is a combat sport, but I really believe that the sports psychology tactic of being angry is a defective one. With all of the brain research out there, to neglect the mental training aspect is to do a tremendous disservice to the athlete. But the question is then posed, how do we go about training the mental side and what do we want to achieve as a result of the mental training? Are we out to make "thugs that beat people up" or are we attempting to produce solid citizens that perform at the peak of their abilities? I think the answer is obvious. I also feel that the win-loss record of thugs vs. confident peaceful warriors would shock people.

I will admit. Back in the day, (I don't know if I'm allowed to say that at 28 years old) I worshiped at the shrine of toughness. Back then, I viewed toughness and intensity in the framework of suffering. The more you suffered, the tougher you became, and therefore you were getting better. Suffering became an enemy to overcome. Wrestlers were meant to be angry and show their will by fighting the suffering, or so I thought... I went for a run the other day, and I became the old wrestler. I had my face scrunched up, I was hunched over, I was breathing hard, I was pounding my feet, I was suffering. I focused and was consumed by the suffering and a need to exert my will. Then, I woke up. I changed my mental state, and talked to myself like a good coach. I relaxed my face and neck, I thought about a string pulling me up from the top of my head, I thought about light bouncing, breathing, and moving quickly. Suddenly, I was flying and the suffering became my companion instead of my enemy. My performance, not to mention my enjoyment, greatly increased. Watch the fastest sprinters in the world, they aren't grimacing, they are so relaxed the cheeks on their faces bounce.

I believe in aggressive and action-filled wrestling, but this video discusses the concept of relaxed intensity. Brandon Slay beat one of the greatest wrestlers of all time to win the Olympics and now he coaches olympians at the OTC in Colorado Springs.


In this video, John Smith, arguably the greatest American wrestler, talks about character. How to be aggressive and an "animal" but yet a gentleman.


I could play you a ton of videos about athletes' and coaches' opinions about how much of wrestling is physical and how much is mental. I chose this video with Cory Cooperman because I think it really highlights how your thoughts affect your performance, and how important it is to "work" and "practice" controlling your mind.


This video is really enlightening. It provides the basis for how our experiences increase our abilities. It really is a snowball. This involves not only physical training but mental training.




This video discusses practices and research about training the mind and working with emotions.


This next video has a lot of application to the best mental state for performance and happiness: flow. Matching a high level of skills with a high level of challenges has so many applications in life outside of wrestling.


This final video is probably one of the most amazing and inspiring stories I've ever heard. It directly relates to meditation and Cory Cooperman's video by shutting down the chatter.