Adolescence into young adulthood is a period of questioning, including “who do I want to be?” and “who am I?” During this time, between pre-teen and young adulthood, life is riddled with decisions regarding paths and roles. Young people may find themselves identifying as a ”kid,” a “student,” and/or as a “friend” during this time. Some pursue sports, music, [...]
Like it or not, all sport careers eventually end. Age, injury, family decisions, or other factors will determine how your competitive athletic career will end or be adapted. Like many athletes, especially elites, you may feel that the transition is abrupt. Your life and identity may revolve around sport. Your loss may cause emotional, financial, or personal challenges that [...]
Below are some of the mental skills practices that we regularly train for resilience and performance. They can be used in isolation or integrated as you hone the skills! Paced Breathing There is much research that supports the impact our breath has on our ability to perform. Practicing paced breathing regularly (per the guidance of a biofeedback expert such [...]
Pandemic or not, holidays can be stressful. Traveling gets chaotic; even being at home with a smaller segment of your family during a pandemic can feel chaotic! Family members can love each other dearly AND know exactly how to push each other’s buttons. Gift giving and receiving can be fraught with hopes and expectations (and gifts can be expensive [...]
Mind-body interaction (“psychophysiology”) is spectacular. We think something, whether in conscious awareness or not, and our body has physiological reactions… this happens repeatedly every second of the day. Thoughts contribute to being regulated (e.g., mentally calm, with appropriate levels of physical alertness) or dysregulated (e.g., rapid thoughts or going blank, with inappropriate levels of physical alertness). In working with [...]
This time of COVID-19 has thrown us all for a loop. Parents have become home-schooling teachers. Day-to-day norms have all radically changed. And so, we have to strive to accomplish a “new normal.” Routines provide stability and continuity in family life during times of stress, because: they facilitate a sense of control, protect well-being, help with work-life balance, and [...]
UNC Tarheel Women’s Lacrosse player, Katie Hoeg, put it perfectly. "We wanted to be angry at a specific person, or anything," Hoeg said, "But we knew there was nothing to be angry about. Like, this was completely out of our control. We have to do our part." Anger often provides the illusion of control in a situation that is [...]
In our lifetimes, we’ve never experienced anything quite like the current pandemic, its toll on health/lives, mental-emotional well-being, social ramifications, and economic impact. Rather than pretending that everything is “fine,” it’s more useful to be honest (with boundaries, determined by what feels right to you) and to model feeling, expressing, and managing emotions. Another way of putting this is [...]
Like it or not, all sport careers eventually end. Age, injury, family decisions, or other factors will determine how your competitive athletic career will end or be adapted. Like many athletes, especially elites, you may feel that the transition is abrupt. Your life and identity may revolve around sport. Your loss may cause emotional, financial, or personal challenges that [...]
“Who am I?” “Who do I want to be?” These are questions commonly asked by adolescents as they work to form their self-identity. Between pre-teen and young adulthood, life is riddled with decisions regarding paths and roles. Young people may find themselves identifying as a “kid”, “a student”, and a “friend” during this time. Some pursue sports, music, or [...]
Dr. Herzog will be presenting a few exciting workshops this fall for professional development! Be sure to check them out: What: AASP Continuing Education Workshop: Psychophysiology, Biofeedback, and Mindfulness Applications in Optimal Performance. When: October 23rd, 9:00am-12:00pmWhere: AASP Annual Conference, Portland, OR. Presenters: Tim Herzog, Reaching Ahead Counseling and Mental Performance, USA; Inna Khazan, Harvard Medical School, USA; Margaret [...]
Check out the article discussing continuing education in ethics that featured Dr. Herzog and colleagues in the July 2019 AASP Newsletter! Tim Herzog, EdD, LCPC, CMPC, BCB – Reaching Ahead LLC Chelsea Wooding, Ph.D., CMPC – National University Amber M. Shipherd, Ph.D., CMPC, Texas A&M University – Kingsville Ethics allow us to dig into deeper level phenomena regarding the [...]
What: BCIA Webinar: Sport Psych Meets Biofeedback When: September 21, 2018 at 2:00 pm Why: “Old school” sport psychology emphasizes ideas consistent with traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): “Control or suppress negative cognitive processes and everything will fall into place, emotionally, physiologically, and in terms of behavior/performance.” Recently, sport psychology has finally been catching up with third wave CBTs (e.g., [...]
“Baseball is 90% mental and 10% physical.” Most athletes, and even casual sports fans, have heard this famous Yogi Berra quote at one point or another. As a former swimmer, somebody who competed in an individual sport for the entirety of their athletic career, I think the numbers are closer to 99.9% mental and 0.1% physical. My swimming [...]
Hello readers! My name is Vadim Jacobson and I am thrilled to announce that I will be helping out Dr. Tim Herzog as an intern for this upcoming year. I will be learning about how to run a consulting practice, and will be directly assisting with marketing, social media, and writing a weekly blog about various topics in sport [...]
